Do you love cookies and jam? Then these buttery thumbprint cookies are a must-bake! Similar to a shortbread, which is not overly sweet, means this cookie has lots of room for a sweet jam center. Here they’re filled with our Raspberry Lemon Verbena Jam but apricot is lovely too. Use your favourite jam or mix up the flavours to create assorted colourful cookies.
In-A-Jam Thumbprint Cookies
INGREDIENTS
• 1 cup unsalted butter, at room temperature
• ½ cup of confectioners sugar
• ¼ teaspoon salt
• 1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
• ½ teaspoon almond extract
• 2 ¼ cups of all-purpose flour, lightly spooned and sifted
• ½ cup Raspberry Lemon Verbena Jam
DIRECTIONS
1. Cream butter and sugar until light and fluffy
2. Add in vanilla and almond extract
3. In another bowl, sift flour and salt. Gradually add to the creamed mixture until blended. Don’t over mix
4. Chill the dough for 30 minutes
5. Once chilled, roll dough into 1 – 1 ¼” balls, depending on how large you want the cookies, and place on an ungreased cookie sheet
6. Using your thumb (or the back of a teaspoon) press an indentation into the center of each cookie. Fill each hole with 1/2 teaspoon of jam
7. Preheat oven to 350F and bake cookies on the middle rack until lightly browned on the edges and puffed, 13-15 minutes
8. Remove from the oven and let cool for 5 minutes on the baking sheet. Transfer cookies to a wire rack to cool completely
9. If desired, while cookies are still warm dust with extra confectioners sugar. The sugar will melt on the jam and stay white on the cookie rim
TIPS
• Use thicker jams for this cookie. Thinner jams will ‘bleed’ and run off the cookie
• Store cookies at room temperature for 2-3 days or in the fridge for up to a week
• Layer baked cookies between sheets of parchment paper and freeze for up to 3 months
• Use different flavours of jam to create a colourful cookie plate. Dust some with confectioners sugar. See #9 above