These thumbprint cookies are absolutely scrumptious and super simple to whip together! All you need is five ingredients and ten minutes of preparation, and you'll be enjoying these sweet little treats in no time!
Funny enough, one of my favorite things about these cookies isn't the raspberry jam – it's the cookie dough! It's slightly sweet and reminiscent of a brioche bun, which means it pairs perfectly with a sweet jam!
The other thing you'll love about this recipe, though, is that your thumbprint doesn't need to be filled with raspberry. If that's not your jam, go ahead and try out some strawberry or apricot – or fill in with some lemon or cherry curd. Heck, you can even fill it with chocolate or caramel!
These cookies are also perfect if you have cream cheese left over from making cheesecake! This way, nothing will be wasted!
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🥘 Ingredients
- Butter - unsalted, softened, at room temperature.
- Granulated Sugar
- Cream Cheese
- Cake Flour
- Raspberry Jam
See the recipe card for quantities.
🔪 Instructions
The first thing you'll need to do is break out your hand mixer, and start combining your unsalted butter, cream cheese, and granulated sugar. You'll want to make sure that your butter has been softened to room temperature before mixing on medium speed from about 2-3 minutes.
You'll continue mixing on medium speed while adding your flour – spoonful by spoonful. If the dough becomes too tough for your mixer, you must mix the rest of the flour by kneading it with your hands. It's essential that you stop mixing or kneading once the flour has been evenly incorporated into the dough.
Once the flour has been evenly incorporated into your dough, you can start portioning your cookies out onto a parchment paper-covered baking sheet. In order to get uniform sizing, I recommend doing this with an ice cream scoop. Leave about 2 cm or 1-inch space between the cookies and the edge of the pan to prevent overcrowding.
From here, you can being making impressions with your thumbprint in the middle of each cookie.
You'll fill all these impressions with your raspberry jam once they come out of the oven.
These thumbprint cookies will need to bake for about 15 minutes at 180 C / 356 F until they start to turn golden brown. Once they've had the chance to cool down on a wire rack, you can start filling the small indents with 1⁄2 teaspoon of jam – or alternatively, you can use a piping bag!
This cookie dough is slightly sweet, reminiscent of the taste of brioche, and pairs perfectly with jam.
And if you like your cookies filled with delicious jam like this one, try out these wonderful hamantaschen cookies!
🥜 Substitutions
If you love the sound of thumbprint cheesecake cookies but aren't the biggest fan of raspberry, you can easily substitute it for another jam or custard. These cookies are incredibly delicious when served with strawberry jam, or if you feel a little more tart, try reaching for some lemon curd or even cherry curd!
Of course, you don't need to fill your thumbprint with jams or curds if you're got a taste for something even a little more sweet. This recipe is also great when paired with chocolate chips or caramel! Really, the thumbprint impression you leave on your cookies can be filled with anything sweet!
🍑 Variations
If you want to make these thumbprint cookies vegan, you can swap out the butter in this recipe for vegan butter, coconut butter, or coconut oil. You'll need to be sure that you're mixing these substitutes at room temperature to get the right consistency.
You can also swap out the cream cheese with vegan cream cheese. I think the slightly nutty flavor from vegan cream cheeses (usually made primarily from cashews) pairs excellently with strawberry jam.
🍽 Equipment
- Baking Sheet
- Hand Mixer / Stand Mixer / Electric Mixer
- Bowl
- Parchment Paper/Silicone Mat
- Ice Cream Scoop
🌡 Storage
These cookies will typically last three to five days when stored in an airtight container. If you want to extend their shelf life, you can also freeze them in an airtight container for up to a month.
💭 Top tip
Share something here that you think is key to making this recipe well, such as: Don't overcook the burgers! Sear the outside and cook to a minimum internal temperature, but they should still be juicy for best results.
🙋🏻 FAQ
If your thumbprint cookies are cracked or crumbling, the most likely culprit is that your dough is too stiff. You can prevent this by allowing your dough to sit at room temperature for at least 15 before lining your cookie sheet.
These popular cookies are also known as Hallongrottor – which literally translates to "raspberry cave" in Swedish.
If your thumbprint cookies are spreading out or getting flattened on the cookie sheet, it's usually because your butter wasn't mixed in at the right temperature. Using cold butter or melted butter in place of room-temperature butter will ruin the consistency of your cookies.
The thumbprint cookie gets its name from the thumbprint indentation you make in the dough – making space for delicious jams and custards.
If your cookies are crumbly, it's most likely because you chilled your dough before baking and didn't give it enough time to come to room temperature. You can prevent this by allowing the dough to sit for at least 15 minutes before baking in the oven.
Other Cookie Recipes for You to Try
- Austrian Coconut "Busserl" Cookies
- Lemon White Chocolate Chip Cookies
- Divine Leftover Egg Yolk Cookies
- How To Make Delicious Linzer Cookies With Egg Liqueur
- How To Bake Delicious Walnut Meringue Cookies
If you make this recipe, let me know how you liked it by ★★★★★ star rating it and leaving a comment below. This would be awesome! You can also sign up for our Newsletter or follow me on Pinterest or Instagram and share your creation with me. Just tag me @combinegoodflavors and hashtag #combinegoodflavors, so I don't miss it.
📖 Recipe
5 Ingredients Raspberry Cheesecake Thumbprint Cookies
Equipment
- Baking pan
- Hand mixer or stand mixer
- Bowl
- Parchment Paper or silicone mat
Ingredients
- ¼ cup Butter unsalted, softened, at room temperature
- ½ cup Granulated sugar
- ½ cup Cream cheese
- 1 cup Cake Flour
- ½ cup Raspberry jam
Instructions
- Using a hand mixer, combine the ¼ cup Butter, ½ cup Cream cheese, and ½ cup Granulated sugar for 2-3 minutes, starting at medium speed and gradually going to high speed.¼ cup Butter, ½ cup Granulated sugar, ½ cup Cream cheese
- Keep mixing while adding spoon by spoon of 1 cup Cake Flour. Make sure to stop as soon as the flour gets evenly incorporated into the dough.1 cup Cake Flour
- Portion the cookie dough onto a parchment paper-covered baking pan using an ice cream scoop.
- Press in the middle of the dough using your thumb, making an indent to fill the cookies with raspberry jam.
- Bake for about 15 minutes in a preheated oven at 180 C / 356 F until they start to brown.
- Fill the small indents with 1⁄2 teaspoon of ½ cup Raspberry jam (or use a piping bag) after the cookies are baked and cooled down.½ cup Raspberry jam
Nutrition values are estimates only, using online calculators. Please verify using your own data.
⛑️ Food Safety
- Cook to a minimum temperature of 165 °F (74 °C)
- Do not use the same utensils on cooked food, that previously touched raw meat
- Wash hands after touching raw meat
- Don't leave food sitting out at room temperature for extended periods
- Never leave cooking food unattended
- Use oils with high smoking point to avoid harmful compounds
- Always have good ventilation when using a gas stove
For further information, check Safe Food Handling - FDA.
nancy says
obsessed with these thumbprint cookies. I love that there's cream cheese in it too omg
Nora says
Thank you, Nancy! So glad you like them!
Mina says
I'm definitely making these amazing cookies with my daughter. I love recipes that are easy to make and only requires minimal ingredients. 🙂
Nora says
Thank you, Mina! Let me know how they turned out!