The Christmas when I was seven years old, a combination of Santa, my parents, and my grandparents gave me the American Girl Doll Kirsten, along with some clothes and accessories. With her blonde hair, she actually looked like me, and I loved slipping her into the hand-sewn aprons and dresses my grandmother stitched.
Over the years, I accumulated quite a collection of American Girl Doll products, some of them from catalogs and others handmade: a bed, a dresser, an armoire, a horse, plenty of clothes, and even a book of activities and recipes.
Although I wanted to make everything in that book, Mom suggested that I picked out a few favorites to try first. (Smart lady!) After skimming through the pages countless times, I eventually settled on a cake from Kirsten and cookies from Samantha.
The cake required a little more adult supervision, but since I could easily mix up the jam-filled thumbprint cookie dough by myself, that’s where I started. Raspberry jam in one bowl, stirred until smooth; butter and sugar in another bowl, beaten until creamy; add flour and roll, roll, roll into tiny balls.
I managed to make over 50 tiny cookies (probably because my hands and thumbs were so small back then!), and I neatly filled each one with the fruit spread. Mom placed the trays in the oven so I wouldn’t burn myself, and we set the kitchen timer to ring a few minutes later.
As soon as the jam centers cooled enough so they wouldn’t scorch our tongues, Mom, my brother, and I each took a bite. And another. And another. Those buttery cookies didn’t stand a chance—we polished off all but 10 by the time Dad returned home from work that evening!
My old next door neighbor’s daughter mentioned visiting the American Girl Doll store when I stopped by to visit last week, and that brought back lots of memories of childhood summers spent playing with Kirsten and licking buttery thumbprint cookie crumbs off my fingers. Instead of digging through boxes in the attic to find the recipe, I created my own healthier version with a little nutty twist: Peanut Butter & Jam Thumbprint Cookies!
Yes, even though I just revealed to you that I hated jam on my PB sandwiches as a kid, I still love the flavor combination. Salty and nutty PB + sweet fruit = ♥. Always has, always will. So these cookies are like a dessert version of the classic sandwich!
For the dough, I turned to my favorite healthy peanut butter cookies. Because I still wanted the treats to be bite-sized like I made them as a kid, I halved the recipe and still ended up with 24 cookies. Feel free to double the dough and jam if you’d like! With how little self-control I have around thumbprint cookies, that would just be dangerous in our house…
When you press your fingers into the centers of the balls to make a well, the sides may crack. That’s okay! Just pinch them back together, and no one will be the wiser. It almost always happens to me because I’m a perfectionist and work fairly slow, so the cookie dough for the last few dries out a tiny bit before I can get to them. They still turn out just fine though!
Before filling the centers with jam, it’s important to stir the jam until it’s smooth in a small bowl. Normally jam comes out of the jar slightly lumpy and wants to stick together, so stirring it with a spoon ensures that the cookie centers look and taste perfect.
I know it’s pure torture to wait for that fruity filling to cool, especially with the nutty peanut butter aroma wafting around the house… But I promise it’s worth it! Especially if nobody else is home and you can hoard the entire tray to yourself. Not that I’d know or anything.
Soft, chewy peanut butter cookies full of sweet, sticky fruit jam. Dessert doesn’t get much better than this—it’s the stuff cookie-lovers’ dreams are made of!
| Peanut Butter & Jam Thumbprint Cookies | | Print |
- ½ c (136-152g) raspberry jam* (regular or sugar-free)
- 1 c (120g) white whole wheat flour (measured correctly)
- ¾ tsp baking powder
- ⅛ tsp salt
- ½ tbsp (7g) unsalted butter or coconut oil, melted and cooled slightly
- 1 large egg white, room temperature
- 1 tsp vanilla extract
- 4 ½ tbsp (72g) creamy peanut butter
- ½ c (106g) brown or coconut sugar
- Preheat the oven to 350°F, and line a baking sheet with parchment paper or a silicone baking mat.
- Add the raspberry jam to a small bowl, and stir with a spoon until smooth. Set aside.
- In a medium bowl, whisk together the flour, baking powder, and salt. In a separate bowl, whisk together the butter, egg white, and vanilla. Stir in the peanut butter until completely incorporated. Stir in the sugar. Add in the flour mixture, stirring just until incorporated.
- Roll the dough into 24 balls, and place onto the prepared baking sheet. Gently press your thumb or index finger into the center to make a well. If the sides crack, gently press them back together. Fill the centers with the prepared jam.
- Bake at 350°F for 10-12 minutes. Cool on the baking sheet for 5 minutes before turning out onto a wire rack.
This recipe was tested with Skippy Natural creamy peanut butter. I have not tried natural/homemade peanut butter in this recipe and do not know how that will turn out.
If your cookie dough is too dry, add milk one tablespoon at a time until the cookie dough is the proper consistency.
For a clean-eating version, use coconut sugar and my 10 minute raspberry jam!
{gluten-free, clean eating (option), low fat, low calorie}
More thumbprint cookies from other food bloggers…
♥ Grain-Free Lemon Curd Thumbprint Cookies by Texanerin Baking
♥ Linzer Thumbprint Cookies by Healthy Seasonal Recipes
♥ Chocolate Cherry Thumbprint Cookies by Julie’s Eats & Treats
♥ Lemon Jam Thumbprint Cookies by Give Recipe
Oh my gosh Amy these look fantastic!!! 🙂 I can’t wait to try them!
Thanks Marina! I hope you like them!
Oh, what a sweet post! Brought back happy memories for me! My daughter, Spenser, received her first American Girl doll at Christmas when she was 5. Kirsten was her favorite. She use to get upset because she felt Samantha received more lime light than Kirsten! Ha That was 20 years ago now…wow, time sure flies. These cookies look yummy! Thanks for sharing.
It’s really true about Samantha! I wanted both her and Felicity because I thought I liked those time periods of American history a little better, but in the end, I realized my parents knew me better than I thought and gave me the best doll after all. Thank you for sharing your daughter’s and your story Donna!
What a lovely story – I could of eaten all of the 50 cookies if I was hungry! I love these cookies, they look divine and so pretty – pinned!
Thank you for your sweet comment and pin Eve!
Is it okay to use the crunchy version of Skippy Peanut Butter?
I think that should work Pooja! If the cookie dough seems a little dry because the crunchy bits of peanuts, then mix in a tablespoon or two of milk. I hope you enjoy the cookies!
Dear Amy, these cookies look wonderful! What a treat…I love thumbprint cookies. I should make them more often. xo, Catherine
Thank you so much Catherine!
Pinned these immediately! So pretty and I already know they will taste fantastic.
Thanks for your sweet comment and pin Dani!
I love anything peanut butter so thanks for giving me just another delicious way to eat it. I have to make these beautiful thumbprints!
I’m the same way with PB — my favorite way is to eat it straight from the jar with a spoon! I hope you enjoy the cookies Thalia!
Hi Amy,
These look incredible! I can’t wait to try them. Question, instead of the whole wheat flour, could all purpose or gluten free all purpose be substituted?
Thanks Allison! All-purpose would work perfectly in this recipe, but as for gluten-free, it really depends on the GF blend that you’re using. If the cookie dough seems a bit dry with GF flour, then mix in a tablespoon or two of milk. I hope you enjoy the cookies!
Hi! Please note: any kind of wheat flour is NOT gluten free. Please correct the annotation this recipe.
In the Notes section beneath this recipe, I include my preferred gluten-free flour blend. If that substitution is used, the cookies are gluten-free. I apologize for the confusion — the Notes section can be easy to miss!
You’re right, I missed the note at the end. I’m afraid I’m gluten-sensitive, but not in the usual way that’s meant. I go moderately around the bend with all the ‘gluten-free’ hype these days. I hate seeing the ‘gluten free diet’ reduced to a fad when there are folks whose lives depend on it — those with bona fide celiac disease, specifically. Here’s a historical food-funny for you: a :hundred years or so ago, gluten was the new magic food, meant to cure all ills and then some. Fast forward — ouch! What a difference a century makes! I hope one day to have time to wander in your site — right now things are ‘very too much’ so it will have to wait. With many thanks for the PB&J Thumbprints recipe . . . .
I have many friends with celiac disease, so I can understand how difficult a gluten-free diet can be when it’s completely necessary, not just a fad. I hope you’re able to find recipes that you enjoy and fit into your gluten-free lifestyle!
thankyou for nice biscuiots recipes i see you use eggs in thumbprint biscuits can i use milk instead of eggs as
m allergic to eggs so cant eat anything made with eggs if i use milk or substitute what should i use and how much milk quantity
thankyou
My favorite egg replacer is Ener-G. It’s a shelf-stable powder, and 1½ teaspoons of Ener-G whisked with 2 tablespoons of warm water is the equivalent of 1 egg. It’s great for cookies, cakes, and just about all baked goods! If you can’t find Ener-G, then you could try applesauce, and milk would be the third choice. I hope you enjoy the cookies Dino!