Our soft and buttery thumbprint cookies filled with a delicious homemade spiced pear jam will satisfy your craving for a slightly chewy and ever so sweet treat. The pear jam is truly out of this world, and every time I make my thumbprint cookie recipe these cookies fly out of the cookie jar in a flash.
Thumbprint Cookie Ingredients
Ingredients for the Homemade Spiced Pear Jam
- Pears. We used slightly firm red pears. You could make spiced pear jam with any pears.
- Sugar. Granulated white sugar is used in most jam recipes because it melts easily and smoothly without adding unwanted flavors.
- Lemon. Adds a little tartness and prevents the sugar from crystalizing.
- Ground Cinnamon. Makes the jam even tastier
Ingredients for the Cookie Dough
- Coconut Oil. Use it as an alternative to butter.
- Vegan Cream cheese alternative: This adds richness and flavor while making the cookies soft and chewy.
- Sugar.
- All-Purpose Flour. You can use gluten-free one-for-one flour in place of regular flour if you wish.
- Almond Flour. We swapped some of the regular flour in a traditional recipe for almond flour to add texture and flavor.
- Natural Vanilla Extract. If you can, avoid using Imitation vanilla extract.
- Salt. It enhances the sweetness of the cookies. You just need a pinch.
How to Make Thumbprint Cookies
What could possibly be better than a vegan version of a classic like thumbprint cookies? Especially since these cookies begin with our delicious spiced pear jam recipe!
Making the pear jam is really, really easy. Once you have the pears peeled, cored, and diced, Just throw all of the ingredients in a saucepan, stir, and cook for about 35 minutes. Mash the pears as they soften. Remember to stir! Begin with the saucepan covered, but remove the lid for the last five minutes of cooking.
Your homemade spiced pear jam will need to cool just a little bit, but that's okay because it gives you time to make the cookie dough. Preheat your oven and get your baking sheet lined with parchment paper because it makes cleanup so much easier.
Cream together the fats and sugar first, then add the almond flour and vanilla. Reduce the speed of your mixer before adding the flour and salt. This will result in a sticky dough. Form it into balls and indent each cookie with your thumb. Fill each indentation with the slightly cooled pear jam and bake your cookies!
How to Store Thumbprint Cookies
Cookies can be kept in an airtight container at room temperature in a single layer for several days until the cookies begin to dry out or crumble. Stacking the cookies may cause a sticky mess as the pear jam will transfer from one cookie to the next. Refrigerating the cookies also works and will keep the jam a little more firm.
How to Freeze Thumbprint Cookies
Freeze these yummy vegan cookies in a single layer on a sheet pan lined with parchment paper. Once the thumbprint cookies are frozen, place into a freezer-quality plastic bag for long-term storage, for up to three months.
Thumbprint Cookie FAQ
How long do I bake jam thumbprint cookies?
We tested this recipe several times using different ovens. For each oven, the baking time changed. Keep an eye on the cookies after 15 minutes, to make sure they don't burn on the bottom. They should be slightly soft when done.
What are thumbprint cookies?
Thumbprint cookies are any cookie recipe made where a filling is placed in an indentation made by the thumb. This filling might be jam or preserves, but it might also be chocolate or some other candy filling.
Do I have to use homemade jam in jam thumbprints?
No. Our recipe for thumbprint cookies is flexible! If you don't want to make homemade pear jam, you can use raspberry jam, blackberry jam, apricot jam, or your favorite flavor of jam instead. It doesn't even have to be homemade jam. You can use any flavor of jam you like. Storebought is fine.
Can I make the vegan jam thumbprints gluten-free?
Yes. I haven't personally tested the recipe with a gluten-free flour substitute, but the new gluten-free one-for-one all-purpose flours are very effective in cookie dough.
Jam Thumbprint Cookies
These beautiful, fruity cream cheese cookies can be served at any time or as a special holiday treat. Vegan thumbprint cookies are a great option for a cookie exchange or holiday party. Jam cookies will add variety to your cookie recipes, and they are a nice change from chocolate chip cookies or sugar cookies.
If you enjoyed this recipe, it would help us tremendously if you left us a star rating in the comments below or on the recipe card. Do you have any questions about the recipe? Do you need a swap for any of the ingredients? We are here to help, just leave us a question in the comments below.
Chewy Almond Thumbprint Cookies with Spiced Pear Jam (Vegan)
- Total Time: 37 mins
- Yield: 25 1x
- Diet: Vegan
Description
Our soft and buttery thumbprint cookies filled with a delicious homemade spiced pear jam will satisfy your craving for a slightly chewy and ever so sweet treat. The pear jam is truly out of this world, and every time I make my thumbprint cookie recipe these cookies fly out of the cookie jar in a flash.
Ingredients
- Spiced pear jam
- 2 large pears, slightly firm (here we used red pears), peeled, cored and diced
- ¼ cup sugar
- 3 tbsp water
- Juice of ½ lemon
- ½ tsp cinnamon
- Cookies
- ⅓ cup coconut oil, at room temperature
- ⅓ cup vegan cream cheese alternative, at room temperature
- ½ cup sugar
- 1 cup all-purpose flour
- ¾ cup almond flour
- 1 tsp natural vanilla extract
- Pinch of salt
Instructions
- To prepare the jam, combine diced pears, sugar, water, lemon juice and cinnamon in a small sauce pan. Cook covered, over medium low heat for about 30 minutes, stirring frequently with a wooden spoon and gently mashing the pear pieces each time. Uncover and continue cooking for another 5 minutes. Set aside to cool slightly
- To prepare the cookies, preheat oven to 350F. Line a large baking sheet with parchment paper
- Cream together coconut oil, cream cheese alternative and sugar until smooth, 3-4 minutes. Add vanilla extract and almond flour and continue mixing for another minute
- Reduce speed, add flour and salt and mix until just combined (the dough will be slightly sticky). If the dough is too dry add almond milk or other plant-based milk one tablespoon at a time until the dough comes together. The consistency of the dough will vary depending on the brand of cream cheese you are using.
- Scoop 1 tablespoon of dough and using your hands form dough balls (you will have about 25) and arrange them on the lined baking sheet
- Using your thumb, press down the center to make a small indentation. Fill each cookie with pear jam and bake on top rack at 350F for 15- 20 minutes (see note)
Notes
- We tested this recipe several times using different ovens. For each oven, the baking time changed. Keep an eye on the cookies after 15 minutes, to make sure they don't burn on the bottom. They should be slightly soft when done.
This post was originally published on December 18, 2014 - It has been updated.
- Prep Time: 15 mins
- Cook Time: 22 mins
- Category: Dessert
- Method: baked
- Cuisine: American
Nutrition
- Serving Size: 1 cookie
- Calories: 105
- Sugar: 7.9
- Sodium: 13
- Fat: 4.1
- Saturated Fat: 2.6
- Unsaturated Fat: 0.3
- Trans Fat: 0
- Carbohydrates: 13.4
- Fiber: 0.8
- Protein: 1.2
- Cholesterol: 0
Naomi Nachman
this looks delicious, always trying to find vegan cookies.
Vicky & Ruth
Thank you Naomi.
Christina @ The Beautiful Balance
I'm so happy I stumbled across your blog from the Finding Vegan link up! I was beginning to think I was the only lebanese blogger out there haha. Thumbprints are one of my favorite classic recipes and I love your addition of vegan cream cheese. That has to make the texture amazing!
Consuelo | Honey & Figs
No amount of cookie recipes is ever enough hey!! These look amaazing so I'm definitely not complaining! If only I had a couple of them in front of me right now ;--)
Vicky & Ruth
Thank you Consuelo. We love cookies too, and if they are vegan even better!
Sarah Klinkowitz
Those cookies look so good!
Michele
This is the second time I have tried this recipe because they look and taste so good. But both times now my cookies come out flat as a pancake. While in your picture they are round and puffy. I noticed there is no baking powder or soda in the recipe. I followed it as written any suggestions?
My family eats them flat because they taste so good but I would like to make them for my gluten free friends and would like to have them look good!!
Vicky & Ruth
Hi Michele,
We've tested this recipe several times and it has worked fine so far. If you're using the exact amounts of coconut oil and cream cheese, the recipe should work. Maybe double check the size of the cookies when you roll the dough? You could also try to refrigerate them for 20 minutes before baking.
Also, we noticed you mentioned you wanted to make them for your gluten free friends. Please keep in mind these are not gluten free, since they contain all purpose flour.
Hope this helps. Any more questions please let us know!
Elaine
Made these cookies with a black raspberry jam — everyone raved and finished them in no time. Able to find pears this time so making as noted. Filling is more watery than jammy. Wondering how I can fix. Made the filling ahead so I have a few days to adjust. Thank you!
Vicky and Ruth
If the filling was a little watery simply cook it longer. Cooking time depend a lot on your stove and the amount of moisture in the fruit.