Thumbprint Cookies with Jam
If you're looking for a cookie that delivers maximum charm with minimal fuss, thumbprint cookies with jam are the way to go. Each one is a soft, buttery cradle for your favorite jam, sure to bring some joy to your holiday plates.
🔍 Recipe At-A-Glance: Thumbprint Cookies with Jam
- ⏱ Prep Time: 30 minutes
- ⏰ Cook Time: 10 minutes
- 🍪 Flavor Profile: Rich and buttery with sweet-tart fruit flavors.
- 🎄 Good For: Adding some fruity flavor to your Christmas cookie plates, and showing off your homemade jams.
- 🧡 Difficulty: These cookies have a shortbread base, which makes them incredibly easy!
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🧡 Why You'll Love This Recipe
Hi friend: One of my favorite ways to use up a surplus of homemade jam is in classic Shortbread Thumbprint Cookies! With the buttery chew of shortbread and the delicate flavor of sweet, fruity jam, thumbprint cookies are a Christmas tradition for a lot of folks. Let's make some cookies!
Here's why you'll love this recipe:
- Show off your summer work: My pantry is chock-full of beautiful canning jars full of creative and interesting flavors of jam (looking at you, bourbon peach jam). I love that these cookies can showcase my jam creations!
- So simple: I love the flavor, and I love how simple they are to make (we're talking only 7 ingredients!).
- A spot of brightness: Christmas cookie plates are usually loaded down with lots of butter, chocolate, and nuts. And while I love a chocolate snowball cookie and gluten-free peanut butter blossoms as much as the next girl, these jam thumbprint cookies add some bright fruit flavors to balance things out.
🎄 The Ingredients You Need
- Egg: Shortbread dough contains no leaveners (like baking soda or baking powder), and typically includes just three ingredients: flour, butter, and sugar. I modify the shortbread dough here slightly by adding an egg, which softens the finished cookie ever-so-slightly to give it a satisfying chew.
- Butter: When baking cookies, you want to use softened, room temperature butter. Do not melt or warm your butter to soften it-this can lead to cookies that spread!
Make sure to check the recipe card below for the full ingredients list, along with quantities and my expert tips and tricks.
🔁 Variations & Substitutions
- Sugar cookies: Some folks use a basic sugar cookie dough for the base of thumbprint cookies, but I prefer a simple shortbread dough...which is one of the simplest cookie doughs around.
- Which jam: ANY (okay, maybe not red onion jam)! In these photos, I've used Mixed Berry Agave Jam and Peach Jam. Apple Jelly and Strawberry-Rhubarb Jam would also be wonderful options!
- Icing thumbprint cookies: This is a breeze! Simply bake the cookies without jam (but still with an indentation), and then when the cookies have fully cooled, fill each indentation with my fan-favorite Sugar Cookie Icing.
- Chocolate hazelnut cookies: Skip the jam and fill the cookies with your favorite chocolate hazelnut spread instead!
- Fruit curd thumbprint cookies: I also love these cookies with lemon curd or cranberry curd (like the one from my cranberry curd tart recipe!)
🥣 Thumbprint Cookies with Jam How-To
Step 1: Using a stand mixer or hand mixer, beat the butter with the sugar until it becomes fluffy like frosting. Add the vanilla and egg and mix some more.
Step 2: Add the flour and salt in two parts. You do this in parts so that the flour gets mixed in entirely without overworking the dough.
Step 3: Roll the dough into balls, and roll each ball into a plate of granulated sugar. This step isn't absolutely necessary, but it gives the cookies a really pretty sparkle that makes them a holiday standout.
Step 4: Press into the dough balls with your thumb (hence the name!) or the end of a wooden spoon. Stick the whole pan in the freezer for 5-10 to help the cookies hold their shape.
Step 5: Fill the indentation with a bit of jam-about ½ teaspoon should do the trick. You don't want to overfill, or you'll end up with messy, sticky jam puddles on your baking sheet.
Bake for 10-12 minutes, when the bottoms of the cookies should be just turning sandy brown. Cool for 3 minutes on the tray before moving them to a wire rack to finish cooling.
🙋🏻♀️ Thumbprint Cookies with Jam FAQs
I recommend adding it before baking. It helps the jam set up so that the cookies don't need to be refrigerated and so you can stack your cookies! However, if your jam puddles are still quite sticky after cooling, you might want to separate the layers with parchment paper before storing to keep the cookies from sticking to each other.
I find that this happens less often when you are using a shortbread base for thumbprint cookies, but if they are cracking, the culprit is usually either pressing too hard with your thumb or using a dough that is too cold!
Thumbprints freeze wonderfully! Once they are fully cooled and filled, place them on a baking sheet and freeze them solid. Then transfer them to a zip-top freezer bag or other food storage container. They'll last for up to six months.
I love storing frozen cookies in Pint and a Half Jars! They stack beautifully in these tall, narrow jars. They also also make a wonderful gifting container. The jar looks beautiful, and it protects the cookies so they are completely intact, no matter how far they have to travel!
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👩🏻🍳 My Expert Tips & Tricks
- They see me rolling: Rolling thumbprint cookies in sugar before baking gives them a satisfying crunch and a beautiful snow-kissed appearance!
- Keep 'em small: This is not the time for big cookies. Stick to a tablespoon or so of dough per cookie to get the just-right ratio of crumbly cookie to soft jam.
- Cool it: With so much fat in shortbread cookies (2 whole sticks of butter!), spreading can be a bit of a problem. I prevent spreading by chilling the dough before filling the cookies with jam. This helps the cookies bake properly before all the butter melts into a puddle.
- You have a week: I recommend eating them within a week, but if you can't get through them in that time, pop them in the freezer, where they'll last up to 6 months before losing any quality.
🍪 More Great Christmas Cookie Recipes:
If you tried these thumbprint cookies with jam or any other recipe on my blog, please leave a 🌟 star rating and let me know how it went in the comments!
📖 Recipe
Jam Thumbprint Cookies
Ingredients
- 1 cup unsalted butter softened (2 sticks)
- ¾ cup granulated sugar plus more for rolling
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- 1 egg
- 2 ¼ cups all-purpose flour
- 1 teaspoon salt
- ½ cup jam
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 350°F. Line a baking sheet with a silicone baking mat or parchment paper, set aside.
- In the bowl of a stand mixer, or in a mixing bowl using a hand mixer, cream together 1 cup unsalted butter and ¾ cup granulated sugar until light and fluffy, about 2 minutes. Add in 1 teaspoon vanilla extract and 1 egg, and mix until combined.
- Add in 2 ¼ cups all-purpose flour and 1 teaspoon salt to the creamed butter mixture in two additions, mixing well until combined.
- Fill a small saucer with granulated sugar. Form the dough into 1 tablespoon balls using a cookie scoop or your hands. Roll in the sugar, and then place on the prepared baking sheet. Repeat with remaining dough, placing cookies about an inch apart.
- Using your thumb or the end of a wooden spoon, make an indentation in the center of each dough ball. Place the cookies in the freezer for 5-10 minutes to chill.
- When the dough is chilled, fill the indentation with about ½ teaspoon of your preferred flavor of jam. Don't overfill the indentation, or your jam might run out in the oven.
- Bake in the preheated oven for 10-12 minutes, or until the bottoms of the cookies just begin to turn slightly sandy brown. Remove from the oven, and let cool for 3 minutes on the baking sheet, and then transfer to a wire baking rack to finish cooling.
Video
Notes
- Thumbprint cookies are really not the time to make large cookies-smaller is better to get the right ratio of crumbly cookie to soft jam. Stick to one tablespoon of dough per cookie.
- Don't skip the trip to the freezer! That's how you'll get your cookies to hold their shape in the oven.
- Any jam will do the trick here! Some of my favorites are Mixed Berry Jam, Strawberry-Rhubarb Jam, Peach Jam, Apricot Jam, and Black Raspberry Jam.
- Jam isn't the only thing you can put in thumbprint cookies! Lemon curd and chocolate-hazelnut spread are both delicious.
It's hard to keep these cookies stocked on our holiday platters because they get snatched up so fast. Everyone loves them!
I have tried this recipe. My dough is too crumbly and dry to roll into balls. What am I doing wrong? I would love to have success. Thanks.
Hi Lizzie! I'm not sure what might have happened. There should be more than enough butter and liquid to make the dough smooth and pliable. Was your butter room temperature and did it get light and fluffy when mixed with the sugar? Were you mixing by hand or with a hand or stand mixer? Did you spoon your flour into the measuring cups and level it or did you dip the measuring cup into the bag of flour to fill it? If you had too much flour or not enough butter or the butter was too cold to incorporate fully then it's possible that it could end up crumbly. But without more info it's hard to tell! Feel free to reply to this comment or send us an email, and we'll help you troubleshoot. We want you to be successful, too!