Yuzu Thumbprint Cookies Recipe (Easy And Delicious)

These yuzu thumbprint cookies are a perfect blend of citrus and sweetness. Almond flour adds a nice crumbly cookie texture, but feel free to substitute more all-purpose flour instead. Disclaimer: This post may contain affiliate links.

Yuzu is hands down my favorite citrus. It’s SUPER tart but with much stronger floral notes than lemon. I actually just got my hands on a sudachi hybrid yuzu tree that I planted in my front yard. If I manage to keep it alive, you’ll be seeing lots more yuzu recipes from me!

I thought yuzu would be a fun flavor to substitute in a classic thumbprint cookie recipe. Usually, thumbprint cookies are filled with jam, which, honestly, always tastes too sweet to me. The sharp tartness of yuzu really balances out the flavor better. For this recipe, you will need to use my homemade yuzu curd, so go make that ahead of time if you can. If you’re in a pinch, you can use store-bought lemon curd instead, but I highly recommend trying the yuzu curd at least once!

How to Bake with Yuzu

Yuzu is perfect for baking as its super strong flavor survives the heat of the oven better than lemon juice. This is fortunate because fresh yuzu is hard to find in America, so using yuzu zest might be impossible. Thankfully, because yuzu juice is strong in flavor, you don’t need much in baking. For this recipe in particular, you don’t even need to add yuzu to the cookie dough. All the flavor comes in the yuzu curd in the center of the thumbprint cookie.

Where to Find Yuzu Juice

In order to make the yuzu curd, you’ll need a strong yuzu juice. If you’re fortunate enough to have fresh yuzu, you can use that, but a fair warning: fresh yuzu is notoriously NOT juicy. It may take you quite a few fruits to get enough juice. Instead I usually use bottled yuzu juice, which you can find at Japanese grocery stores or online.

The tricky part about bottled yuzu juice is that different brands will vary wildly in how tart their juice is. Some brands use a concentrate, which may or may not be diluted with water to get back to a standard juice flavor. Other brands use a “second press,” which will be much more diluted. The only way to really know what you’re dealing with is to taste the juice first. Aim for something a little more tart than lemon. If you find that you’ve accidentally bought a more diluted mixture, you can always add some lemon juice to sour it back up.

If you would rather not play trial and error in yuzu juices, my favorite is the Yuzu Co brand of juice, which is sold on Amazon. It is, however, very pricy. A good alternative is the Shirakiku yuzu extract. Although it’s called “extract,” the ingredients list only yuzu juice and the label says 100% yuzu juice. I actually typically dilute the Shirakiku even further, as it is very tart.

Thumbprint Cookie Dough with Almond Flour

My thumbprint cookies are slightly different from other recipes in that I include almond flour in my dough. I just really like the crumbly texture and tenderness that almond flour adds. This does mean that the dough is less smooth than you may have seen in other thumbprint cookies, and may have some cracks after baking. However, it also means that this dough is less likely to spread. Although I recommend chilling the dough before baking to be extra sure, I’ll be honest and say that I have skipped this step on cold days, and it’s turned out fine.

If you’re allergic to nuts or just don’t want to deal with almond flour, you can substitute more all purpose flour instead, but be really sure to chill the dough, as this version spreads more easily.

Tips for Thumbprint Cookie Dough

My thumbprint cookie dough is similar to some of my roll-out shortbread cookie recipes. Like with any cookies, you’ll want to make sure you start with softened butter that’s not too soft and melty. Melted butter = more spreading.

Also make sure to properly cream your butter and sugar. Your mixture should be visibly different in color and texture from what you started with, very light and fluffy like frosting.

Because my cookie dough is more crumbly from the almond flour, you can expect a few cracks after baking. If you’d like to hide those cracks a little more, you can roll your cookies in granulated sugar prior to filling and baking.

The key to this recipe is really to prevent your cookies spreading. Try your best to keep your kitchen cool and not work your dough too much in your hands to prevent melting the butter. I also recommend chilling the dough for at least 20 minutes in the fridge prior to baking.

Did you know your baking pans can also effect the spread of your cookies? Dark pans will brown your cookies a lot more, so I recommend light colored ones without deep sides. If you place your dough close to a raised edge of a tray, it will be more likely to spread as they are getting heat from the sides of the baking pan. I also recommend using parchment paper to line your trays for best results, but you can probably get away with using silicone mats just fine.

Yuzu Curd

This entire recipe really depends on my homemade yuzu curd. I know, I know, I hate when recipes require you to actually make a whole OTHER recipe first. But it’s so worth it! It’s SO GOOD. Plus, you’ll have a lot of yuzu curd leftover to eat with scones, toast, whatever you like.

If you really really really insist on not making yuzu curd, there are some yuzu spreads you can buy. Kuze Fuku & Sons has one that is more like a yuzu marmalade and doesn’t spread as nicely as the curd, but they generally have very good quality products. They’re also expensive! Really, just make the curd.

Obviously, you could also substitute other fillings like strawberry jam or raspberry jam to get a more standard thumbprint cookie. But that’s not why you’re here. Perhaps try my homemade Okinawan sweet potato jam instead?

More Asian Recipes

If you like this yuzu fusion cookie, check out my other Asian-flavored desserts:

• Easy Yuzu Shortbread Bars
• Matcha Crinkle Cookies
• Purple Sweet Potato Linzer Cookies
• Soft Matcha Almond Cookies
• Ube Crinkle Cookies
• Easy Yuzu Pie Bars