These gluten-free thumbprint cookies are also grain-free and dairy-free! They have a fantastic texture and can be adapted to use different zests, extracts and jams.
I love gluten-free cookies like these year-round. I don’t understand why raspberry thumbprints are a Christmas thing. I mean, they’re raspberry flavored!
To me, that screams summer. So here’s a little piece of summer for you in December.
Use whatever flavors you’d like
I first made these cookies in January when I was experiencing the post-Christmas winter blues. So of course I loaded them with lemon zest and extract. Lemon does a great job of cheering me up.
With Christmas around the corner, I thought I ought to try an almond version and they were just as delicious.
Or maybe even more delicious?! It’s hard to pick a favorite.
You can of course use whatever extract and jam you’d like. Some commenters have used apricot jam and I think that sounds amazing in combination with almond extract. Blueberry jam would also be great!
A less fussy dough
The dough in these raspberry thumbprint cookies is almost the same as the one in my lemon curd thumbprints. Except I made these dairy-free!
To do that, I just used coconut oil instead of butter and reduced the amount by a tablespoon. The two types of fat are often not interchangeable in cookie recipes.
And the raspberry version is actually a little less fussy! For whatever reason, you have to pre-bake the lemon curd cookies a little before adding the curd.
They came out looking funky when I made the indentation, added the lemon curd and then baked.
These raspberry thumbprints get rid of that pre-baking step. It’s not much but I’ll take one less step as an improvement!
How to decorate thumbprint cookies
I think a powdered sugar glaze is pretty standard with thumbprint cookies but I know most of my regular readers don’t like it when I use powdered sugar (neither do I) so I just used some melted white chocolate. It’s also full of white sugar so it’s not really any better, but at least it tastes like something other than pure sugar.
I think these gluten-free thumbprint cookies are quite pretty without the white chocolate on top so you can easily leave it out. That means less washing up, which is always good. ;) If you want to use white chocolate and need these cookies to be dairy-free, you can make your own dairy-free white chocolate.
Using different types of sugar?
I used a light-colored raw sugar in the cookie dough and recommend thinking twice before using a dark raw sugar or coconut sugar. You don’t want the molasses-y taste to interfere with the light almond taste!
If you need something that’s free of refined sugar, check out my paleo peppermint cookies, gluten-free orange cookies or peanut butter cookies.
These gluten-free molasses cookies are also amazing! They remind me of the Archway cookies from my childhood.
If you try out these gluten-free thumbprints, please let me know how you like them!
Raspberry Thumbprint Cookies (grain-free, gluten-free, dairy-free)
- Prep Time:
- Cook Time:
- Ready in:
- Yield: 32 cookies
Ingredients
- 2 cups (200 grams) blanched almond flour (called ground almonds in other countries)
- 1/4 cup (34 grams) coconut flour, sifted if lumpy
- 1/2 cup (100 grams) raw or granulated sugar
- 1 teaspoon baking powder
- 1/8 teaspoon salt
- 7 tablespoons (98 grams) coconut oil 1 or 1/2 cup (113 grams) butter if you can have dairy, melted and cooled slightly
- 1 large egg, room temperature
- 1 teaspoon almond extract
- 1/3 cup (100 grams) raspberry jam or jam of choice
- 1/2 cup (85 grams) white chocolate for piping, optional (omit for dairy-free)
Directions
- In a medium bowl, stir together the almond flour, coconut flour, sugar, baking powder and salt.
- In another medium bowl, stir together the coconut oil, egg and almond extract.
- Add the flour mixture to the wet mixture and stir just until combined. The dough will feel quite wet. Let sit for 10 minutes, which allows the coconut flour to absorb the liquid.
- Preheat the oven to 350 °F (175 °C) and line a cookie sheet with a piece of parchment paper.
- Roll the dough into 1" balls and place 2" apart on the prepared cookie sheet. The dough will feel quite greasy but this is okay.
- Using your thumb, make an indentation about 3/4 of the way down into each cookie. You may want to re-form the edges a little to make them prettier.
- Fill each indentation with 1/2 teaspoon of jam. Be sure not to overfill them.
- Bake for 8 minutes or until the cookies have barely started browning on the bottom.
- Let the cookies, which will be very soft, cool for 5 minutes on the baking sheet and then remove to a wire rack to cool completely.
- Pipe with white chocolate, if desired.
- Store in an airtight container for up to 4 days.
Notes
- If you use unrefined coconut oil, these will likely have a coconut taste to them. With refined coconut oil, there will be no coconut taste.
Adapted from my lemon curd thumbprint cookies
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254 comments on “Gluten-free Thumbprint Cookies (grain-free, dairy-free)” — Add one!
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I LOVE raspberry thumbprint cookies, and I’d like to make these for my daughter, but I can’t have almond. Is there another flour I could substitute and still get the same beautiful, delicious results?
You could use another type of nut flour or nut meal but then the cookies would taste like nuts (these don’t taste nutty unless you add extract). Hazelnut meal and raspberry jam sounds tasty, though! Maybe cashew meal would also be nice.
Hello!
These look amazing! Can’t wait to try.
Would these work to cut the recipe in half? I don’t have enough people to consume 32 cookies ;)
Hi there! And yes, you can halve the recipe. :) For half an egg, whisk one egg and use 25 grams. Or you could just freeze the dough and make the other half later!
Can you substitute all coconut flour for the almond flour? Or would it come out to dry?
Unfortunately not. The two flours aren’t interchangeable (coconut flour isn’t interchangeable with any kind of flour) and almond flour could only be swapped out for another type of nut flour. Sorry about that!
I made these cookies the other day,my first time using coconut and almond flour and wow they are so good.I bought lots of bob’s red mill products on my trip and started baking the day I got home(first time touching a bob’s red mill flour and coconut sugar..so exciting!) and can’t wait to try more recipes.I used coconut sugar because I wanna put that sugar in everything!I’m just a little bit too excited!:)
thanks for your amazing recipes
Oh, yay! I’m so excited for you! I’m very happy that you were able to get some Bob’s Red Mill on your trip to Dubai. :) I haven’t tried these with coconut sugar because I thought it’d lessen the almond or lemon taste. Did it work well? Thanks a bunch for your comment! I hope you’ll enjoy the other recipes just as much. :)
Thank you:)
I’m not sure how almondy! these cookies are supposed to taste but I think it did lessen almond flavour a little bit,anyway I loved it.
Well if you loved it, then it’s all good. I’ll have to try coconut sugar next time! Thanks again for your comment. :)
Yummy,
made your gluten free version, made them small cause they are so good.
Your recipes are right I do have to leave them in a bit longer 15min but are wonderful
I’m so happy you enjoyed them and the other recipes! Thanks for your feedback. :)
Erin, I agree. Why are thumbprint cookies only baked and shared during the holidays? Raspberry thumbprints are my favorites and I cannot wait to try this grain-free version. Your Grain-free Lemon Curd Thumbprint Cookies ROCK! In fact, I pinned them to BHG’s World’s Largest Cookie Exchange last month. :) Thanks for sharing, girl. I hope your holidays were fabulous! xo
I hope you enjoyed the holidays, too! And thanks so much for pinning my cookies. :)
Hey there,
Really delicious article! ;) I really love your photos. Is it iPhone only or are you using a specific camera?
Cheers!
Matt
What a great cookie to bring to a cookie exchange!
Definitely! Now if someone would just invite me to one. ;)
Lovely cookies! they look like cute blossoms!
Thanks! And aww, they do! I hadn’t noticed that.
Look so good, any recommendations on replacing the egg ?
Thanks! And unfortunately not. I know a lot of people have success with flax eggs but I’ve never tried that sub myself. Sorry about that!
I want to dive face-first into that raspberry center! YUM!
Sounds like a good plan! ;)
Love these, I can never say no to a thumbprint cookie!
And they’re grain-free, for your pleasure! ;)
Those look 12-months-a-year good!
I totally agree! :)
Thumbprint cookies make me happy, and these with their chewy raspberry centers look perfect.
Same here! They remind me of my childhood.
I could several of these right now. They look so very yummy.
I’d love some right about now, too! :)
Super cute cookies! I’m intrigued by the dairy free white chocolate. I’ll definately be giving that a go for Christmas
Let me know how it goes! I’ve never actually tried it myself.
Such gorgeous cookies for the holidays!
Thanks so much!
I love that you never let us down. A fantastic cookie that can be gifted to those friends and family with allergies and intolerances. Almond and raspberry are one if my favourite flavour pairings. Fab recipe. Sammie.
Aww, thanks! What a nice comment. :) And I’m with you – raspberry and almond are perfect together! Thanks again for your lovely comment. :)
Raspberry is my absolute favorite flavor to put into a thumbprint cookie! There’s just something about it that takes me back to being a little kid :)
Me, too! They just seem so comforting. :)
I bet the almond flour makes these incredible with the raspberry. YUM!
It does indeed! Especially with the almond extract. :)
Thank you so much for this recipe! I made these today and they are delicious. The only thing I did different was roll the cookie dough in finely chopped pecans and use strawberry jam instead of raspberry. I made them for a school event, but can’t wait to make them again for my family. Merry Christmas!
I love your idea of rolling them in chopped pecans! I’m definitely going to try that. I’m happy that you liked them and will be making them again! Thanks for your comment. :)