Lemon Thumbprint Cookies with Strawberry Jam

Oh my friends, its cookie season! Today I’m sharing with you a recipe for these incredibly delicious Lemon Thumbprint Cookies with Strawberry Jam! A simple, shortbread like, cookie with lemon zest brightness. The cookies are topped with jam, I went with strawberry because that’s my boys favorite. You are going to LOVE these cookies!

Our first Friday of December- how did that happen so quickly? Today is a special Friday here on the blog- its our Freaky Friday Virtual Cookie Exchange! Michaela of An Affair From The Heart is not only an amazing food blogger, she is the one that organizes us bloggers and these recipe swap events several times a year. I have to say, the cookie exchange is probably my favorite one of the year. We are all assigned a blog to showcase by choosing a recipe of theirs to bake up and share. I was assigned the insanely talented Sheila of Life, Love & Good Food .

Michaela puts an incredible amount of time and effort into organizing these blog hop recipe swaps and I sure appreciate her efforts & support. Her food blog, An Affair From The Heart, has some of the most delicious recipes you will find! you’ve got to try her Chocolate Orange Fudge, Potatoes Au Gratin, Peppermint Dipped Chocolate Chip Cookies and her Glazed Smoked Ham!

Lets get to these Lemon Thumbprint Cookies with Strawberry Jam shall we?! While browsing Sheilas blog, Life, Love & Good Food, for a special cookie to share as part of our Virtual Cooke Exchange I was immediately drawn to these. There were SO many yummy sweet treats to choose from, such as, Gingerbread Gems, Caramel Pecan Thumbprint Cookies and her Cherry Biscotti. I think what drew me to these was that touch of lemon in the cookie, I really love the brightness that lemon zest adds to a sweet treat. In Sheilas recipe she uses raspberry jam which is a perfect combo with lemon but ya know, my kiddos rule the house so I went with strawberry.

The dough is really really simple! Butter, sugar, vanilla, lemon zest and salt are mixed until light and fluffy. You’ll then add the egg and mix until well combined. The flour goes in last. Using a cookie scoop you’ll scoop out these perfect two-bite sized cookies and roll them into smooth balls with your hands. Place them evenly spaced out onto a parchment lined baking sheet.

Using the tip of your finger you’ll create a little crater in each of the cookies. This will be where you’ll add the jam after the cookie has baked and cooled. Bake your cookies at 350 degrees for about 14 minutes. Allow them to cool on the pan for 5 minutes before transferring them to a cooling rack.

While the cookies are baking you can make the simple glaze- powdered sugar, milk and vanilla or almond extract. The recipe for the glaze makes a bit more then needed for these cookies but you can keep it covered in the fridge for other holiday cookies. Keep covered with plastic wrap while waiting to use the glaze so it doesn’t form a hardened top.

Once the cookies are cooled you can go ahead and fill those thumbprints with jam. The glaze is last and you’ll want to make sure to keep the cookies on the cooling rack but place the cooling rack onto your parchment lined baking sheet so that it will collect the drips.

For the glaze, I simply used my mini whisk to give a rustic drizzle going over the cookies from to back and side to side. You can use a piping bag or plastic zip bag as well. Allow the cookies to sit out until the glaze hardens up on there and then you can place them in an air tight container for keeping. I place a piece of parchment between layers to prevent the cookies from sticking to each other.

Take a look at all of our 2021 Freaky Friday Holiday Cookie Exchange Recipes:

1. 1. An Affair from the Heart – Candy Cane Puppy Chow
   2. The Carefree Kitchen – Christmas Linzer Cookies
   3. Devour Dinner – Peppermint Meltaways
   4. Family Around the Table – Chocolate Overload Cookies
   5. The Foodie Affair – Easy Pecan Pie Crust Cookie Recipe
   6. Fresh April Flours – Pecan Chocolate Chip Cookies
   7. The Fresh Cooky – White Chocolate Peppermint Cookies
   8. Hostess at Heart – Crumbl Cookie Recipe
   9. House of Nash Eats – Peppermint Chocolate Chip Cookies
   10. Kathryn’s Kitchen Blog – Peanut Butter Cup Cookies
   11. Lemoine Family Kitchen – Lemon Thumbprint Cookies with Strawberry Jam
   12. Lemon Blossoms – Cranberry Orange Biscotti
   13. Life Currents – Chocolate Mint Rugelach
   14. Life, Love & Good Food – White Chocolate Macadamia Nut Cookies
   15. Soulfully Made – Polar Bear Paw Cookies