The perfect thumbprint cookie seems simple but a go-to recipe has eluded me for the past few years. Whether your ideal thumbprint cookie is more of a sugar cookie base or shortbread base, we tested 9 different recipes in search of the best. (On a related note, there’s also a sugar cookie bake off and a shortbread bake off if you’re on a holiday cookie baking spree.)
Read on to find out how 48 tasters rated all 9 recipes!
Methodology
- 48 total tasters tasted samples of all 9 cookies
- Each taster ranked each cookie on a scale from 0-10 for flavor, texture and overall as a whole (data is shown under the Results section below)
- All recipes were baked the day of tasting for freshness
- Ingredients were measured by weight according to King Arthur (unless the recipe specified weights)
Ingredients
- Gold Medal bleached all-purpose flour
- Trader Joe’s unsalted butter
- Philadelphia cream cheese
- Nielsen-Massey vanilla extract
- Diamond Crystal kosher salt
- Imperial granulated, brown and powdered sugar
Results
After analyzing the data from all 48 tasters, results of the crowd rankings are below.
Sugar Spun Run, with its mix of butter, egg yolks, white and brown sugar, took top honors! This was closely followed by Sally’s Baking Addiction, which is a nearly identical (just eggless) recipe. My personal picks aligned quite well with the crowd in this bake off–Sugar Spun Run was also one of my top picks.
Truthfully, I don’t think there’s a crazy amount of variation between thumbprint cookies, as evidenced by the very tight scoring in the middle of the pack. However, there were some simple yet clear flavor variations that separated the top-rated recipes from the bottom, which I’ll dive into in the Factors section.
As always, I recommend reading through the entire blog post to decide which sounds best to you. I truly believe most of these recipes are delicious and would be someone’s ideal pick. My overall recommendations are outlined at the bottom of the post!
Factors
Granulated sugar is fine
Would powdered sugar prove to be the secret ingredient for more tender, superior thumbprint cookies? It appears not. All Recipes and Camilla Wynne were the two recipes to use powdered sugar (and extra cornstarch in Camilla’s case) and neither overwhelmingly won over tasters.
However, our winner (Sugar Spun Run) uses a mix of brown and white sugar. In a category where the variation was fairly limited, I suspect the slight flavor boost provided by the brown sugar helped give this cookie an edge. While it wouldn’t be aesthetically classic, I’d be curious to try using all brown sugar in a cookie!
Chilling (while annoying) predicts better cookies
All other things being equal, I’m always going to pick a recipe that doesn’t call for chilling (for efficiency! We love to not plan in advance!). I was curious to see if there was any correlation between recipes that required chilling vs. those that didn’t. In the end, all 5 recipes that didn’t require chilling ended up with lower ratings EXCEPT for Camilla Wynne (in 4th place). My hypothesis is that the no-chill recipes generally have a lower ratio of butter/fat and thus are generally less tasty. Higher fat recipes will generally be stickier and require chilling to better hold their shape.
Camilla (with 45% fat) is the exception to the no-chill rule thanks to the piping technique. Despite the dough’s extreme stickiness, the piping eliminates the need for a firm dough before baking.
If the recipe calls for chilling the dough, I recommend using a cookie scoop to portion out the dough ahead of time. I find it silly to chill the dough only to have to wait for it to temper later on in order to form the dough balls and bake.
Cream cheese is key for chewiness
I tested two recipes that used cream cheese, both in a 2:1 ratio of butter to cream cheese (America’s Test Kitchen and Baker by Nature). Baker by Nature is an eggless cookie with a relatively low ratio of flour while ATK adds a whole egg and a relatively higher ratio of flour for a stiffer texture that I didn’t enjoy as much. Baker by Nature was significantly chewier compared to ATK and the rest of the cookies as a whole.
While it doesn’t result in the classic short texture that I generally expect from a thumbprint, cream cheese can help achieve a chewy, more sugar cookie-esque texture.
No need for chemical leaveners
The grand majority of thumbprint cookies don’t use a chemical leavener (baking powder or soda). I think this is because most thumbprint cookies use a shortbread base, and leaveners aren’t traditionally used in shortbread (with no liquid in shortbread dough, the leavening won’t be activated).
However, I tested two recipes with chemical leaveners: Bob’s Red Mill (baking powder) and America’s Test Kitchen (baking powder and soda). Both recipes have a whole egg which provides moisture to activate the leaveners. This could help explain the more typical cookie texture described by some tasters re: ATK’s cookie. The leavening provides a bit of lift which, combined with ATK’s higher flour ratio, gave this cookie a more sturdy crunch. Meanwhile, I couldn’t perceive any impact the leavening had on Bob’s Red Mill’s cookie–it was simply flat and fudgy.
My takeaway: chemical leaveners aren’t really necessary in thumbprint cookies, especially if you’re looking for a more shortbread-like cookie.
Analysis
America’s Test Kitchen: coarse-textured, lightly sweet, mostly bland cookies
This recipe caught my eye for its use of both baking soda and powder along with a combination of cream cheese and butter. This does call for one of the most labor-intensive jam filling techniques. You create indentations in the dough before baking, then remove the cookies partway through baking to fill with jam and continue baking. This extra step supposedly prevents the jam from excessive caramelization and becoming sticky and leathery. Did this technique work?
In my opinion, this technique isn’t necessary. The texture of this jam didn’t differ significantly from the other cookies, so I’d skip this step if you try these and just fill them before baking. The base of these cookies had a slightly bumpier texture similar to the only other recipe that used cream cheese (Baker by Nature). However, unlike the doughier texture of Baker by Nature, these leaned a bit more stiff and cardboard-y. (These do have a higher flour ratio while Baker by Nature has more fat and sugar.) Ultimately, I found the flavor a bit bland–neither the flavor or texture was very compelling to me. However, some liked the firmer texture!
Taster comments:
- Favorite so far. The cookie wasn’t soft but was still a bit harder on the outside and there was a good ratio of jam to cookie. Crunchy, tasty, delicious! Has a baked flavor, more than the other cookies
- The texture was the most like a regular cookie, which was helpful for eating and not feeling sticky or gooey, but also it led to having less of the relevant flavor and was more like a normal cookie that also hosts some jam
- This cookie has a really nice classic holiday sugar cookie flavor but is let down by a drier texture than you’d hope for. The flavor of the cookie and the jam go great together, and the size is ideal for a quick snack. I just wish it was a touch softer.
- A little more dry and course. Not memorable. My husband preferred this one while it was not my favorite. Depends if you like a softer or a harder cookie
- Feels like this was the blandest tasting cookie to me. Texture was a little chalky and dry.
- Don’t get me wrong, none of these were actually bad, but relative to the others this one was not good. Chalky, dry, and also very tiny
All Recipes: thick, sugar-coated cookies with tender centers and hint of almond
Proportionally, this recipe is very similar to Reddit and Sugar Spun Run. The main differences: this recipe uses powdered sugar, a little more flour, adds almond extract, and rolls the cookies in granulated sugar before baking. No chilling required!
These had a thick texture that paired nicely with the light coating of sugar on these cookies. The center was soft and a tiny bit doughy with some melt-in-your-mouth elements to the outside of the cookie. While some found these a bit bland, I loved the hint of almond and vanilla. Despite having a similarly high proportion of flour as My Baking Addiction, I think the higher ratio of fat helped make these a little more flavorful (at least in my eyes–some tasters disagreed). If I were to make these again, I’d increase the salt from 1/4 tsp to 1/2 tsp. While not a standout cookie, these would be good for someone looking for a thicker cookie that’s not too sweet.
Taster comments:
- The texture is crumbly but I like the contrast it has with the taste–feels like it was designed to go with the jam. The size of the cookie seems the closely to what I’m used to and overall reminds me of the usual cookie I’d eat. Best one I’ve had so far.
- Nice shortbread-y taste, not too sweet, a tiny bit doughy.
- Soft-baked but still had a sturdy bottom, which I liked.
- Liked the bit of saltiness, but there was nothing after that. It was very bland. Overall an inoffensive cookie. Like with a lot of cookies in this bake off, it’s giving sugar cookie.
- Bland, bland, bland. This cookie had almost no flavor and a surprisingly gummy texture given its small size. It tastes the most like raw cookie rough but is also barely sweet without a bite of the jam.
My Baking Addiction: firm and floury cookies that look beautiful but are slightly bland
I was curious to test this recipe given its relatively high ratio of flour. Besides that, it’s a simple butter + granulated + whole egg recipe. Because of the high ratio of dry ingredients, this dough was a dream to handle–barely sticky at all, even with no chilling time.
These also baked up beautifully with smooth sides that held their shape well. Unfortunately, the downside of the high dry ingredient ratio is that these were incredibly…floury and a bit bland. The texture leaned stiff rather than melt-in-your-mouth like most others. To me, the main attraction of these cookies were the aesthetics. Unfortunately, I found these so lacking in flavor that I probably wouldn’t make them again.
Taster comments:
- Really liked the sugar cookie / shortbread forward feeling, not as much as the “standard” taste and feel of #2 though
- The most balanced looking sample with a decidedly more pronounced, memorable shortbread-y flavor. The texture is appealingly drier and is a nice contrast to the jam. The
- Liked the crumbly, good balance of sweet and buttery
- Really soft. Melt in your mouth. Good balance of sweetness and salt. Can taste the flour but in a good way
- Texture was way more dense, a little drier. Had a slightly more shortbread feel, but without the butteriness of shortbread, which left it slightly powdery. Love how thick the cookie is, and I prefer the smaller amount of jam to cookie ratio here.
- Biscuit was way too thick and a bit chalky for lack of a better word
- Very dense. The cookie itself doesn’t have a ton of flavor so needs more jam for taste.
Bob’s Red Mill: a buttery and sweet thumbprint with generous spread
I was primarily interested to try this recipe due to its use of baking powder (ATK was the only other recipe that used chemical leaveners). It otherwise looks like a very standard butter-based cookie with all-purpose flour, whole eggs and granulated sugar. Upon closer inspection, this recipe had the highest ratio of egg and second highest ratio of sugar.
These ratios translate to a relatively large, flat and buttery cookie that’s quite sweet. With a slight bit of chew (a far second in chewiness to Baker by Nature), this also felt like it leaned closer to a sugar cookie than a shortbread. Still, there were some melt-in-your-mouth textural elements that I enjoyed. Flavor-wise, I felt like I mostly got vanilla, flour and sugar. Like most tasters, I wished these cookies were a bit thicker for more of a classic thumbprint texture.
Taster comments:
- The texture is really solid with a good amount of crunch that isn’t overwhelming. Unfortunately it’s way too thin and needs a significantly larger portion of jam for the size of cookie. I like this one a bit more because it’s closer to a sugar cookie.
- Liked the texture – although it was more along the lines of a sugar cookie texture, it was the best one out of those in that it wasn’t as dense and wet. Thumbprint cookies should be a bit drier to offset the jam. The flavor was fine—the butter and eggs really come through. Not my favorite but probably one of the better cookies.
- Like eating a sugar cookie with jam, this is not the right texture for a thumbprint. it’s too soft of a cookie. too sweet.
- I did not like the cookie being thin, wide and crunchy. Felt like it missed the point of the jam. The ratio of it jam is off putting and the cookie is slightly sweeter than preferred
- Finally, here at the end of it all, is the flip side of [Reddit’s] coin lol. If #1 was “the sugar cookie that’s a shortbread,” then this one is “the shortbread that’s a sugar cookie.” It’s the sweetest base cookie and has way less of the prominent butter or flour notes of shortbread and more of a sugar cookie’s chew than the sandiness of a shortbread. This is a bit too sweet with the jam–even the cookie on its own is a bit too sweet.
Baker by Nature: slightly chewy, doughy-centered cookies that are slightly bland
It doesn’t get any easier than these 5 ingredient thumbprints! These call for just cream cheese, butter, sugar, flour and jam (no eggs). The dough does require a chill time for 45 min-2 hours, but you’ll have finished cookies with just 12 minutes of bake time.
These were the only cookies that had a bit of chew. Rather than the shortbread-like melt-in-your-mouth texture of other cookies, these had more of a sugar cookie vibe with doughy, almost fudgy centers and chewy edges. While I really loved the streamlined ingredient list for these cookies, I do think they could have benefitted from some salt or vanilla as they were a bit bland. But if you’re looking for a more sugar cookie-like thumbprint, these are a great pick!
Taster comments:
- The ratio of jam to dough is better in a smaller cookie, and the texture veers doughy, but in a pleasant way. The flavor is fleeting, with an initial hit of sugar but not much else.
- Soft-baked, almost cookie dough-like which I enjoyed
- Nice and soft, good jam amount but not very flavorful cookie
- Really good. I will say that the cookie is pretty thick so I felt I was mostly tasting cookie and not the jam part of the thumbprint cookie, but I didn’t mind because the actual cookie is so good.
- Nice texture and had a good bite too. It wasn’t too dense, but wasn’t too soft. Perfect jam to cookie ratio.
- Nothing too special with this one, plain cookie taste. Lacked flavor in the cookie. Liked ratio of cookie to jam
- Less buttery and drier.
Camilla Wynne: delicate, melt-in-your-mouth shortbread thumbprints reminiscent of storebought cookies
Ingredients-wise, I selected this recipe for its lack of egg, additional cornstarch, and use of powdered sugar rather than the typical granulated sugar. Technique-wise, this was the only recipe that called for piping the dough, which was intriguing. As you can see from the photos, I didn’t quite have the right piping tip. The cookies were a bit flatter than they probably should be, but I think we still got the general idea. This was another dough that requires no chilling!
Someone asked which cookie was closest to a storebought thumbprint (think Pepperidge Farm’s Verona cookies) and to me, these are clearly it. These lightly sweet cookies bake up dry and just a little snappy around the edges, but with a tender, melt-in-your-mouth middle. The added starch from both the cornstarch and powdered sugar contribute to a sandy, almost powdery mouthfeel that some found too dry and crumbly, but I personally enjoyed. They’re just so subtly delightful that I kept returning to these to take another bite–one of my favorites!
Taster comments:
- Really light and sandy, most shortbready and vending machine like. Great snap and flavor
- Very classic, nostalgic taste with a light texture and good jam ratio. Feels similar to those sandies cookies.
- This tastes like the closest to a mass-produced thumbprint cookie or Danish butter cookie that you’d get in a holiday tin, but more in a familiar way than a bad way. The cookie is thin, leading to a drier texture, but the flavor hits all of the expected notes.
- It kind of tastes like a Christmas spritz cookie with jam on it. It’s just a little too dry.
- Liked the more balanced flavor profile. The butter comes through, which was great. Not sure how I feel about the piping. The texture is what I want from a thumbprint cookie, as opposed to a sugar cookie texture (wish it were thicker though which is why I didn’t rate it higher).
- Way drier than the other cookies, too crumbly, and didn’t feel like it had much flavor
- Thin and crispy, didn’t enjoy the shortbread texture, and butter is too strong in this cookie
Reddit: a flat, buttery, melt-in-your-mouth cookie with pops of salt
This Reddit recipe is proportionally similar to Sugar Spun Run. The main differences: it uses all granulated sugar rather than light brown sugar, adds an extra egg yolk, and the key factor I was interested in testing: cake flour. While cake flour is key for tenderness and flavor in certain applications, I wasn’t certain how it would play out in a thumbprint.
And the verdict: I think the lower protein content of the cake flour paired with a generous amount of egg yolks led to a cookie spread that was a little thinner than desirable (for me). However, I really loved the flavor–there were nice pops of salt that contrasted the buttery, sweet flavor. I also loved the slightly short texture with its thin, moist and fudgy center. This felt like a nice hybrid between a shortbread and sugar cookie–there’s a tiny bit of a crumbly, short texture with some of the moisture of a sugar cookie. My main gripe is that it’s just a little flatter than ideal.
However, if you like a flat and slightly fudgy cookie, this is a great one to try! I suspect these would be nearly just as good with all-purpose flour instead of cake flour. (Or if you can’t find/are too lazy to source cake flour, you can always try the classic substitute: 1 cup all-purpose flour with 2 tbsp of cornstarch in place of 2 tbsp flour.)
Taster comments:
- I’m pretty picky about my shortbreads because I often find them unpleasantly dry, but the sandiness of this has a somehow melting quality after a delicate initial bite — possibly accidentally the shortbread of my dreams.
- Good, classic, buttery thumbprint with a bit of a salty aftertaste. Buttery and sweet up front. Crumbly like a shortbread.
- Really buttery with good salt balance, texture is very soft, not quite enough jam
- I liked the lighter / brighter flavor of the dough. Liked this cookie best, just wish the cookie was smaller and had more jam.
- Immediately don’t like the ratio of cookie to jam. The cookie itself is a little too grainy? But the flavor is pretty buttery and nice
- Slightly gummy texture… Nondescript flavor
Sally’s Baking Addiction: a vanilla-forward thumbprint with a pleasantly thick and short texture
Sally’s recipe is one of two eggless recipes. Where Camilla is eggless with powdered sugar and cornstarch, Sally’s recipe is eggless and uses granulated sugar. This recipe is nearly identical proportionally to Sugar Spun Run (minus the egg). It’s also nearly as simple as Baker by Nature ingredient-wise–just 4 basic ingredients (butter, sugar, flour, jam) with extra flavor boosts from salt, vanilla extract and almond extract. (Note: I did omit the glaze for consistency.)
The added salt and extracts provide the flavor that I was missing in the Baker by Nature cookie. Even with such a short list of ingredients, these cookies impart a nice buttery flavor that’s relatively strong on the vanilla and almond (which I enjoyed). Similar to Sugar Spun Run, these felt very classically shaped with a pleasantly thick, short texture.
These are a great option if you’re looking for an eggless cookie recipe (though do note that they require at least 3 hours of chilling!). If you’re in a rush, I think you could probably get away with an hour of chilling. I used the overnight chilling option and found the dough quite stiff to work with (requiring 30+ minutes to soften enough to be workable). Overall, another great classic recipe!
Taster comments:
- Tastes very similar to [Sugar Spun Run]… I like the density and heft of this cookie. A close second to [Sugar Spun Run]
- The texture of the cookie was soft and buttery. The overall balance of sweetness was good, and the large shape was eye catching. Has a little after taste that I can’t distinguish, overall my favorite so far.
- Yum! This cookie had a lot more flavorful dough, with greater depth than the previous samples and notes that stood up to the powerful flavor of the jam. The texture is tender and doughier but in a way that feels intentional, like the fluffy cookie you’d want.
- Really liked the almondy flavor with jam mixture, a little too crumbly and dense
- The almond is far too strong for a thumbprint in my opinion; I think it overpowers the jam, but I know this is a matter of personal taste.
Sugar Spun Run: a classic thumbprint with crisp edges, a slightly doughy center, and a sparkly sugar crust
This recipe came highly recommended from several people on Instagram. It’s also very similar to the Reddit recipe, except it uses all-purpose flour, half brown sugar, and one less egg yolk. It also calls for a tiny bit of added cornstarch (2 tsp) and a short 30 min chill time in the freezer.
This recipe easily stood out as one of the best cookies in terms of overall texture and flavor. Visually, it looks like a classic thumbprint–not too thick or thin with a proportional dollop of jam in the center. The roll in granulated sugar gave it a bit of an edge with the slight crunch and boost of sweetness that immediately hits your tongue. And the flavor just feels perfectly balanced–it’s sweet but not one-note (likely thanks to the mix of brown sugar and decent salt presence). With just a slightly crunch at the edges, a melt-in-your-mouth outer ring, and an almost fudgy center, these are a quintessential thumbprint cookie that I’m thrilled to recommend!
Taster comments:
- VERY good. Somehow light and crispy but doughy at the same time? Loved the sugar on top.
- Melt in your mouth texture around the edges with a fudgy center. Tied for best flavor so far (like 1)
- ULTIMATE texture wowow the sugar adds so much. just wish there was more jam, then it would be perfect.
- Great cookie to jam ratio. I think the sugar roll lends a lot to both the texture and flavor. This one is most visually appealing to me, and the taste overall lives up to the hype.
- Nice salty buttery flavor. Great texture. Perfect compliment to the jam without just being a vehicle for jam
- Cookie texture was very doughy, had a slightly undercooked batter taste (not necessarily in a bad way, just depends on preference).
- Fun sugared crust, good crumb texture (a little dry) but not enough jam or flavor
Recommendations
Erika’s picks: Sugar Spun Run, Camilla Wynne
Best classic thumbprints: Sugar Spun Run, Sally’s Baking Addiction
Best chewy, sugar cookie-like thumbprints: Baker by Nature
Best melt-in-your-mouth texture: Camilla Wynne, Reddit
Best storebought-esque cookie: Camilla Wynne
Best no-chill cookies: Camilla Wynne, All Recipes
