Shortbread Thumbprint Cookies
Dec 12, 2014, Updated Dec 01, 2025
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Buttery shortbread thumbprint cookies filled with raspberry or orange jelly and rolled in sparkly raw sugar. Easy, classic, and perfect for the holidays, right next to my peanut butter blossoms and cinnamon roll sugar cookies.
These soft, buttery shortbread thumbprint cookies are an old favorite of mine. They are the cookies I made when my girls were little, and we needed something sweet, simple, and just a little bit fancy, because with two little girls in the house, anything sparkly or jewel-like was basically our whole personality. The dough comes together in minutes, the centers get filled with jelly, and the edges get rolled in sparkly raw sugar for the prettiest little finish. They’re classic, easy, and so good with a cup of golden milk latte, coffee, or tea.
Why You’ll Love These Thumbprint Cookies
- Just a few simple ingredients. These classic cookies are made with flour, sugar, and butter, plus your favorite jelly for a sweet, fruity finish.
- Perfect holiday cookie. These thumbprint cookies bake up tender, buttery, and melt-in-your-mouth delicious, making them great for holiday baking, gifting, or on your Christmas cookie trays right alongside your pie crust cookies and kolacky.
- Easy. Just mix, roll, fill, and bake. A simple, reliable shortbread cookie recipe that works every time.
Recipe Ingredients
- Butter – I use unsalted butter. Make sure it’s softened so it creams smoothly and gives the cookies that tender, melt-in-your-mouth texture.
- Granulated sugar – White sugar mixes evenly into the dough for a classic shortbread sweetness.
- Flour – You’ll need all purpose flour for this recipe.
- Raw sugar – For rolling the cookie dough balls before baking; adds crunch and a pretty sparkle. Use sanding sugar or sprinkles instead of raw sugar for a different look.
- Jam or jelly – Spooned into the centers for the perfect pop of fruity sweetness. You can swap the jelly for lemon curd, apricot jam, or your favorite preserve.
How To Make Shortbread Thumbprint Cookies
There’s a really great reason why these cookies disappear so fast. They are delicious, stunning, and they literally melt in your mouth. There’s also a bite of that crunchy sugar topping paired with the sweetness of your favorite jam.
- Cream the butter and sugar, mixing until smooth, light, and fluffy.
- Add the flour and combine until the dough comes together.
- Chill the dough. Refrigerate until firm enough to roll, or freeze for about 15 to 20 minutes.
- Shape the cookies. Roll the dough into small balls, then coat each one in raw sugar.
- Make the center. Use your thumb or the back of a teaspoon to press a small well in each cookie.
- Fill with jelly. Add a little raspberry or orange jelly to each indentation.
- Bake. Bake just until the edges set and the bottoms turn lightly golden.
- Cool. Let the cookies cool completely so the centers firm up.
Recipe Tips
- Don’t overwork the dough. Overmixing shortbread makes it tough instead of tender. The more you work the dough, the more the gluten develops, and gluten is what makes things chewy, which is great for bread, but terrible for shortbread.
- If the dough feels too soft to roll, chill it for 10–15 minutes.
- Press the wells gently so the cookies don’t crack too much.
- For super neat centers, fill with jelly after baking (totally optional!).
- Want extra flavor? Add a tiny splash of vanilla or almond extract.
How To Store
- Room temperature: Keep the cookies in an airtight container to keep them buttery and fresh. They’ll hold well for about 3 to 4 days.
- Fridge: Store them in a sealed container to keep the jelly centers firm and the cookies from drying out. They’ll last up to 10 days.
- Freezer: Place the baked cookies in a freezer-safe container or bag, separating layers with parchment so they don’t stick. You can freeze them with or without the jelly for up to 2 months. Thaw in the fridge or at room temperature.
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Shortbread Thumbprint Cookies
Ingredients
- 1 cup butter, softened
- ⅔ cup granulated sugar
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract, or almond extract
- 2 cups all purpose flour
- raw sugar, for rolling, optional
- raspberry and orange jelly
Instructions
- Make the cookie dough. Cream the butter and sugar together in a mixing bowl until the mixture is light and fluffy. Add the flour and a splash of almond extract, then mix again just until the dough forms. Cover and chill the dough in the refrigerator for about an hour.
- Chill the dough. Wrap the dough in plastic and chill it in the refrigerator for about an hour or in the freezer for 20 minutes.
- Preheat the oven. When you’re ready to bake, set your oven to 350°F.
- Shape the cookies. Scoop or roll the chilled dough into 1-inch balls, then roll each ball in raw sugar and place it on a parchment-lined baking sheet. Gently press each cookie to flatten the top, then use your thumb to make a small well in the center. Spoon a little jam into each indentation.
- Bake. Transfer the baking sheet to the oven and bake the cookies for about 10 minutes. Pull them from the oven while they’re still pale – they shouldn’t brown. Let them rest on the sheet for a minute or two before transferring them to a cooling rack to finish cooling.
- Cool. Let the thumbprint cookies rest on the sheet for a minute or two before transferring them to a cooling rack to finish cooling.
Notes
Stored in an airtight container, you can also freeze them for up to 2 to 3 months
Nutrition
Nutritional info is an estimate and provided as courtesy. Values may vary according to the ingredients and tools used. Please use your preferred nutritional calculator for more detailed info.
I love thumbprint cookies… I would eat way too many of these. 🙂
So glad you were able to get things working again! I know it can be so frustrating! These cookies are just gorgeous!
So Sorry for your tough week but at least it’s back online now and these look fabulous!
Beauties, the jam filling looks like jewels! 🙂
Glad you’re back up and running and these cookies just wow!
Oh no! What a week! You definitely deserve a huge plate of cookies. Jam thumbprints are so pretty!
There is nothing worse than that helpless feeling when your site crashes!! But there is nothing better than these pretty little cookies!!
Thank goodness for Friday, right? And for beautiful cookies which would be bound to make anyone feel better!
Yay, glad you’re back up and running! I love that these cookies only have a few ingredients – and they look awesome and bejeweled with that jam. 🙂
Those 3 little numbers, 404, are like my least favorite number ever! So happy for you that you got it worked out. I love the texture that raw sugar adds to cookies! These look fantastic.