A savory twist on your classic jam-filled sweet thumbprint cookie – Savory Cheese Thumbprint Cookies with Bourbon Tomato Jam are truly the PERFECT party appetizer. These Savory Cookies are insanely flavorful, easy to make and vegetarian!
If you thought we spent all of December eating homemade Twix candy bars, or buttery and crumbly melting moments cookies, or chocolate beer truffles, ginger cookies, or drinking white hot chocolate, that would only be partially true. 🙂
After all we made thumbprint cookies too! Except, these aren’t the kind you’d expect. These babies are savory cookies (just like my thyme and cheddar cheese cookies!). Savory Cheese Thumbprint Cookies with Bourbon Tomato Jam to be precise. I’m going to be quite frank, there’s no way I can do these cookies any justice with words here.
These are some of the best cookies (savory or otherwise) that I’ve had, and I don’t say that lightly.
Mr. K is very easy to please when it comes to the food I make. He’s one of the least picky eaters out there and he will literally eat anything I put in front of him (bless him) with gusto. If he’s fairly quiet, then I can expect a standard “good food, thank you” response. But the more vocal he gets, the more he enjoyed it, I can tell. And these savory cookies, he couldn’t stop talking about!
Crisp on the edges, soft in the middle, with a kicked up sweet and spicy tomato jam in the center, these cheesy savory cookies will be the perfect appetizer for your Christmas party or New Year’s Eve party. Or any party for that matter. And they are vegetarian cookies to boot.
Imagine how your guests would be bowled over when they realize that these aren’t actually sweet cookies. Plus, this might be your only chance to get the better of your friend’s annoying kid, when he/she bites into one of these thinking they are regular sweet thumbprint cookies. That expression alone would be worth the effort, would it not? Not that I would know. I mean, I’d never do such a thing. Noooo, never.
Aaaand they are so easy to make, even my hubs could make them. Seriously. The dough comes together quickly and you just make an imprint with your thumb to fill up with some delicious jam/jelly. So really, you got no excuse not to make them. They’d do really well as a party appetizer or even as a game day snack. I made these because I needed a break from sweet cookies, and being a huge fan of thumbprint cookies, I decided to give them a spicy, savory, flavorful twist. The result is truly glorious.
These cookies are crazy delicious with a fantastic jelly center. Here I made a cheese and rosemary cookie dough base and gave it a little bit of a spicy kick, using deseeded jalapeno. So the cookie on its own tastes insanely good, if you choose not to have a jelly/jam center.
But I’d recommend the jam though. I filled these up with an amazingly flavorful tomato jam that incorporates garlic and a few spices and then kicked it up with bourbon! Bourbon folks. Does it not scream PARTY APPETIZER??
If you love CLASSIC THUMBPRINT COOKIES, then you will love this detailed guide to make perfect thumbprint cookies!
Or these NEW Savory cookies – Thyme and Cheddar Cheese slice and bake cookies
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Ingredients:
Savory Cheesy Thumbprint Cookies
- 8 oz / 225g unsalted butter softened
- 3.5 oz / 100g white cheddar cheese grated
- 3.5 oz / 100g monterey jack cheese grated
- 1 deseeded jalapeno finely chopped
- 1 large rosemary sprig leaves only, finely chopped
- ½ tsp kosher salt
- 0.9 oz / 25g white sugar
- 1 small egg
- 6.7 oz / 190g AP flour
- 5.3 oz / 150g semolina
Bourbon and Tomato Jam
- 1 lb cherry tomatoes halved
- 5.3 oz / 150g sugar
- 5 tbsp apple cider vinegar
- Up to 1 tbsp chilli flakes/crushed red pepper optional – but recommended
- 1 large clove of garlic minced about 1 tsp minced garlic
- 2 oz diced white/yellow sweet onion
- A pinch of cumin
- ½ tsp kosher salt
- 3 tbsp bourbon
Instructions:
Savory Cheesy Thumbprint Cookies
- Chop the grated cheese roughly and mix it with the rosemary and jalapeno. Alternatively, you can grate the cheese using your food processor, and add the deseeded jalapeno and rosemary leaves, and process finely. Set aside.
- In a large bowl, place the softened the butter, sugar and salt and cream it together using a whisk/spatula or wooden spoon. Add the cheese-herb mix and mix it through using a spatula or wooden spoon.
- Add the egg and mix it in until well incorporated in the dough.
- In a separate bowl, mix the flour and semolina together. Add this in two batches to the butter-cheese mix and mix it to form a dough. You may need to use your hands (well-floured) to bring the dough together. Cover and chill in the fridge for about 30 minutes until the oven has preheated.
- Preheat oven to 350°F / 180°C. Line two cookie trays with parchment paper.
- Make 1 ½ inch round dough balls and place them on the cookie tray with about 2 inches of space between each (I placed 14 cookies on each tray).
- Create a deep well/imprint in each dough ball using a moistened thumb/finger.
- Fill each well generously with bourbon tomato jam (recipe below).
- Bake in preheated oven for 20-25 minutes. Switch the position of the two trays in your oven half way through baking (please see note). The cookies should be golden on the bottom and light-golden on top.
- Remove from the oven and let them cool slightly. Serve.
- If you’re storing the cookies, DO NOT STACK (the jam will stick to the bottom of the cookies).
Bourbon Tomato Jam
- Mix all the ingredients except for the bourbon in a saucepan. Bring the mix to a boil on medium-heat, while stirring to dissolve the sugar. Once the mix has come to a boil, increase the heat to keep it at a boil.
- Let the mixture boil while stirring and gently crushing the tomatoes with a spoon as they soften. After about 5 minutes of cooking time, add the bourbon and mix through.
- The mixture should keep cooking until the liquid has become syrupy and thick. The time depends on the heat of your stove, and how much liquid is present in the tomatoes. The end product will resemble preserves with tomato pieces in it.
- These can be stored in mason jars until needed (makes enough for 1 ½ batches of these cookies).
Tips & Tricks
“This website provides approximate nutrition information for convenience and as a courtesy only. Nutrition data is gathered primarily from the USDA Food Composition Database, whenever available, or otherwise other online calculators.”
Honestly, these came out even better than I expected, and we have now frozen the remaining cookies for later. You can easily refrigerate or freeze the formed cookies (before baking) without filling the center with jam, no issues there. Or even freeze the baked cookies in a single layer (if you stack them, the jam can stick to the bottom of the cookies).
These cheesy savory cookies will go really well with a cocktail, so all in all, these were meant to take center-stage at a party. Oh, and I made an even more amazing, flavorful dip for these cookies, and you can find the recipe for that super easy, sweet and spicy Mango Jalepeno Jam (and Cream Cheese Dip) right here.
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Valentina says
Savory thumbprint cookies are absolutely brilliant! LOVE this idea!
Annie @ Annie's Noms says
These look absolutely delicious! And seriously more-ish!! Never seen a savoury thumbprint cookie before, but I need to make them!
Tracy @ Served From Scratch says
Oh now these are right up my alley! I’m so much more a savory person than sweet – these sound perfect!
Sarah says
These sound absolutely amazing! What a perfect party appetizer…although I’m sure I would make a meal out of them!!
Gloria @ Homemade & Yummy says
Wow…love the sound of these savoury cookies…what a GREAT brunch item!!
Kathi @ Laughing Spatula says
This is one of the most unique recipes I’ve seen and really appeals to my savory taste buds! Pinning for New Years Eve!
Marsha | Marsha's Baking Addiction says
I don’t always want to snack on sweet things, so these savory cookies are absolutely perfect! They look delicious!
Sara says
I’ve never made a savory cookie! These look so good. The tomato jam looks incredible too!
Hillary @ 918 Plate says
WOW I love this! I also had tomato jam for the first time recently and I am now kind of obsessed with it. Thanks for providing a recipe!
Kevin | Keviniscooking says
Never thought of making thumbprints into something savory. These look fantastic. Pinned for NYE snacking!
Amanda@ChewTown says
I love the idea of savory thumb print cookies! These look simply wonderful.
Julia (@Imagelicious) says
This is such an amazing idea. I already pinned it a few days ago. I love how you turned something sweet into savoury!
Liz says
I have an awful secret, I don’t like cookies. Somehow I think that makes me a bad person. However, these savory cookies hit the mark! What a wonderful idea. I’ve pinned the recipe to serve on New Year’s Day. Thank you.
Ramona W says
I love the way you think Dini!!I am totally for savory cookies…. they look amazing. I would eat an entire batch happily. Why can’t we be neighbors? 🙂 Merry Christmas to you my friend. 🙂 xo Ramona 🙂
Dini says
Thank you Ramona! 🙂 I wish we were neighbours too! How awesome would that be? Merry Christmas to you too my wonderful friend and your whole family! 😀
Marlene says
These look wonderful, Dini. I love the idea of savory thumbprints, and the addition of semolina flour should create a delightful texture. I’ve recently made gorgonzola shortbreads with nuts and herbs so I can only imagine how special these will taste (they’ll be on my blog shortly). Onion jam would be lovely as well. My son-in-law is a cheese lover, so rather than just have a cheese platter when he comes next week, I’ll make these as well. Yum!
Patrice says
Hi Dino,
I am so excited to make these cookies this week! I read through the comments to see if my question would be answered but it wasn’t exactly. Sadly, I do not care for alcohol in recipes (I love them on their own though!) anyway, I saw you tell someone that you can leave the bourbon out all together. My concern is that three tbsp of liquid left out of a jam recipe seems like it could change the consistency of the jam. I was thinking the bourbon would help add a thick syrup like consistency to the jam. Do you think leaving it out will effect the outcome or would you suggest using something else in place of the bourbon that is not alcohol? Thanks for your time!
Dini says
Hi Patrice
You can leave out the bourbon for this recipe, but you may need to shorten the cook time just a little to get the same consistency. The bourbon doesn’t necessarily add to the consistency, it’s mostly used for the flavor. But because leaving it out will take out some of the liquid, you will need to cook it less. Hope that helps!