Soft and buttery vegan thumbprint cookies with a raspberry jam center and almond glaze. Easy and fun to make and simply gorgeous!
These almond and raspberry vegan thumbprint cookies are perfect for the holidays. Buttery melt-in-your-mouth vegan shortbread with a raspberry filling and drizzled with an almond glaze. What could be better!
The recipe is adapted from our vegan shortbread cookies (also perfect for the holidays) and with a few small changes we have these gorgeous little treats.
And for more holiday cookies, check out our vegan snickerdoodles, vegan peanut butter cookies, vegan butter cookies and vegan peanut butter blossoms.
How To Make Vegan Thumbprint Cookies
You will find full instructions and measurements in the recipe card at the bottom of the post. This is a summary of the process to go along with the process photos.
We start off with a simple shortbread cookie dough. 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.
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.
Bake in the oven for around 16 minutes. You want the edges of the cookies to be just slightly browned.
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.
Almond Glaze
Getting the right consistency for the almond 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.
Recipe Tips
Measure your flour properly. The best way to measure your flour is to weigh it out on a food scale. If you don’t have a food scale then the next best thing is to use the ‘spoon and level’ method. Spoon the flour into your measuring cup (don’t pack it into the cup or scoop it) and then level off the top with a knife.
Keep an eye on the cookies as they bake. Ovens can differ greatly, so make sure that they are lightly browned on the edges. You don’t want them to over-bake.
Gluten-free. We have not tested these cookies for gluten-free but if you’d like to try it a gluten-free all purpose baking blend in the same quantity as the regular flour will be the best option.
Storing and Freezing
Keep the cookies in an airtight container at room temperature where they will stay fresh for a few days or covered in the fridge where they will stay good for up to a week.
They are also freezer friendly for 3 months.
More Vegan Cookies
- Vegan Oatmeal Cookies
- Vegan Ginger Cookies
- Vegan Sugar Cookies
- Vegan Chocolate Chip Cookies
- Vegan Chocolate Peanut Butter Cookies
- Vegan Vanilla Wafers
Did you make this recipe? Be sure to leave a comment and rating below!
Vegan Thumbprint Cookies
Ingredients
- 1 cup Vegan Butter (225g)
- ½ cup White Granulated Sugar (100g)
- ¼ tsp Almond Extract
- 2 cups All Purpose Flour (250g)
- ½ tsp Salt
- ⅓ cup Raspberry Jam
For the Glaze:
- 1 cup Powdered Sugar (120g)
- 1 ¼ Tbsp Soy Milk or other non-dairy milk
- 1-2 drops Almond Extract
Instructions
- Add the vegan butter and sugar to the bowl of your stand mixer and cream them together. Then add in the almond extract and mix in.
- Add in the flour and salt and stir in by hand until it forms a thick dough.
- Line a baking tray with parchment paper, and break off pieces of the dough, roll into balls and place the balls onto the tray.
- 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.
- 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.
- After 15 minutes bring out the tray, preheat the oven to 350°F (180°C) and fill the thumbprints with raspberry jam.
- Bake in the oven for 16 minutes until the edges of the cookies are slightly browned.
- Let them cool for at least 30 minutes before glazing.
- For the glaze, add the powdered sugar, 1 tablespoon of soy milk and a drop or two of almond extract (just enough to get the flavor but nothing overpowering) to a bowl and mix together into a glaze. Add the extra ¼ tablespoon of soy milk slowly just until you get the right consistency. It needs to be thin enough to drizzle but not so thin that it slides right off the cookies.
- Drizzle the glaze over your cooled cookies, or use a piping bag to pipe it on.
Notes
- Almond extract. 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.
- Measure your flour properly. The best way to measure your flour is to weigh it out on a food scale. If you don’t have a food scale then the next best thing is to use the ‘spoon and level’ method. Spoon the flour into your measuring cup (don’t pack it into the cup or scoop it) and then level off the top with a knife.
- Raspberry Jam. Feel free to use a different flavor jam.
- Baking time. Keep an eye on the cookies as they bake. Ovens can differ greatly, so make sure that they are lightly browned on the edges. You don’t want them to over-bake.
- Gluten-free. We have not tested these cookies for gluten-free but if you’d like to try it a gluten-free all purpose baking blend in the same quantity as the regular flour will be the best option.
- Storing and freezing: Keep the cookies in an airtight container at room temperature where they will stay fresh for a few days or covered in the fridge where they will stay good for up to a week. They are also freezer friendly for 3 months
Hiya..
What step do you need to preheat the oven?
Hi Olivia, you preheat the oven to 350°F (180°C) after the dough has chilled and while you’re filling them with raspberry jam. 🙂
Can I just leave out the almond extract if I’m allergic to nuts and what if I cant get vanilla extract to replace it… can i use lemon juice instead???
Hi Sarah, you don’t have to replace it with anything, just leave it out. 🙂
Absolutely delicious! Dec to add some oil last batch as dough not holding together. Yum
Thanks for sharing Jessica. 🙂
Warm greetings from the Netherlands!
Just did these and they turned out great!
Raspberry jam. Liked the saltiness.
This was a Christmas trial run (did the gingerbread for Saint Nicolas on December 5th – also nice!)
Will spread the good cheer at work tomorrow and make fresh ones the 25th!
(I’ll prepare them, freeze them uncooked this week and bake them on Christmas morning)
Hi Jeanette, so glad you enjoyed the recipe! Hope your colleagues enjoy them too! Thanks a million for the great review. 🙂
Hello, is the butter used softened to room temp or is it cold.
Hi Pam, I usually add it to the mixer cold from the fridge and don’t soften first but it is creamed with the sugar so softens and comes up to room temperature during that process.
These are GREAT! We used vanilla instead of almond. I am a home canner and used my own blackberry jam with no glaze! I’ve been searching for a great vegan shortbread! We will use this recipe time and time again!
Thanks Kelly! 🙂
Great recipe! We Just made these for thanksgiving with a homemade cranberry chutney-type filling. soft and “buttery,” perfect for my non-vegan family. Personally; they look a little pale (the bottoms are nice and golden), might try some whole wheat flour next time.
Quick, easy, and tasty! I used self raising flour and it was fine. Slightly too salty for my taste so I’ll reduce that next time. I used seedless bramble preserve and was a bit over generous so it leaked over the sides! Off to search more of your recipes now!
Hi Catherine! Glad to hear it worked well with self raising. Self raising does have added salt though so that would account for extra saltiness. 🙂 Hope you find lots of recipes here that you like! Thanks for posting. 🙂
They taste awesome! I used vanilla extract and blueberry jam instead.
Sounds lovely! Thanks for sharing! 🙂
I have never made shortbread before, but I made these today since I had homemade thimbleberry freezer jam to use up. i found the dough a bit crumbly so I just added another Tablespoon of vegan butter and they were perfect. I made 1/2 recipe which made 7 large cookies. The glaze was really a nice addition. Thank you for the recipe – it is DEFINITELY a keeper for me and I can’t wait to make more of these closer to the holidays as I know they’ll be a huge hit.
Awesome Tara, so glad they came out well! Thanks for posting! 🙂
What kind of butter did you use?
I just made these with homemade vegan butter (made with coconut oil) and they were a bit oily, but so yummy! I’ll try with margarine next time. Store bought vegan butter doesn’t exist in Argentina, so I make do. Unfortunately, I didn’t have powdered sugar, but they’re great without it too! Thanks for the recipe 🙂
Hi Ella, glad you enjoyed them overall. Thanks for sharing! 🙂
These were amazing!! I cook and bake for my daughter who’s vegan (I’m vegetarian) they were easy to make and really really yummy!! If I didn’t know they were vegan I would not have been able to tell! Bravo for another great recipe! I LOVE this blog!!! Thank you!
Yay! So glad to hear they were a success and SO happy you love the blog, thanks so much Heather! 🙂
Thank you for another great recipe! I made these last night, and the cookies were outstanding! I did not use any glaze on them, I thought they were perfectly sweet without it. I did not have almond extract, so I used 1/8 tsp vanilla extract instead. I tried some of them with raspberry jam, and some with blackberry jam, both were very good.
Really simple and easy to make, soft, moist, and delicious. They were a huge hit with my family.
Do you know if I could try these with another kind of flour, such as spelt or gluten free?
Also, could I use a healthier kind of sweetener, such as honey or maple syrup?
thanks again
Hi Carrie, so glad you enjoyed the cookies! You could try with a gluten-free all purpose flour blend, that might work out okay though I haven’t tested that. Since maple syrup is a wet ingredient it couldn’t be substituted for granulated sugar, but you could try something like coconut sugar but I have no idea how it would turn out. All the best! 🙂
Simple vegan treat, melt in the mouth deliciousness