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Meet my upgraded Twix thumbprint cookies! I re‑tested and updated the recipe so you’ll get defined wells, clean edges, and a tender center every time! They are perfect for gift giving and cookie parties!
Why These Are Better Than The Real Deal
- Cookie Perfection: I discovered that chilling the cookies after scooping and indenting helps them hold their shape better!
- Silky caramel, Smooth Chocolate: If you use soft caramels and real melting chocolate (skip chips), you’ll get a smoother, silkier finish!
- Gifting & Parties: These cookies are show stoppers! They are great for cookie exchanges, neighbor gifts, or just a treat for yourself and your family.
A Reader’s Review
Love these! We make them every year and they go fast!
– Kellie
Twix Thumbprint Cookies Ingredients
- Chocolate: Skip chocolate chips; instead, use good quality chocolate bars, baking chocolate, candy coating chocolate, or chocolate melting wafers.
- Caramels: Use soft caramel candies like Werther’s or Kraft. You’ll need about 130g.
- Sea salt: Sprinkle flake sea salt right after drizzling the chocolate for that salty pop.
- Dairy‑free: If you need these to be dairy-free, you can use butter-flavored shortening and swap the cream for coconut or almond milk.
How to Make Twix Thumbprint Cookies
Holy cow, these taste like a Twix in cookie form! I’m not admitting how many I “tested” before rushing a plate to the neighbors, but fair warning, they disappear fast! Here’s how to make them.
Make Cookies
- Combine Butter & Sugar: Add unsalted butter and granulated sugar to a large bowl. Beat on medium-high speed with a hand mixer or a stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment. Mix for 2-3 minutes, until light and fluffy.
- Add Egg & Vanilla: Add egg and vanilla extract, then mix again until fully combined. Scrape down the sides and bottom of the bowl as needed.
- Add Dry Ingredients: Add flour and salt, and beat on low speed until fully combined and all the flour has been absorbed.
- Scoop & Indent: Use a small cookie scoop to portion dough onto parchment‑lined baking sheets. Indent each ball of dough with the back of a 1‑teaspoon measuring spoon, then chill 30–60 minutes.
- Bake: Preheat the oven to 375°F during the last 15 minutes of chilling. Arrange dough 2 inches apart on parchment-lined sheets. Bake 8–10 minutes, until the centers are matte but slightly soft. Re‑indent each cookie right out of the oven. Cool for 2 minutes on the sheet before moving to a cooling rack.
- Melt Caramel: Meanwhile, heat the caramel candies and heavy cream in the microwave. Do it in 15-20-second increments, stirring between each increment until fully melted and smooth.
Caramel Topping & Chocolate Drizzle
- Add Caramel: Spoon ~½ tsp caramel into each indent. If your caramel starts hardening, just warm it up in the microwave. Freeze for 5 minutes before adding the chocolate, so the caramel firms up.
- Melt & Drizzle Chocolate: Microwave the chocolate in 30‑second bursts, stirring until smooth. Transfer to a Ziploc bag, snip a corner, and drizzle over Twix thumbprint cookies. Sprinkle with coarse salt, if desired, and let set.
Alyssa’s Pro Tips
- Chill: Chilling the dough until firm, after you’ve made the indent, allows the butter to set and helps the cookies keep their shape.
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Twix Thumbprint Cookies
All the flavors of a Twix bar, buttery shortbread, chewy caramel, and smooth chocolate that come together in one irresistible, easy cookie.
Ingredients
- 1 cup softened unsalted butter
- ⅔ cup granulated sugar
- 1 large egg
- 1 tablespoon vanilla extract
- 2 cups all-purpose flour
- ½ teaspoon salt
- 24 soft caramel candies about 130 grams
- 2 tablespoons heavy cream
- 4 ounces milk chocolate melting chocolate or chopped baking chocolate
Instructions
- Add 1 cup softened unsalted butter and ⅔ cup granulated sugar to a large bowl and beat on medium-high speed with a hand mixer or a stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment for 2-3 minutes, until light and fluffy.
- Add 1 large egg and 1 tablespoon vanilla extract and mix again until fully combined, scraping down the sides and bottom of the bowl as needed.
- Add 2 cups all-purpose flour and ½ teaspoon salt and beat at low speed until fully combined and all the flour has been absorbed.
- Use a small cookie scoop to portion the dough into balls and lay them out on one or two parchment-lined baking sheets. Use the back of a 1-teaspoon measuring spoon to press an indent into the center of each ball. Place the baking sheets in the refrigerator to chill for 30 minutes to 1 hour.
- About 15 minutes before the dough is finished chilling, preheat the oven to 375 degrees Fahrenheit.
- Arrange the chilled dough on parchment-lined baking sheets so there is 2 inches between each cookie, then bake for 8-10 minutes, until the centers of the cookies still look slightly underbaked, but have lost their sheen and turned matte.
- Remove the cookies from the oven and immediately use the same 1-teaspoon measuring spoon to reform the indent in the top of the cookie since it will puff up while the cookies bake. Let the cookies cool on the baking sheet for 2 minutes before transferring them to a cooling rack to finish cooling.
- Meanwhile, heat 24 soft caramel candies and 2 tablespoons heavy cream in the microwave in 15-20 second increments, stirring between each increment until they are fully melted and smooth.
- Use a teaspoon to fill the indentation in each cookie with caramel, about ½ teaspoon or so. Warm the caramel for 5-10 seconds in the microwave as needed to keep it liquid enough to spoon into the cookies.
- Melt 4 ounces milk chocolate melting chocolate in the microwave in 30-second increments, until fully melted and smooth, stirring between each increment. Add the melted chocolate to a small ziplock bag, then barely snip the corner of the bag off, and quickly drizzle the chocolate over the tops of the cookies. Sprinkle with coarse salt, if desired, and let them sit until the caramel and chocolate is fully set.
Video
Notes
Storage Instructions
- Storage: Airtight at room temp for up to 5 days; use parchment between stacked cookies.
- Freezing: Best Method: freeze unbaked (scooped + indented) up to 3 months; bake from frozen, adding 30–60 sec if needed. Or freeze baked, filled, drizzled cookies in layers with parchment up to 3 months; thaw 1–2 hours (caramel may weep).
Nutrition
Calories: 198kcalCarbohydrates: 24gProtein: 2gFat: 11gSaturated Fat: 6gPolyunsaturated Fat: 1gMonounsaturated Fat: 3gTrans Fat: 0.3gCholesterol: 30mgSodium: 78mgPotassium: 54mgFiber: 1gSugar: 15gVitamin A: 270IUVitamin C: 0.05mgCalcium: 21mgIron: 1mg
Nutrition information is automatically calculated, so should only be used as an approximation.
Tried this recipe?Mention @alyssa_therecipecritic or tag #therecipecritic!
Curious as to whether the caramel sets up or does it stay melty even once the cookies are cooled?
They stay chewy and soft… I wouldn’t say runny.
Hi! These cookies look absolutely delicious! I was looking at the recipe and there is a blank space where the amount of unsalted butter is. Is it one cup of butter or a half of cup of butter? Would you please let me know so that I can make these cookies. My family is hanging over my shoulder drooling! Thank you so much! 😀
These were just plain fun to make and turned out even more beautiful than the pictures! Now, I didn’t have caramels, but I did have a jar of caramel ice cream topping! I heated that up, added some milk and cornstarch so it would thicken and they turned out just perfectly. So beautiful. And for those wondering about the chocolate, I just put 8 ounces of chocolate chips in a bowl and microwaved it for 30-45 seconds then put the melted chocolate in a ziplock Baggie, snipped the corner and made a Z over every cookie. Just beautiful and so fun to make
I love the recipe it sounds good and the dough taste good just they keep flattening 🙁 this is the third time I’ve had this problem and I’ve followed the recipe exactly. What am I doing wrong??
Flattening dough? Was your butter too melted? That’s my guess. Try to chill the dough for 30-60 minutes before baking next time. Bet that’ll fix it.
These are magical. I melted two Hershey’s bars in place of the chocolate chips and it was the perfect amount of chocolate. I think I’ll make them again this weekend! (I gave must of them away to teachers today.)
Hi, these sound delicious. I’m from England and am not sure of some of your ingredients. Can you tell me what all purpose flour is please? we only have plain or self raising flour. Also, what is 3 T heavy cream and we dont have kraft caramels, are they hard or soft (so i can find something similar).
Thanks
Kraft caramels are soft. 3 teaspoons=42.61963mL Plain flower
I dont know if all purpose is the same as plain but it may be. 3 T is 3 tablespoons and the caramels are soft.
Yes, all purpose flour is the same as plain flour. And for the caramels use what you would use in millionaires shortbread recipe. This recipe is more or less the same just done in thumbprint cookies.
hi, can I check (I’m in the UK) that heavy cream is equivalent to our double cream and that T stands for tablespoons? I’ve got to make these for the girls at work as they will love them! Thanks!
If I was to make caramel do u know what temp on candy thermometer would work for these?
how do I get the chocolate melted enough to drizzle?!
These look delicious! Do you think it would work to make the cookies without the caramel and as soo as they come out of the oven put a Rolo candy in the middle…similar to peanut butter blossoms?
These are delicious! Easy recipe, great shortbread flavor. I needed to increase baking time to about 12 minutes. I also used the shortbread recipe with a jam filling. Filled the indentations with jam before baking. These were very good, too!
That sounds good, but is not the cookie in this recipe at all.
Hi there. Did you ever try your idea? It sounds awesome…
i have tried these twice now. and both times the cookies flattened so much there was no indentation. I just drizzled the caramel and choc over them and they tasted great, but i am very disappointed they didn’t come out like the picture. I have made thousands of other thumbprints over the years and never had this problem. what did i do wrong?
I am having this same issue 🙁
Just wondering…. did you use margarine instead of butter? Was the butter softened too much? Was the dough chilled long enough? These things could cause a difference in how they hold up during baking.
Try leaving out the egg. Traditional shortbread does not contain egg. Put egg in it – its no longer shortbread. Scottish shortbread (named so because of the ‘short’ texture from the high quantity of butter) is always 1 part sugar, 2 parts butter, and 3 parts flour (in weight).
Did you use a not stick pan or did you spray the pan. Either of these will cause the cookie to spread.
Try adding a little more flour you can
Indent them when you take them out of the oven
Thank you! I made these today and they were yummy! I though they were pretty easy too.
Would these cookies freeze well? Thanks!!
Do you think home made microwave caralels will work with the twix cookies?
Thanks!
Sign me up for a batch of these cookies! I love twix but since I stopped eating meat and dairy I’ve missed them dearly! I can totally make a vegan version of these cookies.
I’m having a Christmas cooking baking party this week, and I always like to have a batch of cookies already made for everyone to munch on. I’m thinking these are the ones! LOVE Twix, and these look amazing!
Cookie, not cooking :0)
I just made these for the first time today and they were a hit at our little cookie party. Delicious and yes, they taste kust like twix!