My good old-fashioned Jam Drops are made with added frangipane (an almond-rich pastry filling) making them incredibly more-ish and almost cake-like in texture. They are delicious butter cookies filled with jam and baked until golden. Super easy and fun to bake, with only 7 ingredients and ready in just under 30 minutes! Perfect with your afternoon cuppa 🙂

Freshly baked Frangipane Jam Drop Biscuits cooling on a wire rack with a jam bottle, spoon and tea towel to the side.
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🧡 Why make these Jam Drops?

These biscuits are known by many names. Depending on where you are in the world, they would be known to you as "jam drops" or "jam drop biscuits" or "jam cookies" or "thumbprint cookies". Fret not my fellow foodies. They are all the same. A vanilla-infused white butter cookie filled with jam and baked until golden.

If you are after these delightfully famous cookies, make my more traditional Jam Drop Biscuits, but if you love a delicious dense biscuit with an almost cake-like texture, try my Frangipane Jam Drops.

  1. They have a generous amount of almond meal which not only adds more protein to the biscuits but makes them infinitely more delicious and textural.
  2. They are super easy. One-bowl, mix-and-bake recipe!
  3. Fun to make!
  4. Ready in under 30 minutes.
  5. They stay fresh for more than a week.

🤔 What is Frangipane?

Frangipane is a pastry filling made predominantly of almond meal along with butter, eggs, and flour. The ratio of almond meal to flour is higher creating a creamy, textural paste. It is often used to spread on the base of a tart or galette before baking and forms the base of a friand or a frangipane cake. It is also a loose term to reference any baked treat that uses a lot of almond meal along with eggs or egg whites.

🍓 Ingredients

This Jam Drop recipe uses very basic, everyday pantry ingredients.

  1. Flour - Use plain flour for this recipe. You can replace it with spelt flour for added texture and nutrients. Want to make your Jam Drops gluten-free? Substitute plain flour with sorghum or chest flour.
  2. Egg - Use a standard-sized egg weighing approximately 60g. Make this recipe egg-free by replacing the egg with a flax egg. See my notes.
  3. Sugar - White caster sugar is perfect for this recipe. It will yield a very light beige-coloured, baked jam drop. I use raw caster sugar which has a slight golden colour. This not only adds a lovely light golden colour to the baked jam drop but also gives it a slight caramel flavour.
  4. Butter - You can use either salted or unsalted butter. Make sure it is softened and at room temperature.
  5. Flavour - Besides vanilla extract, these jam drops are the best with strawberry jam. I have used strawberry jam for these cookies. You can use any jam/conserve. Berries and cherries are preferred over other fruit as their tartness offsets the sweetness of these gorgeous cookies. Using a darker shade of jam gives a striking contrast to your beige, buttery cookies.

🥣 Recipe Instructions

Whisk butter, sugar, vanilla extract and egg in a bowl.

1. Whisk wet ingredients together - Beat butter, sugar and vanilla with an electric mixer for 3-4 minutes until light and fluffy. Add the egg and beat for another minute until creamy and thoroughly combined.

Add flour and almond meal to the wet biscuit mix.
Mix the dry ingredients with the wet ingredients.

2. Mix wet ingredients with dry ingredients - Add flour and almond meal. Mix well using a wooden or silicone spoon until the wet and dry ingredients are thoroughly combined to form a soft, textural paste.

Roll jam drop biscuits in golf-ball sized rounds and place on a baking sheet lined with baking paper or silicone.

3. Roll cookies and place on a baking sheet - Take approximately 2 tablespoons of cookie dough in the palm of your hands and roll them into a ball. Place on a baking sheet lined with baking paper/silicone. Repeat with the remaining dough. Make sure the cookie balls are placed at least 5 cm apart.

Press your thumb in the middle of each biscuit to create a soft indent.

4. Create the indents for the jam drops - Using your thumb, gently press down on the top of each cookie to create a soft indent.

Fill the indent of each biscuit with a quarter teaspoon of strawberry jam and bake.

5. Topping cookies with jam and working with stodgy jam - Fill the indent on each cookie with a quarter-half teaspoon of strawberry jam. If your jam is too stodgy, place a few tablespoons in a microwaveable bowl and add a teaspoon of water. Mix well and microwave for 6-8 seconds to loosen the jam before proceeding with filling the indents. Bake as per the recipe instructions.

Baked Frangipane Jam Drops lined up on a wire rack, strawberry jam glistening in pools on each biscuit.

🕰️ Storage

After baking, these jam drops are gloriously crispy around the edges. This softens to an addictive soft chewiness after you have stored them in a glass-lidded jar for a day or two. They keep well in a cool corner of the kitchen in an air-tight container for up to a week. They last well in the fridge for up to two weeks.

I absolutely love them with my afternoon cup of coffee. The jam shining like rubies on these delightful little cookies is hard to resist. I love licking it first before letting the cookie crumble in my mouth.

👩🏻‍🍳 Recipe FAQs

What are jam drops?

Jam drops are delicious butter cookies, filled with jam and baked until golden. They are also known as jam cookies, thumbprint cookies, jam drop biscuits or jam buttons.

What do jam drops taste like?

Jam drops are buttery and melt-in-your-mouth. They taste like vanilla-kissed sugar cookies. The jam adds a burst of tart sweetness as well.

How long do jam drops stay fresh?

Jam drops will keep well in an air-tight container in a cool corner of your kitchen for up to a week. In the fridge, they will last for up to 2 weeks.

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Recipe

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Jam Frangipane Drops - Cook Republic #jambiscuits #jamcookies #cookierecipe

Frangipane Jam Drops

5 from 3 votes
Delicious sweet butter cookies filled with jam and baked until golden.
Print Recipe Rate / Comment
Author: Sneh
Course // Baking, Cookie, Sweet
Cuisine // Modern Australian
Prep Time: 10 minutes
Cook Time: 20 minutes
Servings: 24
Calories: 106kcal

Ingredients

  • 125 g butter, softened
  • 1 egg
  • 1 cup (120 g) plain flour
  • 1 cup (110 g) almond meal
  • 1/2 cup (120 g) caster sugar
  • 2 tsp vanilla extract
  • 3 tbsp strawberry jam

Instructions

  • Preheat oven to 180°C. Grease a cookie sheet and line with baking paper/silicone.
  • Beat butter, sugar and vanilla extract in a small bowl for 3-4 minutes untill light and fluffy. Add egg, beating until just combined.
  • Stir in the flour and almond meal. Mix well. [If the weather is warm or particularly hot, place the cookie batter in the refrigerator to chill for at least half an hour].
  • Roll approximately a tablespoon and half of the cookie dough into a ball in the palm of your hands. Place the cookie balls on prepared sheet, at least 5 cm apart.
  • Using your thumb, press down on the top of each cookie to create a soft indent. Fill each indent with a quarter teaspoon of strawberry jam.
  • Bake for approximately 18 minutes. Remove from oven and cool jam drops on a wire rack. Store in an air-tight container for a week in a cool corner of your kitchen.

Notes

  1. Butter - Use salted or unsalted butter for this recipe. Make sure it is softened and at room temperature.
  2. Egg - Use a standard-sized egg weighing approximately 60g. Make it egg-free by replacing with a flax egg (1 flax egg is 1 tablespoon flax seed meal and 3 tablespoons water mixed and allowed to set for 5 minutes)
  3. Flour - Plain white flour is perfect for this butter cookie. You can replace that with spelt flour for added texture and nutrients. To make your jam drops gluten-free, try substituting regular plain flour with sorghum or chestnut flour.
  4. Sugar - I use raw caster sugar. It is slightly golden and has a richer taste. If you can't find raw caster sugar, blend regular raw sugar in a small processor to make raw caster sugar. Alternatively, use white caster sugar (please note that your jam drops may be paler in colour).
  5. Jam - If your jam is too stodgy, place a few tablespoons in a microwaveable bowl and add a teaspoon of water. Mix well and microwave for 6-8 seconds to loosen the jam before proceeding with filling the indents. Bake as per the recipe instructions. Any red/berry jam works well in this recipe.

Nutrition

Calories: 106kcal | Carbohydrates: 11g | Protein: 2g | Fat: 7g | Saturated Fat: 3g | Polyunsaturated Fat: 0.2g | Monounsaturated Fat: 1g | Trans Fat: 0.2g | Cholesterol: 11mg | Sodium: 34mg | Potassium: 10mg | Fiber: 1g | Sugar: 5g | Vitamin A: 130IU | Calcium: 13mg | Iron: 0.5mg
Did you make my recipe?I'd love to hear how you went! Tag me on Instagram @cookrepublic

Originally published in Feb 2009. Updated in Feb 2022 with a slight change to the recipe, including gram measurements and new photos.