These Lemon Blueberry Thumbprint Cookies are the ultimate spring dessert! They’re made with a simple lemon sugar cookie dough, rolled in lemon sugar, and baked with a quick homemade blueberry jam in the center. The result is cookies that are irresistibly delicious – thick, soft, lemony, and with a perfectly sweet blueberry center.
These soft, chewy cookies are officially my favorite of all time! I wanted to come up with a cookie that used lemon and blueberry so badly, but adding fresh blueberries to a lemon sugar cookie dough just didn’t cut it – there wasn’t enough oomph or blueberry flavor. Creating thumbprint cookies is the perfect fix! This way, we get plenty of that jammy blueberry goodness with our lemon cookie. Let’s make ’em!
How to make the Blueberry Sauce:
This is somewhere between a sauce and a jam – and it’s so easy to make! Add frozen blueberries and sugar to a pot, and cook until they begin to release their juices. Then, add a mixture of lemon juice, cornstarch, and water. This will thicken the sauce. Add an extra 1/2 cup of blueberries towards the end of the cook time, so that they won’t break down as much as the others, adding a nice variety of texture! Once the sauce is done, pop it in the fridge to chill for at least 2 hours, or up to 24 hours. The chill time here makes this a great make-ahead recipe!
Make the Lemon Sugar Cookie Dough:
The cookie dough base is simple – it’s a sugar cookie dough with the addition of lemon juice and zest for that lovely lemon flavor. The dough will need a bit of a longer chill time, so that it is sturdy enough to hold the blueberry jam when the cookies go into the oven. You can chill for about 30 minutes before scooping the dough into balls, to make it easier. If you do it right away, the dough will be super soft, and if you wait until the chill time is up, it will be hard to scoop the dough. Chill the dough for at least 2 hours or up to 24 hours. This also makes these a great make-ahead recipe!
Assemble the Cookies:
Once your dough has chilled, roll the balls through lemon sugar. This sounds super fancy but is really simple. Just zest a lemon into a bowl of granulated sugar, and rub the lemon into the sugar with your fingers – that’s it! It adds a nice sparkle and an extra boost of flavor.
Once that’s done, press the back of a tablespoon into each cookie ball to make the indent. If you chilled your cookies longer than 4-6 hours, let the dough balls sit out for 10-15 minutes before doing this so that they don’t crack like crazy when you make the indent. If they do crack, that’s fine – your baked cookies just won’t look as perfectly round.
Add 1 to 2 teaspoons of the chilled blueberry jam to each cookie. That may not seem like a ton but it will be the perfect amount for each cookie. And, the jam will run while the cookies bake if you add more.
Bake for 12-14 minutes. The cookies won’t look super fancy when they come out of the oven, but they certainly taste like a million bucks! If your cookies are a bit lopsided, use a round cutter to scoot them into a circle (optional).
Decorate the Cookies:
This is optional, but you can easily dress up the cookies with just a few minutes worth of effort! Once they’ve cooled, drizzle on a bit of melted white chocolate. I think this goes much better with these cookies than a glaze, but you can also enjoy them without the white chocolate if you prefer!
I hope you love these cookies as much as we do! Happy Spring, and Happy Easter!
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Lemon Blueberry Thumbprint Cookies
These cookies are made with a simple lemon sugar cookie dough, rolled in lemon sugar, and baked with a quick blueberry jam in the center. The result is cookies that are irresistibly delicious - thick, soft, and lemony, with a perfectly sweet blueberry center.
Ingredients
For the Blueberry Sauce
- 2 cups frozen blueberries, plus 1/2 cup more Do not thaw
- 1/2 cup granulated sugar
- 2 tsp cornstarch
- 2 tsp lemon juice
- 1 tbsp warm water
For the Lemon Sugar Cookie Dough
- 1 cup salted butter, softened at room temperature 16 tbsp or 226 grams
- 1 cup granulated sugar
- 1/2 cup brown sugar, packed
- 1 and 1/2 tsp vanilla extract
- 2 large eggs
- 1 large lemon, zested
- 3 tbsp lemon juice
- 2 and 3/4 cup + 2 tbsp all-purpose flour
- 1 tsp baking soda
- 1/4 tsp salt
For Rolling Dough Balls:
- 1/3 cup granulated sugar
- 1 large lemon, zested
For Serving:
- 3 ounces white chocolate optional
Instructions
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Make the Blueberry Sauce: Add the 2 cups frozen blueberries and the sugar to a medium pot over medium heat. Cook, stirring, for 3 minutes so the berries begin to release their juices. (Cook for 1 additional minute if using fresh blueberries.)
Add the cornstarch, lemon juice, and warm water to a small bowl and stir until the cornstarch dissolves. Add this to the berries, and bring to a heavy simmer over medium-high heat, then continue simmering over medium heat, stirring constantly, for 2 minutes. Add the remaining 1/2 cup of blueberries, and cook for 2-3 minutes more, until thick enough that the blueberries hold for a second when you drag a wooden spoon through the pot (like you're parting the red sea). It should feel like a jammy sauce and shouldn't feel thin and runny. If it's thin, bring it back to a simmer and cook for a few more minutes until this texture is reached.
Pop this in a bowl to chill in the fridge for at least 2 hours or up to 24 hours. If chilling longer than 2 hours, cover the bowl once it's not piping hot anymore.
Alternative: You can also use a jar of store-bought blueberry jam if you want a few less steps in this recipe!
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Make the Cookie Dough: In a large mixing bowl, cream the softened butter with an electric mixer on high speed. Add the sugars and mix until well creamed together with the butter, about 1 minute. Add the vanilla and eggs and mix until just combined. Add the lemon juice and zest, and mix until just incorporated. Add the dry ingredients last, and mix until a dough forms.
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Chill the Dough: This dough needs a bit of a longer chill time so that it can contain the blueberry sauce when it bakes. I recommend pre-scooping your dough balls - thoroughly chilled dough is hard to scoop. (You can chill about 30 minutes first to make it a bit easier, though.)
Scoop the dough into balls that are 60-65 grams (about 2 and 1/2 tbsp), and place in an airtight container to chill for at least 2 hours, or up to 24 hours.
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Assemble the Cookies: Preheat your oven to 350° F. Once the cookies are chilled, mix the sugar and lemon zest together in a small bowl, rubbing the zest into the sugar with your fingers until it's well mixed. Roll the dough balls generously in this mixture, then place on a parchment or silicone baking mat lined cookie sheet. (I can fit about 6 on a sheet). Use the back of a tablespoon measuring spoon to press an indent into each cookie, and fill with 1-2 tsp of the blueberry jam.
Note: If you chilled the dough overnight, let it sit out for 10-15 minutes on your counter before beginning this step, so the balls don't crack like crazy when you make the thumbprint indent.
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Bake: Bake the cookies for 12 minutes if you only chilled the dough for 2-4 hours, and if you chilled it overnight, you'll need to bake for 14-15 minutes. The edges should appear and feel set when the cookies are done, and if you carefully lift up a cookie with a slotted cookie flipper, you shouldn't be able to see any wet dough spots on the bottom of the cookie.
When they come out, if the cookies aren't perfectly round anymore you can use a round cutter to scoot them into place. If you don't have one, they'll be fine either way.
Let cookies cool on the baking sheet about 10-15 minutes, then transfer to a cooling rack to cool completely before decorating and serving.
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Serve + Store: Drizzle cooled cookies with white chocolate or eat them as is. They're delicious either way. Cookies can be stored in an airtight container at room temp for 1-2 days, and after that I recommend refrigerating. Let cookies come back to room temp a bit before serving.
Recipe Notes
Saving under baked cookies: I accidentally under baked a pan of these cookies during my recipe testing, but was able to save them with a simple trick. You'll be able to tell that they're under baked once they've cooled and you break one open and see the texture of the inside, or a wet-appearing spot on the bottom of the cookie. Simply preheat the oven back to 350 degrees F, and add the pan of cookies once the oven is preheated. Bake for 5 minutes, then turn the oven off and leave the cookies inside the oven as it cools down, for about 10 minutes. Pull them out, and they should be properly baked, but not dry.
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