Vegan Thumbprint Cookies

Vegan thumbprint cookies with a raspberry jam center and an almond glaze. Sound good? Great!

Let’s bake!

We start off with a simple shortbread cookie dough, I adapted our recipe for vegan shortbread cookies.

We make up the dough and then roll it into balls. Some recipes advise chilling the dough first, but I found it almost impossible to put the thumbprint into the chilled dough without it cracking terribly. I found it easiest to put a thumbprint into pliable dough and then chill it afterwards before adding the jam.

So roll the dough into balls and then use your thumb to make indentations into each ball. It will crack a little, just smooth it as best you can with your fingers and don’t worry too much about it. Then you place the tray into the freezer to chill for 15 minutes.

Then you use a teaspoon to add the jam into the thumbprint indentations and smooth it down. Bake in the oven for around 16 minutes. You want the edges of the cookies to be just slightly browned.

It’s quite different to regular shortbread cookies in this respect because regular shortbread is hard and crunchy, whereas these cookies are soft and crumbly. This is why regular shortbread cooks at a lower temperature for a longer time period, whereas this cooks for a much shorter time at a lower temperature.

Allow to cool completely before drizzling with a simple glaze of powdered sugar, non-dairy milk and just a drop of almond extract. You want just a hint of almond flavor, nothing overpowering.

I used raspberry jam, but I have also made a batch with mixed berry jam that was just as fabulous. So use any jam you fancy or whatever you have on hand.

Getting the right consistency for the glaze can be a bit tricky because 1 tablespoon of non-dairy milk is too little and 2 tablespoons is way too much. So you have to add 1 tablespoon and then single drops until you get it just right. If your glaze is too runny, it will slide right off your cookies, but if it’s too thick, it won’t drizzle on at all.

We actually found it quite useful to use our piping kit to put this on, just using the thinnest attachment to pipe it in a drizzle pattern.

I really think you will love these vegan thumbprint cookies! They are:

• Soft and buttery
• Rich
• Perfectly sweet
• Melt-in-your-mouth
• Easy and fun

Keep the cookies in an airtight container where they will stay fresh for a few days or covered in the fridge where they will stay good for up to a week.

What do you think of these vegan thumbprint cookies? Tell us in the comments and please rate the recipe too, it’s super helpful for us! Thank you!

For more fabulous vegan cookies, check out these awesome recipes:

1. Vegan Peanut Butter Cookies
2. Vegan Oatmeal Cookies
3. Vegan Gingersnap Cookies
4. Vegan Sugar Cookies
5. Vegan Thin Mint Cookies

And heaps more!

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Vegan Thumbprint Cookies

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★★★★★

4.9 from 15 reviews

• Author: Loving It Vegan
• Prep Time: 45 mins
• Cook Time: 16 mins
• Total Time: 1 hour 1 minutes
• Yield: 20

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Description

Soft and buttery vegan thumbprint cookies with a raspberry jam center and almond glaze. These perfectly sweet melt-in-your-mouth shortbread cookie delights are so easy and fun to make and simply gorgeous!

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Ingredients

• 1 cup (225g) Vegan Butter
• 1/2 cup (100g) White Sugar
• 1/4 tsp Almond Extract*
• 2 Cups (250g) All Purpose Flour
• 1/2 tsp Salt
• 1/3 cup Raspberry Jam*

For the Glaze:

• 1 cup (120g) Powdered Sugar
• 1 Tbsp (plus a few drops) Soy Milk (or other non-dairy milk)
• 1–2 drops Almond Extract

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Instructions

1. Add the vegan butter and sugar to an electric mixer and cream them together. Then add in the almond extract and mix in.
2. Add in the flour and salt and stir in by hand until it forms a thick dough.
3. Line a baking tray with parchment paper, and break off pieces of the dough, roll into balls and place the balls onto the tray.
4. Use your thumb to create thumbprints in the balls, the dough may crack along the edges, just use your fingers to try to smooth out the cracks as best you can. Try and get the thumb indents as uniform as possible.
5. Place the tray with the cookies into the freezer for 15 minutes so that the cookies can firm up before filling the indents with jam.
6. After 15 minutes bring out the tray, preheat the oven to 350°F (180°C) and fill the thumbprints with raspberry jam.
7. Bake in the oven for 16 minutes until the edges of the cookies are slightly browned.
8. Let them cool for at least 30 minutes before glazing.
9. For the glaze, add the powdered sugar, soy milk and a drop or two of almond extract (just enough to get the flavor but nothing overpowering) to your electric mixer. A tablespoon of soy milk is too little, so you need just a few extra drops of soy milk to get the right amount.
10. Drizzle the glaze over your cooled cookies, or use a piping bag to pipe it on.

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Notes

*The almond extract flavor is subtle and adds charm 🙂 – but it can also be omitted if it’s not an appealing flavor blend to you.

*Feel free to use a different flavor jam.

• Category: Dessert, Cookies
• Cuisine: Vegan

Nutrition

• Serving Size: 1 Cookie
• Calories: 150
• Sugar: 13.4g
• Sodium: 133mg
• Fat: 5.4g
• Saturated Fat: 1g
• Carbohydrates: 24.1g
• Fiber: 0.4g
• Protein: 1.3g