Strawberry Jam Thumbprint Cookies

These Strawberry Jam Thumbprint Cookies are so fun to make! It’s a super simple recipe, and you can fill it with whatever you like. I’d recommend keeping this one in your back pocket!

Hi everyone! How’s the weather by you? It’s snowing right now in New York, even though it was just 60 degrees the other day. My wardrobe is just as confused as I am. On the bright side, snowy weather = Netflix time. I finished Black Mirror the other day and I’m already pining for more episodes. Hurry, Netflix, hurry!

To make myself feel a little better, I decided to whip up these strawberry jam thumbprint cookies. Before I go any further, I’d like to just start off by saying that I adore strawberry jam. There’s nothing wrong with other jams and preserves, but I grew up on strawberry jam so it’s my #1.

My aunts and uncles used to come over every Saturday for breakfast when I was little; we feasted on Italian bread, French butter (ugh don’t even get me started), and various toppings like honey and jam. I personally loved spreading some butter on a slice of bread with a dollop of strawberry jam on top. It was mm mm good!

Suffice it to say that I had to make these thumbprint cookies with strawberry jam today. If you haven’t given thumbprint cookies a shot before, I’d say today is a great day to do so! They are dead simple to make and you can fill them with whatever you like.

I’ve made a lemon version filled with strawberry jam (tasted a lot like pink lemonade!), another version with raspberry jam, and one with homemade caramel. These little cookies do a great job of complementing whatever flavor you throw at them!

I should also warn you that these are super addicting. The recipe yields 4 dozen cookies and they’re rather small, which means I have 48 delicious cookies waiting to get in my belly at this very moment.

… Be right back.

Okay hi, it’s me again! I may or may not have scarfed down another 2 or 93295720 cookies just now. 🙂

I know I’ve been going on and on about the strawberry jam portion of this recipe, but let’s not forget about the cookie itself! The cookies are made with butter and cream cheese and trust me, it shows. The cream cheese gives the cookie a nice thick crumb while the butter results in a cookie that tastes like, well, a butter cookie! Win-win, am I right?

There are a couple of secret weapons to have at hand when making these cookies: a measuring spoon and a zip top/piping bag. You’ll need the measuring spoon to get the perfect indent in your cookie. I know these are called thumbprint cookies so you could obviously use your thumbs to press down on the dough, but for aesthetic reasons, I chose to just use my measuring spoon.

As for the zip top/piping bag, I’ve found piping the filling into the cookies to be a much easier alternative over spooning it in. Once the cookies come out of the oven the first time, you’ll want to work fast, so piping is definitely the way to go here.

Once you’re done piping the filling, throw those bad boys into the oven one more time and prepare yourself for some good noms.

Thumbprint cookies are so versatile, so you can really experiment as much as you want. Here are some fillings and variations I’d like to try in the future:

Nutella
Salted caramel
Cake batter/Funfetti
Lemon curd
White chocolate
Matcha
Eggnog
Red velvet with a cream cheese center

If you have any other thumbprint cookie ideas or you baked these at home, feel free to drop a line in the comment section and rate the recipe — I’d love to hear from you!

Here’s to strawberry jam!

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Thumbprint cookies are my absolute favorite–this recipe is super simple and you can fill it with whatever you like!

Preheat the oven to 350F and line 2 baking sheets with parchment paper or a Silpat.
Fill a zip top or piping bag with the jam and set aside.
In a medium bowl, whisk together the flour, salt, baking soda, and baking powder.
Cream the butter and sugar together in the bowl of an electric mixer on medium speed until light and fluffy.
Add the cream cheese, egg, and vanilla extract and beat until combined (about 30 seconds), scraping down the bowl as needed.
Slowly add the flour mixture and whisk at low speed until combined, about another 30 seconds.
Scoop out 1 1/2 teaspoons of dough (or use a #60 cookie scoop), roll the dough into balls, and lay on the prepared baking sheet. You’ll want to space them about 1 1/2 inches apart.
Lightly press the bottom of a teaspoon measuring spoon into the center of each dough ball to make a small indentation.
Bake the cookies for 10 minutes. Make sure to only bake one sheet at a time.
Remove the cookies from the oven and use the bottom of the teaspoon measuring spoon to reshape the indents in the cookies.
Take your zip top/pastry bag and snip off a small corner. Pipe about a 1/2 teaspoon of jam into each cookie.
Put the baking sheet back into the oven and bake for 12-14 minutes until golden around the edges.
Follow the same steps for the next baking sheet!
Allow the cookies to cool on the baking sheet for 10 minutes before transferring to a cooling rack to complete the cooling process.