Chocolate Raspberry Thumbprints

What says Valentine's Day more than chocolate, cheesecake and fresh berries?  Nothing, in my opinion at least, so these cookies basically jumped off the page of my Martha Stewart Cookies cookbook and I knew I had to make them.  The original recipe calls for strawberries, but acknowledges that any berry would be fine.  I decided that finding tasty raspberries in February is easier than finding tasty strawberries in February and the result was phenomenal.  I doctored up the cheesecake filling as I found the original recipe's was too cheesy.  The cookies are firm feeling and yet have a very nice give when you bite into one of them.  Too bad B doesn't eat cream cheese.  Now I'm stuck eating these all by myself.  Darn?

Please note that the dough requires an hour of chilling time before baking.

Makes about 2 dozen cookies.


Ingredients:
3/4 c. all purpose flour
1/4 c. unsweetened Dutch process cocoa powder
1/4 t. salt
2 oz. semisweet chocolate, chopped
1/2 c. unsalted butter, room temperature
1/4 c. plus 6 1/2 t. granulated sugar, divided
1 large egg yolk
1/2 t. plus 1/8 t. vanilla extract, divided
4 oz. cream cheese, room temperature
2 T. plus 2 t. confectioners' sugar
4 oz. raspberries, finely diced

How:
Sift together flour, cocoa, and salt into a bowl.  Melt chocolate in a heatproof bowl over a pan of simmering water (or in the microwave if you're feeling lazy, like I was), stirring until smooth;  set aside to cool.

Cream butter and sugar with an electric mixer on medium speed until pale and fluffy.  Mix in yolk, vanilla, and chocolate.  Reduce speed to low.  Mix in flour mixture UNTIL JUST COMBINED!  Do not overmix!  Refrigerate, covered, 1 hour.

Preheat the oven to 350 F.  Put 6 t. of granulated sugar into a small bowl.  Form dough into 3/4 in. balls; roll in sugar to coat.  Space 1 inch apart on baking sheets lined with parchment paper.  Press center of each ball with your thumb.  Bake 10 minutes, remove and press centers again with the end of a wooden spoon.  Bake until slightly cracked and set, 3 to 5 minutes more.  Cool completely on racks.  The cookies can be stored unfilled in an airtight container at room temperature for 3 days.

Stir cream cheese, confectioners' sugar and remaining 1/8 t. vanilla together in a bowl.  Toss berries with remaining 1/2 t. of granulated sugar in another bowl.  Spoon cream cheese mixture into centers of cookies and top with berries.

~adapted from Martha Stewart's Cookies



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