31 Days of Cookies: Lemon Meringue Thumbprint Cookies

On the 12th day of cookies our guest blogger shares a citrusy treat that is bound to impress your holiday party guests.
These Lemon Meringue Thumbprints are the perfect holiday treat. They are pretty enough to serve as holiday decorations on their own. More importantly, they’re also completely irresistible. They strike all the right notes: tart, sweet, creamy and crunchy. And they make use of one of the few fruits available in the dead of winter. They practically guarantee you will be a holiday party star.
Here’s the trick, which isn’t tricky at all: Those spiky meringue swirls are best applied the day you plan to serve them. Now, you could go the sensible and modest route and finish them before your friends arrive. But why not show off? Just before everyone arrives, don an apron and top each cookie with a gorgeous meringue swirl. Then, once everyone has assembled with cocktail in hand, bring out the tray of cookies and your mini blowtorch. Fire it up and blast that snowy meringue to toasty perfection. Cookies and a show! Your guests won’t know what hit ‘em.

Samantha Seneviratne is a New York-based writer, recipe developer and food stylist. She’s currently working on her first two cookbooks, The New Sugar and Spice (Ten Speed, fall 2015) and Gluten Light (Clarkson Potter, fall 2016). She blogs about dessert at Love, Cake .