Jam Filled Thumbprint Cookies
These Jam Filled Thumbprint Cookies have a crumbly shortbread like base. Filled with sweet jam and the nuttiness and crunch from the walnuts make these irresistible.
Ingredients
- 1 cup unsalted butter, room temperature
- 3/4 cup granulated sugar
- 1 tsp pure vanilla extract
- 2 large egg yolks, room temperature
- 2 cups all purpose flour
- 3/4 tsp kosher salt
- 2 large egg whites
- 1 1/2 cups finely chopped walnuts, or nuts of your choice
- 3/4 cup jam of your choice
Instructions
- Using a stand mixer or hand held mixer, cream the butter and sugar until light and fluffy. This should take about 2 minutes. Once light and fluffy, add the vanilla extract and egg yolks and beat until incorporated.
- Add 1/2 of the flour and mix until fully incorporated. Add in the other 1/2 of the flour and salt, mix until incorporated and there are no more streaks of flour.
- Refrigerate the dough for at least 2 hours or overnight.
- Once the dough has chilled, preheat the oven to 325°F and line two baking sheets with parchment paper.
- Roll the dough into small balls (I use a tablespoon to make sure the cookies are uniform), dip into egg whites and roll in the finely chopped walnuts.
- Place on a baking sheet and make an indentation with your thumb or a teaspoon. Make sure the cookies are spaced about 1-inch apart.
- Bake for 5 minutes, then remove the sheet pan and press down again with the teaspoon. Place back in the oven and bake for an additional 10-15 minutes or until lightly browned.
- Fill the indentations with 1 tsp of jam while the cookies are still warm. Then transfer to a cooling rack to cool completely.
- Store in an airtight container up to 5 days in the fridge or on the counter, this depends on the type of jam you use. (See notes.)
Notes
- These cookies are not very sweet, so keep that in mind when you choose your jam. If you want a sweeter cookie, you can add 1/4 cup more granulated sugar to the dough.
- I used freezer jam in some of my cookies so I stored them in the fridge. If you use commercial jam, you can store them on the counter.
- You can use any type of nuts that you like, if you don't like nuts then you can omit them. I've done them both ways,
- These are larger thumbprint cookies, you can always make them 1/2 tablespoon in size if you want smaller cookies filled with 1/2 teaspoon of jam.
- Don't worry if the jam seems too wet on the cookie, once it cools it should firm up.
Tried this recipe?Let us know how it was!