These Thumbprint Butter Tart Cookies are filled with ooey gooey rich butter tart filling, nestled in a pecan sugar cookie. If you don't love raisins, you can easily substitute pecans in the filling. If you love butter tarts, you will love this scrumptious cookie with an easy butter tart filling!
This is, hands down, the most delicious and addictive cookie I have ever created! And by gawd, it better be, given that it has been at least 2 years in the works! But consider this a warning... You will not be able to stop eating them (even if you freeze them)! Butter Tarts are amazing not only because they taste soooo good, but because they symbolize Christmas, are quintessentially Canadian, and are a classic Canadian treat. They are popular during the holidays but great any time of the year! Sometimes recipe creation is nothing other than a labor of love.
🍒Reader Review
"This was the first recipe I tried on this site, and the reason I have tried more. Easy delicious cookie. I love being able to freeze them so there is less indulging!!!" ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐
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I also happen to love anything that vaguely resembles a butter tart, but there really isn't much out there as far as butter tart flavor goes. You've got your classic butter tarts, your butter tart bars, and really, that's about it. As far as I'm concerned, that's not nearly enough butter tart options. And that's precisely why I created these Butter Tart cookies. I needed butter tarts in the form of a cookie.
After a long process of trial and error, I finally nailed this cookie recipe! While the butter tart cookies tasted good initially, they initially looked terrible, and there were moments when I wanted to give up. Instead, I took breaks and experimented with various ingredient ratios, filling techniques, and baking methods until I achieved the perfect result.
🥘 Ingredient Notes
I grew up with my Grandma's butter tarts, and I needed an easy butter tart filling for this butter tart stuffed cookie, so I adapted the filling from her Best Butter tarts recipe, and it is perfect!
In fact, I love these classic butter tarts so much that I basically wrote an Ode to the Butter Tart and baking in my story: Comfort & Baked Expectations.
- Butter. I use unsalted butter, as I like to have control over the salt in my baking. The salt content in salted butter varies by brand.
- Ground pecans. Ground pecans add a delicious richness to the dough! If you can't find them, just grind up some pecans in your food processor or your coffee grinder. But don't grind them too much, or they will turn into paste!
- Whipping cream. You need to use whipping cream that is at least 33-36% fat.
*Please see recipe card for full list of ingredients and quantities
📖 Variations & Substitutions
- Raisins: If you are not a fan of raisin butter tarts, you can easily substitute pecans.
- Ground pecans: You can substitute ground almonds for ground pecans.
- Leftover butter tart filling: Use your leftover butter tart filling to make these cookies- just make sure you cook it first!
- Brown sugar - you can use dark brown sugar or light brown sugar for this recipe
- Lactose-free- I used lactose-free butter and whipping cream in these cookies. Lactania has a lactose-free whipping cream.
🔪Step-by-Step: How to Make Butter Tart Cookies
MAKE THE COOKIE DOUGH (STEP 1): In a large bowl, with an electric mixer on low speed, cream butter and sugar until combined (Image 1). Add eggs and mix well (Image 2). In a separate mixing bowl, add flour, ground pecan, and baking powder together (Image 3). Mix the butter mixture and dry ingredients together with a spoon until it becomes too stiff to continue using a spoon, then use your hands to mix the dough together until it's completely incorporated (Image 4). Cover the cookie dough with plastic wrap and chill for 1 hour.
MAKE THE BUTTER TART FILLING (STEP 2): In a small pot on the stove top, add vanilla and whipping cream, heat, then add butter (Image 5 ). In a medium bowl, combine egg and brown sugar (Image 6). Add egg mixture to warm cream mixture and simmer on low, then add vinegar and cornstarch. Add raisins here (Image 7). Keep whisking until thickened on med-low heat for about 10-15 minutes. It should be the consistency of gravy (Image 8). Remove from heat and set aside to cool. After 10 minutes, refrigerate.
BAKE THE COOKIES (STEP 3): Preheat oven to 350 degrees F/176 degrees C. Spray a baking sheet with non-stick cooking spray. Roll dough into 1 " (approximately) balls. If the dough feels sticky, make sure you have some flour nearby to flour your hands as needed (Image 9 ). Press the bottom of a wooden spoon (dipped in flour) into the center of the ball to make an indent. Press outside edges of cookie with a floured fork, as you would around the edge of a pie (Image 10 ). Bake for 10-14 minutes until golden brown on the bottom. The cookies will puff up, so as soon as the cookies are out of the oven, use your thumb or the bottom of a wooden spoon to reinforce the indent in the cookie (Image 11).
FILL THE COOKIES (STEP 4): Fill the indent of each cookie with about ½- -1 teaspoon of cooled butter tart filling while the cookies are still warm (Image 12). Continue to cool on a wire rack for 5 minutes (Image 13).
Expert Recipe Tips
- Use room-temperature butter for the dough. It creams more evenly with the sugar, giving you a smoother, more cohesive cookie base.
- Grind pecans very finely for the dough. Larger pieces prevent the dough from binding properly and can cause crumbling. A coffee grinder works well, but be sure to pulse only until it's ground, or it will turn to paste.
- Don't skip the full 1-hour chill time. Chilling firms the butter, prevents spreading, and keeps your thumbprints deep and defined.
- Make the indent with the end of a floured wooden spoon instead of your thumb. This helps you create uniform, crack-resistant impressions in every cookie.
- Widen the indent slightly by gently rotating the spoon handle outward. This prevents the filling from overflowing or sitting too tall.
- Only fill the cookies with cooled, thickened filling. Warm filling will run, soak into the cookie, and lose that classic butter tart texture.
- Add the filling while the cookies are still warm. The heat softens the top layer so the filling settles smoothly into the centre.
- Reinforce the thumbprint the moment the cookies come out of the oven. They puff slightly during baking, and this quick step keeps your filling well-seated.
- If your dough feels sticky when rolling, dust your hands lightly with flour. Adding flour directly to the dough can make the cookies tough.
- Bake on the middle rack only. This ensures even browning on the bottom without overbaking the tops.
- Cook the filling until it reaches a gravy-like consistency. Under-cooked filling won't set properly in the cookie, and over-cooked filling turns grainy.
- Avoid pressing the indent too deep. A very thin bottom can cause leaking, and the cookie may break once filled.
- Freeze the cookies unstacked before storing. Flash-freezing keeps the filling intact so the cookies don't stick or smudge when layered.
To chill or not to chill cookie dough
HEADS UP: There is chilling time involved in this recipe, so you need to budget for it. But if you find you are asking yourself, "Do I really need to chill cookie dough?" "What's the worst that could happen?" Well, I'm here to tell you that "yes, you do need to chill" or your cookies will spread way too much and they won't be nearly as good or as nice looking. I know this because I am impatient, and I tried it. That's also my job as a recipe tester.
So I am pretty sure you will want to budget that extra hour. However, if you're still on the fence and need more convincing, read this article: To chill or not to chill - that is the question!
If you are looking for an interesting cookie for your holiday baking tray, these butter tart thumbprint cookies are the perfect addition.
👪 Serving Size
This butter tart cookie recipe makes 36 cookies. However, you can half, double, or triple the recipe by clicking on the serving number and selecting the number of servings you'd like. The ingredient quantities will automatically adjust. You will need additional cookie sheet pans if you are doubling or tripling the recipe.
🌡️Storing
Refrigeration: These cookies have a gooey filling, so I do NOT recommend stacking them right away. However, if you need to, make sure you let them sit at room temperature for 24 hours so the filling firms up, and use parchment paper between the layers. You can store them in the fridge for up to a week.
Freezing: These cookies freeze beautifully for up to 3 months in an airtight container. Freeze them in a single layer or separate layers with parchment paper to protect the filling. I freeze them on a baking sheet first, then stack them between parchment paper layers. (I froze the cookies in the photo directly below, then defrosted them)
❔ Recipe FAQs
Yes! They have an authentic, gooey butter tart centre paired with a pecan-based cookie dough that mimics the flavor of a classic butter tart pastry!
Yes, you can prepare the dough up to 24 hours in advance. Keep it tightly covered in the refrigerator until ready to roll and bake.
Thumbprint-style cookies naturally tend to crack, but chilling the dough, using the back of a spoon dusted with icing sugar or flour to make the indent, and gently widening the imprint will help minimize cracking. Avoid pressing all the way to the bottom or the cookie will spread and crack more.
The filling should be cool, but the cookies should still be warm. This allows the filling to melt slightly into the centre without becoming runny
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Out of my pure love for butter tarts, I also created Butter Tart Bundt Cake, Butter Tart Ice Cream, Butter Tart Cupcakes, and these Butter Tart Waffles. If you love these cookies, you'll love these other butter tart recipes too!
🍪More Holiday Cookies!
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📋 Thumbprint Butter Tart Cookies
Ingredients
Cookie dough ingredients:
- ¾ cup sugar
- ¾ cup butter
- 3 eggs
- ¾ cup ground pecans * if you cannot find ground pecans, just use chopped pecans and grind them in the food processor
- ¾ teaspoon baking powder
- 2 ½ cups flour
Butter tart filling ingredients:
- 1 tablespoon unsalted butter + 1 tsp
- ½ teaspoon vanilla
- ¾ cup brown sugar
- 1 egg
- 2 tablespoon whipping cream (heavy cream)
- 1 teaspoon vinegar
- 1 teaspoon cornstarch
- 2 tablespoon raisins *pecans can be substituted -finely chopped
Instructions
Cookie dough:
- In large bowl, with an electric mixer on low speed, cream butter and sugar until combined¾ cup sugar, ¾ cup butter
- Add eggs and mix well.3 eggs
- In a separate mixing bowl, add flour, ground pecans and baking powder together.¾ teaspoon baking powder, 2 ½ cups flour, ¾ cup ground pecans
- Add the butter mixture to the flour mixture using a wooden spoon until it becomes too stiff to continue, then use your hands to mix the dough together until it's completely incorporated.
- Cover with plastic wrap and chill for 1 hour
Butter tart Filling:
- In small pot on stove top, add vanilla and whipping cream, heat, then add butter.½ teaspoon vanilla, 2 tablespoon whipping cream (heavy cream), 1 tablespoon unsalted butter + 1 tsp
- In a medium bowl, combine egg, and brown sugar.1 egg, ¾ cup brown sugar
- Add egg mixture to warm cream mixture and simmer on low, then add vinegar and cornstarch. Add raisins here.1 teaspoon vinegar, 1 teaspoon cornstarch, 2 tablespoon raisins
- Keep whisking until thickened on med-low heat for about 10-15 minutes. It should be the consistency of gravy. Remove from heat and set aside to cool. After 10 minutes, refrigerate.
- Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Spray a baking sheet with non stick cooking spray.
Assembly:
- Roll dough into 1 " (approximately) balls. If the dough feels sticky, make sure you have some flour nearby to flour your hands as needed.
- Press the bottom of a wooden spoon (dipped in flour) or use your thumb to make an indent into center of ball of dough.
- Press outside edges of cookie with a floured fork, as you would around the edge of a pie.
- Bake for 10-14 minutes until golden brown on the bottom
- As soon as the cookies are out of the oven, use your thumb or the bottom of a floured wooden spoon to reinforce indent in cookie.
- Continue to cool on rack for 5 minutes
- Store in fridge for a week or freeze for up to 3 months
Notes
- Use room-temperature butter for the dough. It creams more evenly with the sugar, giving you a smoother, more cohesive cookie base.
- Grind pecans very finely for the dough. Larger pieces prevent the dough from binding properly and can cause crumbling.
- Don't skip the full 1-hour chill time. Chilling firms the butter, prevents spreading, and keeps your thumbprints deep and defined.
- Make the indent with the end of a floured wooden spoon instead of your thumb. This helps you create uniform, crack-resistant impressions in every cookie.
- Widen the indent slightly by gently rotating the spoon.outward. This prevents the filling from overflowing or sitting too tall.
- Only fill the cookies with cooled, thickened filling. Warm filling will run, soak into the cookie, and lose that classic butter tart texture.
- Add the filling while the cookies are still warm. The heat softens the top layer so the filling settles smoothly into the centre.
- Reinforce the thumbprint the moment the cookies come out of the oven. They puff slightly during baking, and this quick step keeps your filling well-seated.
- If your dough feels sticky when rolling, dust your hands lightly with flour. Adding flour directly to the dough can make the cookies tough.
- Bake on the middle rack only. This ensures even browning on the bottom without overbaking the tops.
- Cook the filling until it reaches a gravy-like consistency. Under-cooked filling won't set properly in the cookie, and over-cooked filling turns grainy.
- Avoid pressing the indent too deep. A very thin bottom can cause leaking and the cookie may break once filled.
- Freeze the cookies unstacked before storing. Flash-freezing keeps the filling intact so the cookies don't stick or smudge when layered.
- Raisins: If you are not a fan of raisin butter tarts, you can easily substitute pecans.
- Ground pecans: You can substitute ground almonds for ground pecans.
- Leftover butter tart filling: use your leftover butter tart filling to make these cookies!
- Brown sugar - you can use dark brown sugar or light brown sugar for this recipe
- Lactose-free- I used lactose- free butter and whipping cream in these cookies. Lactania has a lactose-free whipping cream.
Terri Gilson
I made these again and my family loved them more than any other cookie I make - 36 cookies were gone within a day!
Susan
This was the first recipe I tried on this site and the reason I have tried more. Easy delicious cookie. I love being able to freeze them so there is less indulging!
Terri Gilson
Hi Susan,
I'm so glad to hear you loved these cookies (they were a labor of love 🙂 ) and found even more recipes to enjoy!
Terri
Darlene Devlin
Hello! Love this idea! We have a tree nut allergy. possible to make them nut- free? What would I add to replace ground nuts? Thanks
Terri Gilson
Hi Darlene,
You could try using bread crumbs as a sub, but I would add 1/8 tsp of an artificial nut extract (like almond extract) to get that nutty flavor (IF that's safe).
Thanks!
Terri