Christmas Thumbprint Cookies
Christmas Thumbprint Cookies are an old time favorite at our house. My kids use to help me make these — they loved playing in the jam (homemade, of course), rolling the cookies in nuts, sprinkles or coconut, and adding chocolate kisses to the ones we made without the jam. It was a fun family project.
Now, as an empty-nester, I make a small batch of the Gluten Free Vegan Christmas Thumbprint Cookies.
Our featured recipe is Raspberry Almond Thumbprint Cookies from the Oh She Glows Blog.
- 1 & 1/3 cups raw almonds, processed into almond meal (about 1.5 cups almond meal)
- 1/4 cup brown rice flour
- 2 tbsp ground flax
- 1/4 tsp + 1/8th tsp fine grain sea salt
- 1 tsp aluminum-free baking powder
- 1/2 cup raw almond butter (see note)
- 1/4 cup + 3 tbsp pure maple syrup
- 1/2 tsp almond extract
- 5-6 tbsp raspberry jam
- approx 1/3 cup shredded coconut, for rolling
- Preheat oven to 350F and spray a large baking sheet with oil, use a silpat mat, or line with parchment paper.
- If making almond meal, place raw almonds into a high-speed blender. Process on high speed until a fine crumb, making sure not to process too long or the oils will release. Alternatively, you can use store bought almond meal.
- In a large bowl, whisk the dry ingredients (almond meal, rice flour, ground flax, salt, and baking powder). Use your fingers to break up any clumps of the almond meal. In a smaller bowl, mix together the almond butter, maple syrup, and almond extract. Add wet mixture to dry mixture and stir until combined.
- Shape dough into balls (about 1.5 tbsp or so). If dough is too sticky, place in the fridge for 15-20 minutes to firm up.
- Roll balls in coconut. Place balls of dough about 1.5-2 inches apart on the baking sheet. With your thumb, press into the middle of the ball and shape a small well with your fingers. Add 1 tsp of jam into each well.
- Bake at 350F for 10-12 minutes, watching closely after 9 minutes. I baked mine for 11.5 minutes. Cool on sheet for 5 minutes and then transfer to a cooling rack. Channel your inner grandma and enjoy with hot tea!
When we made these type cookies, we used peanut butter (could probably use any type of nut butter for the almond butter) and then pushed a upside down Hersey Kiss in the middle of the batter.
You can also roll these into sugar, coconut or nut meal for an additional variety.
So much variety with these cookies!!
Do you have a holiday cookies recipe you would like to share with us? Email it to me at GFDFSandy (at) gmail.com and I will feature it in an upcoming post!
