Whether it's for a drop of strawberry jelly or a rich cinnamony slurry, the thumbprint cookie gives you the perfect container for a mouthful of flavor.

1. Mix your filling together in a small bowl and set aside until step 5.

2. Shape your cookie dough into balls--about 2 tablespoons each. Using a cookie scoop is the best way to produce consistently round, equally shaped cookies.

3. Position the dough balls 2" apart on a Silpat- or parchment paper-lined cookie sheet. 12 dough balls (4 rows of 3) will fit nicely on a single sheet.

4. Using your thumb, press down each dough ball and make an indentation about 1/4" deep. These indentations are the cookies' thumbprints that you will then fill before baking.

5. Using a 1/2 teaspoon measure, ladle your filling mixture into each cookie's thumbprint. Be careful not to overfill the thumbprints because they can spill as the cookies bake and spread out.

6. Bake the thumbprinted and filled dough balls at 350 degrees for 10-12 minutes or until golden brown. Remove the cookie sheet from the oven and let stand for 2 minutes. Then place cookies on a wire rack to cool.

Here's a short video of the process.