Warning: these Strawberry Thumbprint Cookies are addictive! These soft and crumbly shortbread cookies are filled with strawberry jam and dusted with sugar sprinkles.
In our household, we also call them Christmas thumbprint cookies because we make them a lot during the holiday season. If I can only use three words to describe these strawberry filled cookies, it’s these: buttery, melt-in-your-mouth, heavenly.❤️
Looking to bake your heart out this holiday season? Check out Gooey Butter Cookies, Snickerdoodle Bars, Chocolate Dipped Shortbread Cookies and Brown Sugar Chocolate Chip Cookies…four of my favorites as well!
Cookies with Strawberry Filling
We always overeat our share of cookies whenever we make these Strawberry Thumbprint Cookies – they’re one of our favorite snacks around Christmas and the holidays!
It’s especially hard to resist these crumbly, buttery strawberry jam cookies when they are fresh out of the oven and your entire house smells like a a combination of vanilla and sugar.
The temptation is real (and so yummy)…
To portion control, we typically save half of the dough in the freezer and only bake the other half of the Strawberry Thumbprint Cookies so that 1) we do not overeat our fair share, 2) the next batch is fresh out of the oven when we want to eat them. Win-win!
This way when we are done with the first batch, there is no extra strawberry filled cookies sitting on the kitchen counter looking all tasty and irresistible. 😉
And yes, it is that good. The cookie dough will probably remind you of shortbread cookies. Crumbly, moist, and super buttery.
As for the strawberry filling portion, for convenience you can use store-bought strawberry jam, or make your own if you want to go all out.
It will be hard to compete with homemade jam made with fresh strawberries, but homemade is also a lot of work! So don’t skip out on this just because you don’t want to make the jam from scratch. These strawberry jam cookies will still totally be worth your time even if you are using a jar of store-bought jam for the filling, and the flavors will still be amazing!
And if you are still trying to decide on what cookies you want to make, and can’t quite make up your mind, be sure to check out my Caramel White Chocolate Chip Chocolate Cookies, or Chocolate Marshmallow Cookies, or White Chocolate Raspberry Cookies. They are equally fabulous.
Ingredients
Strawberry Thumbprint Cookies is a simple shortbread cookie recipe filled with strawberry jam or preserves. It’s made with pantry-friendly, basic ingredients, so you probably already have most if not all of the ingredients in your kitchen.
- Unsalted butter: Use softened unsalted butter for best results. The use of unsalted butter (instead of salted) allows for better control of the overall salt content in the recipe. Use softened not melted butter, to prevent cookies from flatening.
- Granulated sugar: Not only to sweeten the cookies, but also give them that deliciously beautiful light gold tint.
- Egg: Adds moisture and richness, and also acts as a binding agent to hold ingredients together.
- Vanilla extract: Enhances the overall flavor of the cookies, adding a warm and aromatic note. Almond extract is a good substitute.
- All purpose flour: The main structure-building ingredient, responsible for the cookies’ shape and texture. Use the spoon and level method (spoon flour into measuring cup without pushing it down) instead of scooping flour from bag.
- Baking powder: A leavening agent that helps the cookies rise slightly, giving them a light and airy texture.
- Salt: Balances the sweetness and enhances the flavors in the dough. Salt also helps bring out the natural flavors of the other ingredients.
- White sugar sprinkles: Adds a festive touch to the cookies by incorporating colorful bursts that catch the eye and bring holiday cheer. These tiny confectionery crystals create a delightful decorative element, making the cookies visually appealing.
- Strawberry jam: a good quality strawberry jam or preserves made with real strawberries are best suited for this. Or you can make a homemade version using fresh strawberries if you have time! Avoid the ‘jelly’ or more artificial kind. You can experiment with different flavors of jam to add variety to the recipe. Raspberry, apricot and peach preserves are a few of my favorites.
How to make Strawberry Jam Cookies
Step 1: mix ingredients
Making Strawberry Thumbprint Cookies takes about 30 minutes from start to finish.
It starts off like most cookie recipes: mix the wet ingredients – softened butter, sugar, egg and vanilla extract, in a large mixing bowl. If using stand mixer, mix with paddle attachment.
Bring together the dry ingredients – flour, baking powder and salt, in a medium bowl. Add dry ingredients to the butter mixture/ wet ingredients. Fold to combine.
Optional: You can cover the cookie dough with plastic wrap and chill for 1 hour if you want your Strawberry Thumbprint Cookies puffier (like the photos).
If they are not refrigerated before forming into individual cookies, then they will come out slightly flatter after baking. The chill time hardens the butter, which helps the cookies rise to a fuller shape.
Step 2: form and fill cookies
Once dough is ready, scoop up using cookie scoop or ice cream scoop and roll into 1 1/2 inch cookie balls. Note that an ice cream scoop is a lot larger than a cookie scoop, so if you make bigger than 1 1/2 inch balls, you will probably need a longer bake time.
Place them on baking sheets lined with parchment paper, generously spaced apart and in a single layer.
These cookies are about to get a bit flattened and then baked, so they will spread out more.
Then comes to fun part…let’s make a thumbprint!
Or kinda like a thumbprint…
You can make a dent in the middle of the cookie dough ball with your thumb (teaspoons and tablespoons work well too), or you can also use the end of a rolling pin to make the indentation.
I like the rolling pin method better because it makes a cleaner cookie indention.
After that, prepare a small bowl of coarse sugar crystal.
Dip the top of each indented shortbread cookie dough onto sugar mixture. Use fingers to press sugar down onto the dough so that it sticks on it.
Next, fill each indentation with sweet strawberry jam or preserves.
step 3: Bake, rest, and dig in!
Bake Strawberry Thumbprint Cookies in the oven at 350℉ for 14-15 minutes.
When done, remove cookies from the oven and let them sit for a few minutes on the baking sheet.
Then remove strawberry jam thumbprint cookies from baking sheet and let them cool completely on a cooling rack. Otherwise they will continue to cook if left on the pan and may get too hard.
Let me assure you: these strawberry filled cookies taste every bit as lovely as they look!
Serve them for dessert, snack, afternoon tea, or whenever you need a little cheer-me-up.
Highly recommend them when you are having a bad day. It has a magical effect and is food therapy at its finest. ❤️
Happy baking (and eating)!
Storing Thumbprint Cookies
To store pre-baked cookie dough, keep them in an airtight bag or container in the refrigerator or freezer. Keep in fridge no more than 5 days. They can be kept in the freezer for up to 1 or 2 months. If frozen, let dough thaw in the fridge before forming into balls.
To store baked Strawberry Thumbprint Cookies, keep them in airtight container or bag at room temperature for up to 3 days, or in the refrigerator for up to 6 days.
Tips and Tricks
- Make soft, fluffy cookies: Refrigerate shortbread dough before forming them into balls if you want puffier and thicker cookies. Use softened butter instead of melted butter, as melted butter will also flatten the cookies.
- Use a small cookie scoop: To ensure evenly-sized cookies, use a small cookie scoop to portion out the dough. This will help the cookies bake uniformly.
- Get creative with shapes: Use cookie cutters to make different cookie shapes. Instead of a circular cookie indention, make heart thumbprints, or half moons with teaspoons or tablespoons. It’s a fun activity to do with kids too!
- Line with parchment paper: for easier cleanup!
- Use good quality strawberry jam or preserve: Preferably those made primarily with real strawberries.
- Try different fillings: This recipe makes the perfect base for a plain yet oh-so-good cookie that you can add other flavors to. Use lemon curd for lemon thumbprint cookies (add some lemon zest too!), or try raspberry jam, peach preserves, apricot butter, chocolate ganache…so many options!
- Jazz them up: Top off the baked (and cooled) cookies with a glaze (flavored with extracts or citrus zest) or chocolate drizzle. Extra YUM!
Frequently Asked Questions
Ina Garten’s Strawberry Jam recipe has been my go-to homemade jam recipe for many years. It is simple, flavorful, and not overly sweet. An absolute delight. If I have all the time and energy in the world to make it all the time, I would exclusively eat her homemade strawberry jam.
It is recommended to line your baking sheet with parchment paper or a silicone baking mat to prevent sticking and ensure even baking.
To prevent the filling from spreading, make sure the indentation is deep enough to hold the filling securely and avoid over-filling.
Too soft implies that the cookies are underbaked, and similarly too hard implies that they are overbaked and have become tough cookies. Unfortunately oven temperatures may vary, so if you see this happening a lot, I suggest getting an oven thermometer and adjusting baking time as needed.
Combine powdered sugar, milk, vanilla extract or almond extract, and lemon zest or lemon juice and stir till the mixture reaches desired consistency. Cornstarch may be used to adjust the thickness.
ENJOYED THIS RECIPE? Tell us what you think by leaving a rating and review below! 🤍
More Sweets and Treats!
Because why not!
- Banana Chocolate Chip Cookies
- Mason Jar Banana Pudding
- Chocolate Cherry Brownies
- Peanut Butter Rice Krispie Treats
- Strawberry Sugar Cookie
- Mango Crumb Bars
- No Baked Oreo Truffles
Strawberry Thumbprint Cookies
Ingredients
- 3/4 cup unsalted butter softened
- 3/4 cup granulated sugar
- 1 large egg
- 1 tsp vanilla extract
- 1 3/4 cup all purpose flour
- 1/2 tsp baking powder
- 1/2 tsp salt
- 1/2 cup white sugar sprinkles
- 1/2 cup strawberry jam
Instructions
- Pre-heat oven to 350℉.
- In a large bowl, mix to combine wet mixture – unsalted butter, granulated sugar, egg and vanilla extract.
- In a separate bowl, bring together dry mixture – all purpose flour, baking powder, and salt. Mix well.
- Add dry mixture into wet mixture. Using a spatula to combine everything.
- Optional: cover bowl and refrigerate dough for 1-2 hours.
- Roll dough into small 1 1/2 inch balls. Then use the ends of a rolling pin or thumb to make an indentation at the middle of the dough ball. Press halfway down but not all the way.
- Press tops of cookies face down onto a bowl of white sugar sprinkles, and place them ~2 inch apart on the baking sheet.
- Fill each of the indentation with strawberry jam.
- Bake for 14-15 minutes.
- Remove from oven let it cool on the baking sheet for a few minutes, then place them on cooling rack until they are completely cool.
- Serve and enjoy!
Are the cookies still crunchy on the next day? Thanks
Cookies should still be fresh the next day! This is not a super crunchy cookie to begin with. To make it crunchy, you can bake it for a little longer than what it called for. And it should still retain the crunch the next day.
OMG so good plus easy to make. They taste amazing, we love eating them with our tea!
Omg yes! Hot tea with this sounds amazing! Glad you like them!
Do you cream butter and sugar in mixer or just stir together
Yes – cream butter and sugar in the mixer if you have one!
how long will these last in the fridge without getting hard?
Try to consume it within 5-6 days! Cookies will be softer and less dry/hard if you store in an airtight container in room temperature, but you’ll want to consume that within 3 days.
Good gracious, these are delicious!!! I added half gluten-free flour, plus about 10 drops of lemon essential oil to the dough (since I didn’t have a lemon to “zest”). Her tip to chill the dough in between all steps was important for the cookies to not spread. Perfectly delicious cookies the first time! This recipe is a keeper.
Thank you so much for sharing your modifications with everyone! So glad you enjoyed this!
Amazing! These are the best butter cookies I ever made! I use my own homemade jam.
Homemade jam on these are the best! Thank you for the rave review!
Turned out great I added some cinnamon and chopped pistachios and cashews
Amazing add-on’s! I’m glad it turned out so well!
I made these for Christmas and everyone loved them! I used to make them with my mom when I was little and no one had heard of them before. I’m so glad I found your recipe-it will definitely be on my list from now on
Thank you , Colleen! That’s wonderful that you are able to recreate this recipe you used to make with your mom 🙂
I tried this today, and OMG it was amazing. These cookies were moist and soft on the inside, and crispy on the outside. The bubbly jelly was absolute heaven. I recommend to sprinkle with powdered sugar after the final cookies have cooled. I would 10/10 make again!
Thank you so much, Olivia! Great tips as well! So glad you enjoyed this 🙂
I just made these today and they are perfect! The recipe is simple and easy to follow. The cookies pair perfectly with a cup of tea and they are so cute!
Tea is SUCH a perfect pairing with these! Thanks for sharing, Lauren. Happy to hear you liked it.
Hi, mine came out flat , they spread and didn’t look good BUT tasted amazing. Any idea why this would happen? Gonna try again soon.
If the butter is fully melted that can flatten cookies – so make sure it’s soften but not fully melted. Also, after rolling them into balls, refrigerate the dough for about 30 minutes to firm it up before doing the thumbprint and adding the jelly – that should help too! I’m so glad you like the taste of it though 🙂
My dough came out very dry and crumbly. I followed instructions step by step. It was very hard to make balls and thumbprint. What did I do wrong?
This dough should be crumblier than typical cookie dough. If it’s hard to make into balls let it sit out in room temperature for a few minutes before rolling. It will be a bit hard since we refrigerate it before rolling – that’s expected. 🙂
I am so disappointed. I doubled the recipe and they turned out looking awful. They spread terribly. Thankfully they taste great so my grandkids will still eat them but I cannot gift them as intended.
If you prefer them thicker, you’ll want to refrigerate the dough to prevent spreading. Melted (or warm) butter in the dough will cause the cookie to spread. I’m glad you enjoyed the taste though!
I will definitely make again. Thanks!!!
Thanks for sharing, Kina! Glad you enjoyed it.