These vegan thumbprint cookies are sweet, tender, and bursting with sweet jam filling! Easy to make and perfect for the holidays.
I've been trying to up my vegan holiday cookie game this year. See, I realized recently that this site is lacking a bit in the holiday cookies department. I mean, I have some holiday cookie recipes, but some isn't nearly enough to express my deep love of vegan holiday cookie baking. It's all I want to do this time of year!
So today I'm sharing a recipe for one of my favorites: jammy vegan thumbprint cookies. They're so good! I'm not even a jam person, but there's just something about biting into a buttery cookie filled with sweet jammy goodness.
They're also super cute and fun to make!
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What You'll Need
- Flour. We're using regular old all-purpose wheat flour for these cookies. You might be able to get away with using another variety like an all-purpose gluten-free blend, but I haven't tried so I can't make any promises!
- Cornstarch.
- Salt.
- Cinnamon. This is an optional ingredient. You'll barely be able to tell it's in there, but it will make your cookies taste better!
- Vegan butter. Most stores sell this near the regular butter. Look for brands like Earth Balance and Miyoko's.
- Sugar. Be sure to use organic sugar to keep the recipe vegan.
- Brown sugar. Again, use organic.
- Vanilla extract.
- Almond extract. This is optional, but really adds to the flavor of the cookies.
- Non-dairy milk. Just about any variety that's unsweetened and unflavored will work.
- Jam. Have fun and use your favorite variety of jam, or several varieties! I made apricot and raspberry vegan thumbprint cookies.
How to Make Vegan Thumbprint Cookies
The following is a detailed photo tutorial on how to make this dish. Scroll all the way down if you'd like to skip right to the recipe!
- Whisk your dry ingredients together in a mixing bowl: flour, cornstarch, cinnamon, and salt.
- In a separate mixing bowl, beat your butter, sugars, vanilla and almond extract together with an electric mixer at high speed. Make sure your butter is at room temperature. If you forget to set it out in advance, use this method to soften it up quickly.
- Beat in the non-dairy milk. Make sure this ingredient is also at room temperature.
- Start beating in the flour mixture, a bit at a time, using the mixer on low speed. When all of the mixture has been added you should have a soft dough.
- Cover the bowl tightly and chill the dough for 45 minutes to an hour. This step is super important, so don't skip it! Chilling the dough will prevent it from spreading too much when you bake the cookies. If this were to happen they'd lose their shape and the jam would spill out.
- After the dough has chilled, roll it into balls and roll each ball in sugar. Arrange them on a baking sheet and use your thumb (or a teaspoon-sized measuring spoon) to make a little indentation in each one.
- Fill the indentations with jam. Tip: warm up your jam so it's a bit runny. This will make filling your cookies a bit easier!
- Bake the cookies until they spread out just a teensy bit and darken slightly.
- Place the baking sheets on a cooling rack and let your vegan thumbprint cookies cool for a few minutes before removing them.
Shelf-Life & Storage
Store any leftover vegan jam cookies in a sealed container or bag at room temperature for up to a week, or freeze them for up to 2 months.
More Vegan Holiday Cookie Recipes
- Vegan Gingerbread Cookies
- Vegan Chocolate Chip Cookies
- Vegan Sugar Cookies
- Vegan Snickerdoodles
- Vegan Peanut Butter Blossoms
- Chocolate-Dipped Vegan Coconut Macaroons
Like this recipe? If so, please stop back and leave me a review and rating below if you try it! Also be sure to follow me on Facebook, Pinterest or Instagram, or subscribe to my newsletter for more recipes like this one!
Jam-Filled Vegan Thumbprint Cookies
These vegan thumbprint cookies are sweet, tender, and bursting with sweet jam filling! Easy to make and perfect for the holidays.
Ingredients
- 2 ¼ cups all-purpose flour
- 1 tablespoon cornstarch
- ½ teaspoon ground cinnamon (optional)
- ½ teaspoon salt
- 1 cup vegan butter, at room temperature
- ⅔ cup organic granulated sugar, divided
- ⅓ cup organic brown sugar
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- ½ teaspoon almond extract (optional)
- 3 tablespoons unflavored non-dairy milk, at room temperature
- ⅓ cup jam, any flavor
Instructions
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Whisk the flour, cornstarch, cinnamon and salt together in a large mixing bowl. Set the mixture aside.
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In a second large mixing bowl, beat the butter together with ⅓ cup of the white sugar, brown sugar, vanilla, and almond extract. Beat the mixture at high-speed until creamy, about 1 minute.
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Beat in the non-dairy milk, just until combined.
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Begin beating in the flour mixture, about 1 cup at a time, using the mixer on low speed.
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Once all of the flour mixture has been added, cover the bowl tightly with plastic and place it in the fridge. Chill the dough for 45 minutes to 1 hour, until the dough has firmed up substantially but is still soft enough to easily shape and handle.
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Preheat the oven to 375°F and line a couple of baking sheets with parchment paper.
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Place the remaining ⅓ cup of sugar into a small bowl.
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Measure out tablespoonfuls of dough using a measuring spoon or cookie scoop. Roll each scoop into a ball, then roll the ball in the sugar to coat.
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Arrange the dough balls on the baking sheets, spaced about 1-inch apart. Use a thumb or measuring teaspoon to make a small indentation in the top of each cookie.
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Fill each indentation with about ½ teaspoon of jam*.
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Bake the cookies until they've spread out just a bit and darkened slightly where they contact the baking sheets, about 10 minutes.
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Place the baking sheets on cooling racks and allow the cookies to cool for a few minutes before removing them.
Recipe Notes
*Try warming the jam up a bit and giving it a good stir if you find it too clumpy to easily fill the cookies.
If you need to bake these cookies in multiple batches, make sure to chill your dough when not working with it and let your baking sheets cool before starting a new batch. This will prevent your cookies from spreading too much.
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