American Elderberry Thumbprint Cookies

Made with River Hills Harvest brand American Elderberry Jelly

Thumbprint cookies are a fun family activity for the holidays or when you're stuck inside during the winter. We love exploring different types of jellies, jams and preserves and one of our favorite ways to enjoy them is with thumbprint cookies.

If you are new here, our recipes are simple and always use a product made with American grown elderberries! This one uses our very own American Elderberry Jelly. Each time you purchase a product made with American elderberries you are supporting farmers across the USA. Visit our Elderberry Products page to explore USA made products we have available.

Visit

For the following recipe, you can choose to have as much gumption as you want. Maybe you want to make the cookies from scratch. You can also use a pre-made sugar or shortbread cookie powder mix or dough. Either way, get yourself to the point of having ready to shape dough, and this recipe will be a guide as to how to fill them with the elderberry jelly.

Want to make them from scratch? Here is a healthy alternative we found online:

Amy's Healthy Baking's Healthy Thumbprint Cookies - Get this, Amy uses elderberry jelly in her recipe too!

Visit

American Elderberry Thumbprint Cookies

We are starting this recipe assuming you've made it to the point of having fresh, ready to shape dough.

1. Most of the recipes use around 1/3 of a cup of American Elderberry Jelly. This may vary if you have purchased a pre-made dough.

2. Shape your dough into about 1-inch balls and place around 2 inches apart on your baking sheet.

3. You will add around a 1/2 teaspoon of jelly to each cookie. First, make an indentation in each cookie to hold that much jelly.

4. Next, add your jelly. It may help to first stir the jelly to get it a little more loose for this step.

5. Bake as directed, let cool and enjoy!

Variations

1. Bonus points if you use our River Hills Harvest brand Elderberry Syrup to drizzle on the cookies once they're cooled!

2. Dust them with powdered or brown sugar once they come out of the oven.

3. Make them divine with pieces of chocolate added to the bottom of the indentations before adding the elderberry jelly and baking.

4. Have other jams or preserves you really love? Mix them with the elderberry jelly and try different flavor combinations.

5. Serve with a roasted pecan on top.

We hope you enjoy this variation on a timeless treat! Simple yet delicious ways to incorporate American elderberry into your kitchen routine is our goal. Click the buttons below if you need to purchase our American Elderberry Jelly or Syrup.

Jelly

Syrup

Be sure to subscribe to our newsletters to be the first to know when a new post publishes! If you want to start growing your own American elderberries, we can help with that too. Visit our Plants & Supplies page to see what we have available today, or our Resources page to learn more about growing.

Until next time, cheers to your health!

Heather

I am Heather Wilson, of the River Hills Harvest crew. By being part of the company, I am blessed to have access to American elderberries in all forms. I enjoy experimenting with new ways to incorporate them into my diet, as well as other natural plants, berries and more. I have a background in greenhouse management as well as floral design and am involved in the art community as an artist, when time allows. I enjoy playing guitar and writing songs. I also enjoy wandering in nature with no real purpose, because a purpose always presents itself. It’s a busy life, but one that I love and feel lucky to be a part of.