No Matter What Occurs, I Will Find You!

This is one of my sister Becca's favorite lines from the movie, "Last of the Mohicans." I'm using it today to reference a long-sought-after recipe. My niece Reeci Ellington loves a raspberry thumbprint cookie. Not just ANY raspberry thumbprint, but the ones from The Cake Lady, a bakery in Friendswood, Texas. Since she doesn't live in Friendswood, though, that's a really big problem! She craves the cookies, and anyone who happens to be traveling her way has to go by The Cake Lady to get thumbprints, or don't even bother darkening Reeci's door! Well, I think I've found a comparable recipe. I made them today and have spread them throughout Wharton: took some to Mom and Dad, some to Becca's house, and some to Ricki's house (Reeci's mom). Well, they've all given me the thumbs-up for the thumbprints!

I found these on food.com, which is quickly becoming my go-to for all my foodie needs.
RASPBERRY THUMBPRINT COOKIES

1 cup butter, softened (no substitutes)
1/2 tsp almond extract (The Cake Lady always uses almond. This I have noticed!)
2 tsp vanilla extract
1/2 cup powdered sugar*
1/4 cup cornstarch
1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
24 tsp of raspberry jam (or strawberry, blackberry, etc)

Preheat oven to 325 degrees.
Lightly grease a cookie sheet.
In a large bowl, using an electric mixer at medium speed, beat the butter with vanilla and almond until fluffy.
In another bowl, combine the powdered sugar with cornstarch and flour; add to the creamed mixture and beat until smooth and combined.**
Use hands to shape into 24 round balls, then place on prepared cookie sheet about 2 inches apart.
Push down slightly using the palm of your hand, and then make a small indent with your thumb in the middle of each cookie.
Spoon about 1 tsp jam into the hole.***
Bake for 8-10 minutes, watching closely that edges do not brown too much.
Cool on wire racks.

I have several notes about this recipe:

*I didn't have 1/2 cup of powdered sugar! I was short about 2 Tbs worth! On food.com, you can click on the ingredient and they'll give you a definition and other information. It's where I found out that you can make powdered sugar from granulated: 1 cup granulated sugar and 1 tsp cornstarch. Put in blender (not food processor) and mix until it's fluffy!

**My dough came out really, really dry. I did try to form balls with it, but they wouldn't hold together. I ended up putting it back and putting drops of water, 3-4 at a time and then mixing. The final total was about 9-10 drops, and the dough became workable.

***I used raspberry jam, but then realized that some people have dentures or appliances which catch the seeds and might make eating these cookies very uncomfortable. I decided to make some with seedless blackberry jam also. Those didn't turn out too well! The seedless jam ran out of the bottoms of the cookies onto the pan! They still tasted good, though. ;O)