Hazelnut Jam Drop Cookies (Thumbprint Cookies)

One dough, four different jams, four completely different biscuits. This is the recipe for every half used jar lurking at the back of the fridge door, the ones with two spoonfuls left that you are never going to finish on toast. Let's bake!

Why These Jam Drop Cookies Work

An egg yolk rather than a whole egg. The yolk brings fat and richness without the water content of the white, so the dough stays short and does not puff up and swallow the jam.

Rolling the balls in toasted hazelnuts does two jobs. It puts a bitter, roasted crunch against the sweet jam, and it gives you a textured edge that looks far more impressive than the effort involved.

Four jams in one batch means four recipes. Each biscuit tastes like its own thing, and it is the fastest way I know to clear out the odd jars.

The well is the whole technique. Deeper than looks sensible, and less jam than feels generous. Get that right and nothing boils over.

It is built out of leftovers. An egg white goes to breakfast, a handful of nuts from the back of the cupboard, and jam that was otherwise going to sit there until it crystallised.

Recipe Details

• Prep Time: 25 minutes, plus 20 minutes chilling
• Cook Time: 14 minutes
• Total Time: 59 minutes
• Makes: 8 cookies
• Difficulty: Easy
• Special Equipment: None

The bit everyone gets wrong is the well. People press a shallow dent, add a generous spoonful of jam, and then wonder why it has boiled over the sides and welded itself to the tray. Jam thins dramatically in the heat before it sets again, so the well needs to be deeper than looks sensible and the jam needs to be meaner than feels generous. Half a teaspoon per biscuit. Press the well with the rounded end of a wooden spoon, chill the shaped biscuits, then re-press any wells that have closed up before the jam goes in. The other thing worth doing properly is the nuts. Toast them in the oven or the air fryer rather than a pan, because a pan will always give you one side more cooked than the other, and seven minutes of consistent heat all the way round is what gets you a proper golden roast.

Ingredients

• 60g butter, softened
• 40g white sugar
• 1 egg yolk
• 110g plain flour
• 1/4 tsp baking powder
• Pinch of salt
• 30g hazelnuts, toasted, skinned and very finely chopped
• About 4 tsp jam, ideally four different jams

How to Make Hazelnut Jam Drop Cookies

1. Toast the hazelnuts. 170C (150C fan / 340F / Gas Mark 3) for 7 minutes, until fragrant and the skins are cracking. An air fryer does this brilliantly. Tip them into a clean tea towel while still warm, gather it up and rub them hard against each other until the skins come off. Some will hold on regardless, which is just the nature of a hazelnut.
2. Chop them fine. Crush them under the flat of a large knife first, which stops them rolling everywhere, then chop until there are no big chunks left. Let them cool.
3. Heat the oven. Turn it to 180C (160C fan / 350F / Gas Mark 4) and line a tray.
4. Cream the butter and sugar. Beat until pale, about 2 minutes, then beat in the egg yolk. Keep the white for scrambled eggs or a meringue, no waste.
5. Add the dry ingredients. Fold in the flour, baking powder and salt to a soft dough.
6. Roll and coat. Roll into 8 balls of about 28g each and roll each one in the chopped hazelnuts to coat.
7. Make the wells. Press a deep well into each with the rounded end of a wooden spoon. Deeper than you think. Use the two sides of the spoon if you want a heart instead of a circle.
8. Chill. 20 minutes in the fridge, then re-press any wells that have closed up.
9. Fill. About 1/2 tsp of jam in each. Two biscuits per jam gets you all four flavours out of one batch.
10. Bake. 14 minutes, until the edges are golden and the nuts are toasted.
11. Cool on the tray. The jam is molten and will burn you, and the biscuits firm up as they cool.

Why You'll Love This Recipe

• Four biscuits from one dough: Genuinely different, not just decorated differently
• It clears the fridge door: Every odd jar finally has a job
• One egg yolk: And the white goes straight into breakfast
• They look far harder than they are: Especially with the nutty edge
• Endlessly swappable: Any nut, any jam, or a spoon of chocolate spread

Chef's Tips for Hazelnut Jam Drop Cookies

Be mean with the jam. Half a teaspoon. It will look stingy in the well and it will be exactly right once it spreads in the heat.

Chop the hazelnuts really finely. Big pieces will not stick to the dough properly and they fall off the second you pick the biscuit up. Crush them under a knife first and they stop rolling off the board.

Skin the hazelnuts properly, and do it warm. The skins are bitter and papery and they burn before the nut does. The tea towel rub takes thirty seconds and only works while they are still hot.

Do your mise en place first. Read the recipe through and get everything out and measured before you start. It is how we work in restaurants, and it is the single biggest difference between baking calmly and baking flustered.

Toast the nuts in the air fryer or the oven, never a pan. Consistent heat all the way round gives you an even golden roast. Seven minutes is my rule and it has never let me down.

A firmer jam is easier, but do not stress about it. A firm set jam holds its shape and stays put. If yours is a bit loose, as homemade jams often are, it might bleed into the biscuit a little. It really does not matter, they will still taste great.

Re-press the wells after chilling. The dough relaxes in the fridge and the wells close up a little. Ten seconds with the spoon and you have the depth back.

Substitutions & Variations

• No hazelnuts? Any nut you have. Walnuts are excellent, or roll them in oats for a different texture entirely
• Chocolate spread instead of jam: A little dollop works exactly the same way
• Citrus zest in the dough: Lemon or orange, especially good against a sharper jam like mandarin
• Marmalade, curd or a thick chutney all work in place of jam if that is what is open
• Make them smaller: 15g balls give you a petit four size, and drop them to 10 minutes
• Dust with icing sugar once cold if you are giving them away

Storage

Best eaten fresh: Day one, while the biscuit is still crisp against the soft jam.

Airtight container: Four days at room temperature.

Fridge: Not worth it. It softens the biscuit and does nothing for the jam.

Freezer: Freeze the shaped, unfilled dough balls. Add the jam once thawed, then bake.

Avoid: Stacking them while warm. The jam is sticky and they will glue themselves together.

Frequently Asked Questions

Why did my jam run out of the cookies? Either too much jam or too shallow a well. Half a teaspoon into a deep well solves it. A looser jam will always bleed a little, which is perfectly fine.

Can I use a whole egg instead of a yolk? Not in this quantity. The extra water makes the dough cakey, and the biscuits puff up and close over the jam.

Do I have to chill the dough? Yes. It holds the well shape and stops the biscuits spreading flat.

How do I get the skins off hazelnuts? Toast them first, then tip them into a tea towel while they are still warm, gather it up and ruffle them hard. The nuts rubbing against each other is what takes the skins off. A few will refuse and that is normal.

Can I make these without nuts? Yes. Skip the coating entirely, or roll them in oats, demerara or desiccated coconut. The dough itself has no nuts in it.

What jam works best? A firm set one. Anything homemade and loose will spread more, which changes how they look but not how they taste. Apricot, plum and mandarin were what I had open.

Why are they called thumbprint cookies? Because the traditional way to make the well is with your thumb. I use the rounded end of a wooden spoon, which gets you a deeper, neater well and does not leave you with hot jam on your hand.

Can I make the dough ahead? Yes. Shape the balls, coat them, press the wells and keep them covered in the fridge overnight. Fill and bake straight from cold, adding a minute.

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Make these when you open the fridge and count four jars with two spoonfuls left in each. One dough, four flavours, and a whole lot of nothing wasted. That is the hidden waste tax dealt with, and a full biscuit tin out of it.

Enjoy!

Del x

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