A high altitude recipe for soft raspberry thumbprint sugar cookies, with a soft and chewy sugar coated cookie and sweet raspberry jam filling. A hint of almond extract in the cookie dough adds a lovely complementary flavor to the raspberry jam, and the cookies stay so incredibly soft for days. And be sure to scroll through today’s post to the recipe variations section, for instructions on making lemon thumbprint cookies, too!
You might also love these soft and fluffy frosted sugar cookies, three ingredient peanut butter cookies, and pumpkin spice maple sugar cookies.
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Why You’ll Love This Recipe
Soft for Days. After baking these cookies, I kept a few in a container and even 4-5 days later, they were still perfectly soft.
Versatile. If raspberry isn’t your favorite flavor, you can use any flavor of jam you like to fill your thumbprint cookies. Blueberry, blackberry, peach or apricot would all be great, or even lemon curd, too.
Perfected for High Altitude. I based today’s raspberry thumbprint sugar cookies on my soft and fluffy sugar cookie recipe. Since I think thumbprint cookies shouldn’t spread too much, and look best when they can maintain their cute, round shape as they bake, I tested the recipe multiple times to ensure it works perfectly for high altitude.
For Any Occasion. Although this recipe is simple enough for an every day cookie, these would be so lovely in a Christmas cookie box with their ruby red jewel centers.
See the recipe card at the end of the post for the full ingredients list and instructions.
Ingredients
- All-Purpose Flour. Gives the cookies structure and strength.
- Corn Starch. Tenderizes the cookie dough for a softer sugar cookie.
- Powdered Sugar. Adds sweetness, while the fine texture keeps the cookies soft and tender.
- Granulated Sugar. For rolling the dough balls before baking.
- Baking powder. This is the leavening agent that makes the sugar cookies fluffy.
- Salt. Balances the sweetness.
- Unsalted Butter. Adds moisture and fat to the cookies for a flavorful, tender texture.
- Egg Yolks. Gives the cookies structure and strength. Using just the yolks, instead of the whole egg, not only makes the cookies more chewy and soft, but also prevents them from spreading too much as they bake.
- Vanilla. I used vanilla bean paste for a very distinct vanilla flavor, but you can also use vanilla extract.
- Almond Extract. Adds a nice complementary flavor to the raspberry jam.
- Raspberry Jam. You need seedless raspberry jam, but that can sometimes be hard to find. If your jam has seeds, simply press it through a mesh strainer to remove the seeds.
Instructions
- In a large bowl, whisk together the flour, corn starch, powdered sugar, baking powder and salt, until well combined.
- Add the cold butter pieces, and use a pastry cutter to cut the butter into the flour mixture until very small pieces of butter remain, and the mixture is crumbly.
- Add the vanilla, almond extract and egg yolks, and stir in to moisten the dry ingredients, then use your hands to work the moisture in until it comes together into a soft dough.
- Divide the dough into 18 equal portions. TIP: This is easiest to do if you weigh all the dough, divide that number by 18, then weigh out each portion. So if you have 21 ounces of dough, you would weigh out around 1.2 ounces of dough per cookie.
- Roll each portion of dough into a ball, then coat the dough balls in the 1/4 cup of granulated sugar. Press the bottom of a measuring spoon into each dough ball to indent the center.
- Stir the raspberry jam thoroughly, so that it’s very smooth, not chunky. Fill the centers of each of the cookies with about 1 teaspoon of the jam.
- Chill the unbaked cookies in the refrigerator for 1 hour, to help prevent them spreading too much as they bake.
- Preheat the oven to 350 F, and position a rack in the center of the oven. Line a large baking sheet with a piece of nonstick baking paper or parchment paper.
- Place the chilled cookies 3 inches apart on the baking sheet. Bake for about 11 minutes, just until the edges are set, and the color is a pale golden brown. Cool the cookies on the baking sheet for 2 minutes, then transfer to a wire rack to cool completely.
Recipe Variations
Lemon Thumbprint Cookies
You can use today’s recipe to also make the best high altitude lemon thumbprint cookies, with just a few simple adjustments. Simply add 1 tablespoon fresh lemon zest to the cookie dough (with the dry ingredients) and replace the raspberry jam with lemon curd.
Be sure to read all of my BAKING FAQs where I discuss ingredients, substitutions and common baking questions, so that you can be successful in your own baking!
Frequently Asked Questions
Why is my cookie dough too dry?
If you’re having a hard time getting your dough to come together into a ball, then you may have measured too much flour, and you can add a very small amount of milk or water to moisten it. You may also find it easier to make the dough with a food processor, rather than by hand.
What size measuring spoon should I use to indent the centers of the cookies?
This will depend on the style of your measuring spoons. If they’re the thin, stainless steel kind, then use the 1 teaspoon measuring spoon to make the indents, so you can fill them with 1 teaspoon jam. The white ceramic measuring spoon shown in the photos above is very thick, so even though it’s marked as a 1/4 teaspoon, it created an indentation big enough to fill with 1 teaspoon of jam.
How should I store the leftover cookies?
Raspberry thumbprint sugar cookies should be stored in an airtight container at room temperature for up to 3 days, or frozen for up to 3-6 months.
What if I can’t find seedless raspberry jam?
If you can’t find seedless raspberry jam, simply press the jam through a mesh strainer to remove the seeds. You can also try any flavor of jam that you like. Regardless of the flavor, it’s important for the jam to be smooth, not chunky, when you fill your cookies. During the testing process I found that little chunks in the jam caused it to splatter more and stain the tops of the cookies. So definitely stir it up well before hand, or puree it in a food processor to smooth out any pieces of whole fruit.
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High Altitude Raspberry Thumbprint Sugar Cookies
All recipes on Curly Girl Kitchen are developed for high altitude at 5,280 feet. See FAQs for adjusting to higher or lower elevations.
Ingredients
- 2 ¼ cups all-purpose flour, fluffed, spooned and leveled
- 1 tbsp corn starch
- ¾ cup powdered sugar
- ½ tsp baking powder
- ¼ tsp coarse Kosher salt (if using table salt, use half the amount)
- ¾ cup cold unsalted butter, cut into tablespoons
- 2 large egg yolks (save the whites for another use)
- 1 ½ tsp vanilla bean paste or vanilla extract
- 1 tsp almond extract, optional
- ¼ cup granulated sugar, for rolling the dough balls
- â…“ cup seedless raspberry jam (see note)
Instructions
- In a large bowl, whisk together the flour, corn starch, powdered sugar, baking powder and salt, until well combined.
- Add the cold butter pieces, and use a pastry cutter to cut the butter into the flour mixture until very small pieces of butter remain, and the mixture is crumbly.
- Add the vanilla, almond extract and egg yolks, and stir in to moisten the dry ingredients, then use your hands to work the moisture in until it comes together into a soft dough.Tip: If you're having a hard time getting the dough to come together, your egg yolks may be on the small side, and you may need to add more moisture, either with another egg yolk, or a very small amount of milk.
- Divide the dough into 18 equal portions. TIP: This is easiest to do if you weigh all the dough, divide that number by 18, then weigh out each portion. So if you have 21 ounces of dough, you would weigh out around 1.2 ounces of dough per cookie.
- Roll each portion of dough into a ball, then coat the dough balls in the 1/4 cup of granulated sugar. Press the bottom of a measuring spoon into each dough ball to indent the center.
- Stir the raspberry jam thoroughly, so that it's very smooth, not chunky. Fill the centers of each of the cookies with about 1 teaspoon of the jam.
- Chill the unbaked cookies in the refrigerator for 1 hour, to help prevent them spreading too much as they bake.
- Preheat the oven to 350 F, and position a rack in the center of the oven. Line a large baking sheet with a piece of nonstick baking paper or parchment paper.
- Place the chilled cookies 3 inches apart on the baking sheet. Bake for about 11 minutes, just until the edges are set, and the color is a pale golden brown. Cool the cookies on the baking sheet for 2 minutes, then transfer to a wire rack to cool completely.
Do you know if they will stay soft if they are kept in the refrigerator after cooked and cooled? I’m making lots of cookies for Christmas and was hoping they would stay good for a bit longer if I kept them in the fridge.
I would freeze them if you’re making them in advance. Stored in the fridge or at room temp, they’ll stay soft for 2-3 days.
Took these to a cookie swap and they were a hit!
These are now one of my go-to cookies for any gathering. The sugar cookie base is so delicious with the addition of almond extract and I love how easy it is to swap out the type of jam. Several friends and family have said these are the best thing I bake!
How does the cornstarch help in this recipe?
These cookies came out absolutely delicious! My first batch turned out too try though and the cookies had major cracks, so I remade without the extra 1/4 cup flour and used a food processor and they turned out perfect. I also heated up the jam & strained so it filled the indents completely and had that smooth look. I live in Denver too and so happy I found these high altitude recipes!
I made these cookies to gift to people we Christmas caroled to. Made the recipe as is and they turned out great at 7,200 feet! I used a small cookie scoop and the cookies were super soft and cute. The perfect size for someone to enjoy in one bite!! I used my food processor to mix up the dough. Since the cookies didn’t spread, I was able to put quite a few of them on the cookie sheet to bake at one time, adjusting the bake time until they were pale golden brown. Thank you for sharing the recipe!!