These Thumbprint Heart Cookies with Jam use simple ingredients to create a delicious bite. Buttery, vanilla shortbread cookies are filled with a homemade strawberry jam and baked to perfection. They're so cute for any occasion!
These shortbread thumbprint cookies taste even better than they look! They are pillowy soft, lightly sweetened, and filled with strawberry jam made from scratch. These are absolutely perfect for Valentine's Day, a birthday, or the annual Christmas cookie exchange.
The Coined Breakdown
- Total Cost per cookie: $0.15
- Total Cost (about 30 cookies): $4.37
- Those Other Guys: $1.25 per cookie
Ingredients
- Salted Butter - The shortbread cookie dough has a base of softened butter. Set your butter out on the counter until it's soft, but not melted.
- Brown and White Sugar - A combination of granulated and brown sugar provide the texture we're looking for in these thumbprint cookies: light, chewy, and melt-in-your-mouth.
- Egg Yolks - Egg yolks add richness and moisture to our cookies.
- Vanilla Extract and Salt - For flavor! I've also made these cookies with almond extract instead of vanilla.
- All-Purpose Flour - To give our cookies structure.
- Strawberry Jam - I use my homemade strawberry preserves recipe, and just blend everything with an immersion blender to get the jam silky smooth. You can substitute for any type of jam you like.
Variations and Substitutions
Lemon Curd Thumbprint Cookies: Fill the cookie indents with lemon curd for a bright and tart, but sweet, treat.
Thumbprint Cookies with Icing: Instead of jam, you can bake the indented cookies and then fill them with icing after they cool!
Chocolate Thumbprint Cookies: Add chocolate ganache to the middle of baked and cooled cookies, then drizzle with extra chocolate on top.
Sugar-Coated Thumbprint Cookies: Roll the cookie dough in colored sanding sugar before pressing the shapes in the middle.
How to Make Thumbprint Heart Cookies with Jam
Step 1: Start by adding softened butter, granulated sugar, and brown sugar to a mixing bowl.
Step 2: Cream using a hand or stand mixer until just combined, about 1 minute.
Step 3: Mix in your egg yolks, vanilla, and salt.
Step 4: Add flour, a little at a time, while mixing on low until a dough forms.
Step 5: Take 1 tablespoon of dough and roll it into a ball with your hands.
Step 6: Create the heart indents in each cookie. If any cracks form on the cookies, you can reshape with your hands.
Step 5: Fill each indent with jam.
I use either a piping bag or a Ziploc bag.
Step 6: Chill the filled, raw cookies in the refrigerator for at least 1 hour.
Bake at 350℉ for 13-16 minutes, until the edges are barely browned. Cool completely, top with sifted powdered sugar, and serve!
Recipe Pro Tips
- Use jam, not jelly. Jelly has a higher water content which will affect the final look and texture of these cookies.
- Don't over whip the butter. Incorporating too much air into your dough will lead to the cookies spreading. Normally, we want a little spread; but with thumbprint cookies, these need to keep their shape while baking.
- Use a cool cookie sheet. Don't add unbaked cookies to a hot cookie sheet! If you're making multiple batches, you can wash and rinse the cookie sheet under cold water until it's no longer hot, then dry thoroughly and reuse.
- Don't overbake. Bake until the edges of your cookies have just slightly browned. They will finish cooking on the cookie sheet when you take them out of the oven.
Recipe FAQs
Yes. Chilling the dough helps the cookies to better hold their shape while baking, plus it prevents cracks forming (and jam leaking from the cracks).
Chill for at least 1 hour, up to overnight.
You actually can! When following the recipe as written, the jam bakes down a bit more which helps keep the jam from flowing everywhere.
However, you can bake the indented cookies without any filling and just add the jam later if you prefer. I imagine it would be hard to store cookies baked this way, and recommend filling the middles with icing or something more stable.
Make a batch of No-Churn Strawberry Cheesecake Ice Cream, or swirl into my PB&J Baked Oats.
You can also use it like any other store-bought jam and spread on toast, pancakes, or biscuits.
Yep! Add the baked and cooled cookies to an airtight container in layers (with parchment paper in between to avoid sticking) and store in the freezer for up to 2 months.
When you're ready to eat, let them fully come to room temperature.
Other Sweet Treats You'll Love!
If you tried this Thumbprint Heart Cookies Recipe, or any other recipe on my website, please leave a star rating and let me know how it went in the comments below. I love hearing from you! Thanks for visiting!
Thumbprint Heart Cookies with Jam
Equipment
- Stand Mixer or Hand Mixer
- Paddle Attachment for Mixer
- Mixing Bowl
- Mini Cookie Scoop optional
- Kitchen Scale optional
- 2 Cookie Sheets
- Parchment Paper
- Piping Bag
- Spatula
Ingredients
- 1 cup salted butter softened, but not melted
- ½ cup granulated sugar
- ¼ cup brown sugar
- 2 count egg yolks
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- ¼ teaspoon salt
- 2 ¼ cups all purpose flour
- 5 - 6 tablespoons strawberry jam
Instructions
- Use either a stand mixer with the paddle attachment, or a hand mixer.
- Cream the softened butter & both sugars until just creamy, about 1 minute.
- Add the egg yolks, vanilla extract, and salt to the mixing bowl. Beat until just combined, scraping down the sides of the bowl as needed.
- Turn your mixer to low speed. Pour in your flour, a little at a time, until a dough is formed.
- Prepare 2 large cookie sheets with parchment paper.
- Grab 1 tablespoon of cookie dough (or 20 grams) and roll them into smooth balls in between your palms. Repeat with the rest of the dough, placing the dough balls onto the parchment-lined baking trays.You can also use a mini cookie scoop to scoop same-sized portions and then roll each one by hand.
- Use your pinky finger to create small indents in the middle of the dough that look like a hearts. If any cracks form on the outside of the dough, you can either smooth them over with your hands by gently pressing the cracks together, or just re-roll the entire ball and start from scratch.
- Chill in the indented cookies on the trays in the refrigerator until firm, for at least an hour.
- Preheat your oven to 350℉.
- Fill a pastry bag or Ziploc bag with the strawberry jam. Pipe the jam onto the heart shapes; the cookies should be full, but not overflowing.
- Bake on the top rack of the oven for 13-15 minutes, until the edges just begin to turn golden brown.
- Finally, remove them from the oven and cool completely on the pan.
- Top with sifted powdered sugar on top and serve. Enjoy!
Beverly Mitchell-Robinson says
These thumbprint cookies are extremely soft, melt in your mouth and have the just the right amount of sweetness!
I almost went with a jar of jelly, but decided last minute to use your strawberry jam recipe and I’m so glad i did!
Will make these again for other holidays!
Shani W. says
Wow, thank you for your detailed review Beverly! 🙂