Thumbprint jam cookies are rich butter cookies balanced by a bright jam center.
ABOUT THUMBPRINT JAM COOKIES
Thumbprint jam cookies are perfect for the holidays! The rich and buttery cookie paired with the warm, sweet jam make the perfect treat. My favorite part about these cookies is that you can use any jam you want! The cookie takes on the flavor of the jam, so feel free to get creative with it. My personal favorites to use are strawberry jam, raspberry jam, orange marmalade, and yuzu marmalade. Additionally, you can shape the dough however you want. In this recipe, I made heart-shaped cookies as well as circle ones and piped some out. Because I did it this way, I baked the cookies a bit first before adding the jam to allow the shape to set. Then I continued to bake them with the jam so the cookies could take on the flavor and the jam could warm up and create a candy-like ring. Give it a try and don’t be shy to get creative! I hope you have fun making these cookies!
MATERIALS
- ☆ Piping bag
- Make sure your piping bag is sturdy so it doesn’t burst from the dough. This is only if you are going to pipe out cookies! If you wish to make other shapes, you don’t need this!
- ☆ Closed star piping tip (2D)
- This is only if you are going to pipe out cookies! If you wish to make other shapes, you don’t need this!
INGREDIENTS (+ SUBSTITUTIONS)
This is a basic list and explanation of the key ingredients. For full list and measurements, please scroll down to the recipe below!
- ☆ Unsalted butter
- ☆ Powdered sugar
- Powdered sugar blends easier with the butter, making the dough smoother and the resulting cookie more tender. If you don’t have powdered sugar, you can substitute it for granulated sugar at a 1:1 ratio by weight.
- ☆ Egg yolks
- Egg yolks primarily provide fat, making the texture of the butter cookies moist and smooth while adding a rich flavor. Egg whites are omitted because having a higher liquid content in the dough will make the cookies more chewy.
- ☆ Milk
- I used whole milk and recommend it, but if you have other milk substitutes you prefer, feel free to use that instead. You may need to add less than stated in the recipe, though, so keep an eye on the moisture. Milk adds moisture to the cookie dough so that the resulting cookie is lighter and softer while still being crisp.
- ☆ Vanilla extract
- I prefer to use vanilla to flavor the dough, but feel free to use any you like!
- ☆ Cake flour
- We use cake flour for pastries to have a lighter, more delicate texture. If you don’t have any, you can use a mix of all-purpose flour and cornstarch. To substitute all-purpose flour and cornstarch for cake flour, about ⅛ of the required cake flour should be replaced with cornstarch and the remaining ⅞ should be replaced with all-purpose flour. In this case, about 183.75g all-purpose flour and about 26.25g cornstarch can be used in place of 210g cake flour.
- ☆ Jam or marmalade
- You can use any jam you want! This will be the main flavor of your cookie, so feel free to use what you like best. Some common examples are strawberry, raspberry, or blueberry jam and orange, lemon, or yuzu marmalade. I love citrus, so I highly recommend yuzu if you can get it!
TIPS FOR MAKING THUMBPRINT JAM COOKIES
- ☆ The dough will be pretty soft and slightly sticky, but you should be able to work with it with your hands without it sticking. If it’s too sticky to work with, let the cookies firm up a bit in the refrigerator for about 10 minutes.
- ☆ While baking, the dough will spread a bit, so keep that in mind when you make your shapes. Try to keep the shapes pretty simple and have the angles sharper than you would usually want them. These will soften up during baking and should form into your desired shape.
- ☆ After the first bake, the imprints you made earlier to put the jam in may rise or close up. If this happens, you can use a small spoon to push it back down then add the jam. It will bake up just fine!
- ☆ You can make the dough ahead of time and refrigerate or freeze until you want to use it. I recommend shaping them beforehand as it’ll be easier to work with. Let the cookies come to room temperature for a couple minutes, then go ahead and bake. Just keep an eye on their color to see if you need more baking time.
MORE COOKIE RECIPES! ♡
If you recreate this Thumbprint Jam Cookies recipe, please let me know by tagging me or leaving a comment on Instagram @maruryouri or TikTok @atsuryouri. I’d love to see your creations and hear your feedback!
Thumbprint Jam Cookies
The rich butter cookie balanced by the bright jam center is what makes thumbprint jam cookies so delicious.
Equipment
- Piping bag
- Closed star piping tip (2D)
Ingredients
- 140 g unsalted butter softened
- 80 g powdered sugar
- 2 egg yolks
- ½ tablespoon milk
- ½ teaspoon vanilla extract
- 210 g cake flour
- Jam of your choice
Instructions
- Using a whisk or hand mixer, beat the butter until creamy. Add the powdered sugar and continue beating until light and creamy.
- Add the egg yolks, milk, and vanilla extract and mix until fully incorporated.
- Add all of the cake flour and gently fold until combined. Be careful not to overmix.
- Divide the dough in half and add one half to a piping bag fitted with a closed star tip (I used a 2D tip).
- On a baking sheet lined with parchment paper, carefully squeeze a small amount of dough about 2cm or an inch in diameter. Then pipe a circle around it twice, piping the second round on top of the first circle around. The cookie should be about 3cm tall with a hole in the middle big enough to fit about a half teaspoon of jam.
- The cookies will spread as they bake so pipe the next cookies about 1.5-2 inches away from each other. Continue to pipe the cookies until you’ve used up the dough in the piping bag (about 6 cookies).
- With the remaining dough, grab about 2 tablespoons worth of dough and form it into a ball. It should be about the size of a golf ball. Simply place the dough on the parchment and use your thumb to create a hole in the middle for jam. You can also use a half teaspoon measuring spoon to press into the dough to make the hole.
- To make the heart shaped thumbprint jam cookie, grab about 2 tablespoons as well, but divide the dough in two. Create two short, thick logs and form them together into a V-shape. Using your thumb again, press into the middle of the V to create the hole for jam. Continue to shape the dough as needed to look more like a heart as you like.
- Repeat steps 8 and/or 9 until you’ve used up the remaining dough. You should have 6-8 cookies depending on the size, giving you 12-15 thumbprint jam cookies in total.
- Bake the cookies at 340°F/170°C for 15 minutes.
- Remove the cookies from the oven to add the jam. You may need to press down into the holes with a spoon or other tool if they have slightly filled during baking. Spoon jam of your choice into the holes and return to the oven for 10 more minutes.
- Remove from the oven and transfer to a wire rack to cool completely for the jam to set, and the thumbprint jam cookies are done! 完成です！