Tutti-Frutti Thumbprint Cookies

These Technicolor cookies are the perfect way to punch up your cookie plate. Tender shortbread-like dough flavored with a generous amount of lemon zest and vanilla extract gets rolled into balls, then dimpled with a thumb to create small indents. Once baked, the cookies are tossed in a mixture of freeze-dried fruit pulverized with granulated sugar, coating the outsides in a fun blanket of fruity flavor. Each indent gets filled with a fruit filling of your choice for a plate of festive cookies bursting with sweet-tart flavor.

The true beauty of this recipe lies in its endless adaptability. You can use whatever freeze-dried fruit you desire to tint and flavor the cookies a vast kaleidoscope of colors, and mix and match the fruit filling however you please. If a monochromatic cookie is what you’re after, use freeze-dried strawberries paired with strawberry jam. If an eclectic array of cookies is more your speed, use a combination of fruits and jams to create a true tutti-fruitti result. Just about any combo will taste good, so don’t be afraid to let your imagination run wild.