My Kind of Cookie

Cheesecake Thumbprint Cookies
{Martha Stewart, Baking Handbook}
25-30 cookies

4 ounces cream cheese, RT (room temperature)
1/2 cup sugar
1/4 tsp salt, plus a pinch
2 large egg yolks
1 1/2 tsp sour cream
1/8 tsp vanilla extract
2 sticks (1 cup) unsalted butter, RT
2 cups all-purpose flour

Beat cream cheese in a bowl until light and fluffy, about 3 minutes-- scrap down sides of bowl as needed. Add 1/4 cup sugar, plus a pinch of salt and beat until all smooth. Add 1 egg yolk, sour cream, and vanilla. Beat again until smooth. Refrigerate for about 30 minutes.

Preheat oven to 350 d's. Line two large baking sheets with parchment paper, and set aside for now. In another bowl fitted with a paddle attachment (blah blah blah), beat the butter, remaining 1/4 cup sugar on medium speed until well blended and creamy. Add remaining 1/4 tsp salt, egg yolk, and beat again, scraping down the sides of bowl to make sure everything is evenly incorporated. Gradually add the flour with the mixer set to low and mix until just combined.

Shape level tablespoons of dough into balls and place on prepared baking sheets, lining them about 1 inch apart. Find yourself a good thick wooden or metal mixing spoon and lightly flour end of it (on the handle side). Make an indentation into each ball of dough. (You can also use your thumb, but I found the end of a spoon makes a deeper indentation, which = more cheesecake filling in the cookie= good).

Bake for 10 minutes. Remove from oven, and make indentations again. Rotate sheets, return to oven, and bake again until cookies are golden brown, 4-9 minutes (my oven bakes fast, so just watch). Transfer cookies to wire racks to cool completely.

Using a small tsp, fill the center of each cookie with cheesecake filling, making slight mounds. Return cookies to oven and bake until filling is set, another 5-7 minutes. Let cookies cool on wire racks, and refrigerate a few hours before serving. Allow them to sit for about 20 minutes before serving.