Create a holiday classic with this Jelly Thumbprint Cookies Recipe. Made with simple baking ingredients for easy preparation — just don't forget the glaze topping!

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Recipe Name: Jelly Thumbprint Cookies Recipe
Ready In: 90 minutes
Serves: 24 cookies
Main Ingredients: ¼ cup all purpose flour, salt, butter, white sugar, brown sugar, egg, vanilla, almond extract
Why You'll Love It: Create a holiday classic with this Jelly Thumbprint Cookies Recipe. Made with simple baking ingredients for easy preparation — just don't forget the glaze topping!

The most delicious jelly cookes with jam

It's that time of year when thumbprint cookies are making their rounds! You'll see them on the holiday displays and included in the annual cookie exchanges with DIY recipes all over Pinterest. They're a staple during the holidays and they come in so many differnet flavors! But have you ever tried to make them from scratch?

Today, you're going to learn!

This jelly thumbprint cookies recipe is made with delicious strawberry jelly and topped with a simple but effective 3-ingredient glaze. We're also adding some almond extract for extra flavor!

Ingredients in this jelly thumbprint cookies recipe

Jelly thumbprint cookies are made with classic cookie ingredients like flour, salt, butter, and sugar. Then, we take things a step further with double flavor extract, and of course, the jelly!

Flour: The cookie dough begins with a base of 2 ¼ cups of all-purpose flour.
Salt: Add some flavor with ¼ teaspoon of salt. You'd be amazed at the difference it makes!
Butter: Next, use 1 cup of softened butter. This is going to make the cookies nice and moist.
White sugar: For the sugar, start with ½ cup of white sugar.
Brown sugar: Follow the white sugar with ¼ cup of brown sugar.
Egg: 1 egg will help the ingredients bind together properly.
Vanilla: Add some more flavor with 1 teaspoon of vanilla extract.
Almond extract: Do the same with ½ teaspoon of almond extract!
Strawberry jelly: Next up is the jelly! You'll need ¼ cup of strawberry jelly (or whatever other flavor you'd like to use).
Sugar: Last but not least, set aside a small bowl of white sugar to roll the dough in before baking.

Glaze

Powdered sugar: The base of the glaze is made with ½ cup of powdered sugar.
Almond extract: ½ teaspoon of almond extract gives the glaze a delicious flavor.
Water: You will need about 2-3 teaspoon of water to help the glaze reach the correct consistency.

Photo of ingredients for Jelly Thumbprint Cookies Recipe with labels.

Tools that you'll need to make jelly thumbprint cookies

You'll need a handful of kitchen tools to make this recipe, but nothing out of the ordinary. Here's a full breakdown:

Baking sheet
Parchment paper
Medium mixing bowl
Stirring utensil
Large mixing bowl
Hand mixer

For measuring out ingredients, you will need the following measuring cup sizes: ¼ tsp, ½ tsp, 1 tsp, ¼ cup, ½ cup, and 1 cup.

How to make this jelly thumbprint cookies recipe

To begin, preheat the oven to 350°F and line a baking sheet with parchment paper.

Using a medium-sized mixing bowl, mix together the flour and salt. Set aside.

Then, use a large mixing bowl and a hand mixer to mix the butter, white sugar, brown sugar, egg, vanilla, and almond extract. Combine until the batter becomes creamy.

Slowly add the flour mixture to the wet mixture until everything is well combined. Let the dough chill for 1 hour.

Once chilled, roll 2 tablespoon of dough into a ball. Then, roll it in sugar and place it on the parchment-lined baking sheet. Press down with your thumb to create a dent in the center. Repeat until you've used all of the dough.

Add ½ teaspoon of jelly to each thumbprint center.

Bake for 12-14 minutes.

While the cookies bake, create the glaze by mixing together all of the ingredients.

Let the cookies cool for 30 minutes, and then drizzle the glaze on top.

Jelly Thumbprint Cookies on cookie sheet

Storing leftovers

Thumbprint cookies hold up quite well when stored properly. Simply add them to an airtight container and keep at room temperature for up to about 3-4 days!

Recipe Tips

I don't have a hand mixer. Will that mess up my recipe?
No, that's okay! I recommend using a hand mixer at Step 3 because we want the batter to become very creamy. But if you don't have one, you can mix by hand! You might just need to mix the ingredients a bit more than usual.

Can I use blueberry jelly?
Absolutely! I used strawberry, but any jelly flavor will work. In fact, blueberry would be delicious!

Do I have to let the dough chill?
I definitely recommend it! Chilling the dough not only helps with the texture of the final cookies, but it also helps with rolling and shaping the dough. If you're short on time, 30 minutes will do. But, at least 1 hour is best!

If you liked this recipe, you'll want to try these!

Wondering what cookie recipe to prepare next? Here are some ideas that should help! The brown butter oatmeal cookies are a personal favorite.

All recipes by Erin Morrissey and Photos by Sierra Inn

Erin Antoniak