These Scandinavian-style butter cookie cups are muffin-tin shortbread cup that works with any jam. They're crumbly and delicate, and the dough is pressed straight into the muffin cups; no need to chill or roll it. Unlike British-style jam tarts, which use a sturdier water-bound shortcrust, these are tender and delicate rather than flaky, so let them cool before lifting them out, or use paper liners. They're perfect for a holiday cookie tray or afternoon tea.
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These mini jam tarts race head-to-head with my favorite non-traditional shortbread ever, the Hungarian Shortbread. And that is saying a lot.
Baking with jam is a favorite of mine in the winter, and these shortbread raspberry jam tarts are quite interesting, crumblier than regular mini tarts, but not complicated to put together, as the dough is simple as long as you have room-temperature butter. I make it with a spatula or wooden spoon.
The shortbread dough needs no refrigeration. Pat walnut-sized balls of dough into the muffin cups directly to form little tarts (or cookie cups). Fill them, and into the oven they go!
They can be filled with almost any type of jam, paste, or spread you like. If you like a sweeter version, use strawberry jam or Nutella.
And, as with most shortbread doughs, it can be made ahead and kept in the refrigerator for a few days or frozen for a month.
Both are jam-filled butter cookies. Thumbprints are shaped on a baking sheet. These are baked in a muffin tin, which gives them a cup shape and more room for jam.
Thick jams and preserves work best, such as raspberry, strawberry, apricot, or plum. Runny jams can overflow, so they're not my first choice.
Do you put jam in tarts before baking?
Yes. Spoon the jam into the unbaked dough cups, then bake everything together. Fill them about half full so the jam doesn't bubble over.
- Anna-Isabel ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
This recipe is so simple and easy to follow, and the end product is delicious and sophisticated! I love it. Thank you, Paula!
- Juliette ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
This is absolutely delicious. I make it with homemade blackberry jam, and it's a big hit with the children 🙂
- Candace ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
These are fantastic! I made my dough almond-flavored and used lingonberries for half the filling and Nutella for the rest! They are a huge hit and will be a family favorite for years to come! Thank you!
Testing notes
Paula's baking tips that make a difference.
Have the butter at room temperature, so the dough comes together easily. It doesn't include an egg. If the mixture is too crumbly, add a teaspoon of water or milk to bind it together. I made this recipe a lot of times (there's a video in the recipe card) and never needed it, but I know readers who had this issue.
You can make the dough ahead and have it ready in the fridge. If you freeze it, remember to thaw it in the refrigerator the day before rather than at room temperature. I freeze the dough in the pan, already patted, which saves time! It's not for long-term storage, but it works for a few days in the freezer.
Almonds: I think there is nothing like sliced almonds for that thin crunch that is hard to achieve with any other nut, or if they are chopped. So, I highly recommend them.
Muffin pans: You can bake them directly in regular muffin pans as I do, or use paper liners. The latter is a good idea if you're hesitant about them being too crumbly to remove from the muffin tins.
Ingredients
Quantities are listed on the recipe card towards the end of this post. The Ingredients page has more details and lists the brands we use.
- Cornstarch: it's an essential ingredient to achieve that smooth and crumbly texture.
- Powdered sugar: also called confectioners' sugar or icing sugar.
- Sliced almonds: they cover the jam so that it doesn't burn or dry out too much during baking and add a wonderful crunch. Chopped almonds don't do the trick as well.
How to make shortbread jam tarts
Watch the video above for a step-by-step guide on how to make the dough.
Once the cookie dough is done, form small walnut-sized balls and press them into muffin tins.
Using a cookie scoop is a good idea to make them all the same size. I use the small cookie scoop of this set, which is 1.57 inches / 4cm in diameter, for regular-sized cookies.
Hand-mixed dough
Step 1 text
Pat and fill
Pat small balls of dough into muffin cups to make a tart crust.
Add a teaspoon of raspberry jam to each cookie cup.
Top with almonds
Sliced almonds are highly recommended. They are thin and provide the best crunch.
I have added chopped hazelnuts to the Nutella tarts, which worked well.
Baking
The jam will bubble, the dough will turn golden brown, as will some of the almonds.
Paula's tip
After the jam tarts are baked, let them cool for about 10 minutes in the pan and carefully run a smooth-bladed knife around the edges to loosen up any jam or dough that might be stuck. Do this while they're still warm. But wait and let them cool further to remove them; warm shortbread dough is very tender.
Filling ideas
Spreads: for the sake of research, we made a batch with Nutella; they were fabulous! Cookie butter spread would be another wonderful holiday filling.
Jams: I recommend using slightly acidic ones like raspberries, blackberries, apricots, sour cherries, and plums. But really, you can use any spread you love.
They make me think of adjectives like dainty, pretty, sophisticated, and all those pink words I love when it comes to cookies, filled or otherwise.
Scandinavian baking is something I'm fascinated with.
I love their use of spices like cardamom and cinnamon, their yeasted sweet breads (like this wonderful Finnish pulla), and all those stories about the meaning of fika and hygge.
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Shortbread Jam Tarts
Ingredients
- 1 cup + 2 tablespoons unsalted butter, at room temperature
- 1 teaspoon lemon zest
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- ½ cup powdered sugar
- 1 ½ cups all-purpose flour
- 1 teaspoon baking powder
- ⅛ teaspoon salt
- ½ - ¾ cup cornstarch, see Note below
- ½ cup raspberry jam, another jam or spread like Nutella
- ½ cup sliced almonds
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 350ºF (180ºC).
- Have paper muffin cups ready (many readers have a hard time taking these jam tarts out of the muffin pans, so use paper cups for easier handling). Or butter/spray the muffin pans. I have used both with good results.
- In a large bowl, mix 1 cup + 2 tablespoons unsalted butter, softened, 1 teaspoon lemon zest and 1 teaspoon vanilla extract. Add ½ cup powdered sugar, sifted, and mix well.
- Add the sifted 1 ½ cups all-purpose flour, 1 teaspoon baking powder, and ⅛ teaspoon salt in 2 parts and mix well. Use a spatula or wooden spoon so you don't overwork the dough.
- Add the sifted ½ - ¾ cup cornstarch and mix well until you have a soft dough. It is soft and not sticky. You can watch the video in the post for details on what the dough should be like.
- Make walnut-sized balls or use a measuring spoon to fill muffin cups, and pat them onto the paper cups halfway up the sides.
- Carefully, with a spoon, fill each cup with ½ cup raspberry jam, dividing evenly. Top with ½ cup sliced almonds, dividing among the cups, and bake for 15-20 minutes, until slightly golden and dry.
- Let them cool for 10-15 minutes on a wire rack and run a smooth-bladed knife to ensure they didn't stick to the sides. Let them cool further and remove them from the pan. They are very soft, so help yourself with the knife and your hands.
- Serve with a bit of powdered sugar sifted on top. You can omit it if you want.
Video
Notes
Adapted from ScandiKitchen
Peggy O says
My grandson is allergic to nuts. Have you tried a few chocolate chips instead of the almonds?
Paula Montenegro says
Hi Peggy, I haven't, but use chips. White chocolate should work also and combines well with the raspberry. They add a nice crunch, but the almonds are more decorative than anything.
kim fraser says
These were amazing! I cut the recipe in half using the higher amount of corn starch. Used a kitchen scale for measuring. They taste like they were made in a bakery. Next time going to try the orange zest blackberry jam combination. Thank you for the recipe.
Paula Montenegro says
Happy to hear you loved them Kim! Great idea that combination. They are wonderful with so many different flavors.
Aimee says
Could I use mini muffin tins instead of a regular sized one? Would the bake times and differ? I only have mini muffin tins.
Paula Montenegro says
Hi Aimee, you can. The baking times will be less, maybe 15 or so.
Candace says
These are fantastic! I made my dough almond flavored and used lingonberries for half the filling and Nutella for the rest! They are a huge hit and will be a family favorite for years to come! Thank you!
Paula Montenegro says
Ever since I started making them, they became one of our traditions too. So glad you liked them so much Candace! Have a great week.
Denise says
I followed the recipe exactly as written (and I did use the full amount of cornstarch). Fantastic! Everyone loved them.
They were fairly easy to make. Next time I will try something different than the raspberry, but this recipe is a keeper!
Paula Montenegro says
So glad they turned out well! We love them with nutella or ganache also.
Keri says
Tasty wee morsels. I used a mix berry 1/3 more fruit, 1/3 less sugar jam for our filling and they were super yummy. As a note, I too used the full amount of corn starch and had no issues with the dough. Thanks for sharing
Paula Montenegro says
Thanks for letting me know! Glad you liked them!
Camille says
Great recipe but I should have buttered the mini muffin tin. They got stuck!! I'll know next tie.
Paula Montenegro says
Oh no! They have so much butter in the dough that I never butter the pan. It might differ according to the material or how old it is.
Claire says
I made a double batch of these with blackberry jam and cookie butter.
MAN!!!! Those cookie butter ones lasted all of 10 minutes 😉
Thank you
melissa says
I don't bake much but these look so easy and DELICIOUS! What about jam AND Nutella together? *drool*
Lisa Huff says
Love how these are mini and individual! Although I'd probably eat 20 of them in one sitting. 🙂
Dahn says
Cookie cups are amazing. It's like having a mini pie and a cookie all wrapped up in one. Love this
Kate says
How cute are these little jam cakes?! And they look so tasty! Making this soon!
Julia says
These cakes look so pretty! Can't wait to make them! 🙂
Susan huston says
I made them today. And they turned out bad also. So glad to hear I’m not the only one. They just crumbled into a mess ! So sad.
Paula Montenegro says
Sorry to hear that! I made it twice again following the recipe I had posted because of what Diana commented and the result is the one in the photos above. Can't figure out what might be happening to you guys. They are crumbly in a shortbread kind of way, but they hold well.
Judy says
Mmmm, with lingonberry jam. Can't wait!
Paula Montenegro says
Hi Diana, I'm so sorry you had such a bad experience with this recipe. They don't contain any eggs, and the recipe is exactly the one I made and took pictures of. Mine turned out so amazing I don't know what might've happened.
Is there a possibility that the butter and/or flour wasn't measured well? Or you forgot an ingredient?
Susan Sowa says
Would these be mini muffin cups or full size? The pics look like minis. Can't wait to try them. I love ethnic cookies....thank you
Paula Montenegro says
Hi Susan, they are regular muffin cups filled half aprox.
David says
These sound perfect, Paula! My kind of dessert.
The Ninja Baker says
Love the delicate look and feel of Scandinavian cookies...I can see filling the lovelies with rose jam, too =)
Paula Montenegro says
I never tasted rose jam... I once bought rose water so scented and used it in a cake that it ruined it for me, jaja. I guess I must try an adult version of it!
angiesrecipes says
They look so inviting! And you are right, they are perfect for tea time.