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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These are so good. Here’s how I made them from your recipe…I only had one cup of almond flour so I used 1 cup of oat flour with the almond flour. I added the coconut flour and a couple teaspoons of a nut milk. I only had unrefined coconut oil so I used a refined walnut oil I had. I used a seedless black raspberry jam and they turned out perfect for me. Your recipe will be made many more times in the future. Thank you for sharing it with us Erin.
That’s awesome that the almond flour and oat flour sub worked! That’s great to know. And black raspberry jam sounds delicious! I’ll have to try that. Thanks for your comment and so sorry for just now seeing it! I’m in the process of moving and things are chaotic.
Can honey be substituted for the sugar?!
You could try but it would totally change the texture of the cookies and make them cakey and probably too flat. I don’t recommend it!
Hi! I’d really like to try and make these but I have no coconut flour! Could I use corn flour instead??
Hello! Coconut flour is unfortunately not interchangeable with any other flour as it absorbs so much more liquid. Sorry about that!
Thank you for the speedy reply!! OK I will wait till I go shopping to make them! Also thank you for listing the ingredients in metric measurements! For European’s it’s a real time saver! No need to convert them :)
Thank you for the speedy reply!! OK I will wait till I go shopping to make them! Also thank you for listing the ingredients in metric measurements! For European’s it’s a real time saver! No need to convert them :) :)
You’re welcome! I hate using cups, especially for grain-free baking. ;)
Hi there,
I am so excited to try these… They look delicious!
I was wondering, can I substitute a natural sweetener such as Erythritol instead of using actual cane sugar?
Thank you!
Hello! I’ve always had bad luck when trying to use low-carb sweeteners like erythritol. So I really have no idea if that’d work here. I’m sorry I don’t have a better answer for you!
I subbed the cane sugar for 1/4 cup xylitol and 1/4 cup swerve and they turned out perfect….so yummy!!!!
Good to know! Thanks a bunch for your tip. I’m happy to hear that they came out well. :)
Just made these cookies and they turned out great! I used 7 tbl butter because I was out of coconut oil and used Smuckers simply fruit jelly for the centers after I baked them. Thanks for the recipe!
So happy you liked them! Good to know that you can add the jelly after baking. Thanks for your comment. :)
Delicious! Made half with almond extract with raspberry jam and the other half with lemon extract and homemade paleo lemon curd.
Yum! I’ve made these with lemon curd, too and they’re so, so good. :) I’m happy you liked them, too. Thanks for your comment!
Hi there! The recipe’s correct (hence all the great reviews :)) Someone tags me on Instagram every few days with their pictures of these cookies (you can see some examples here, here, here, and here) and nobody seems to have issues with them – except for one of the commenters below you, who had the same issue.
She then made them again with a different type of flour and said that they were very tasty. What brand of almond flour did you use? And did you make any changes or subs at all to the recipe? I’m guessing either one of the ingredients or one of the measurements were off. Or perhaps you really, really packed the almond flour? But even then, I don’t think it’d come out crumbly and dry. There have been times when I follow one of my own recipes (which has nothing but great reviews) and they come out terribly. Then I realize I added too much or too little of something. It happens. :/ I’m sorry! I hope you’ll give them another try. :) Maybe you could use a scale next time, if you didn’t last time.
Hello! Someone tags me on Instagram every few days with their pictures of these cookies (you can see some examples here, here, here, and here) and nobody seems to have issues with them – except for one of the commenters below you, who had the same issue.
She then made them again with a different type of flour and said that they were very tasty. What brand of almond flour did you use? And did you make any changes or subs at all to the recipe? I’m guessing either one of the ingredients or one of the measurements were off. Or perhaps you really, really packed the almond flour? But even then, I don’t think it’d come out crumbly and dry. There have been times when I follow one of my own recipes (which has nothing but great reviews) and they come out terribly. Then I realize I added too much or too little of something. It happens. :/ I’m sorry! I hope you’ll give them another try. :) Maybe you could use a scale next time, if you didn’t last time.
Thanks, Erin for shairng this recipe. These cookies are easy and excellent.
I lived Germany years ago and these taste a lot like spitzbuben, a german almond cookie, filled with raspberry jam.
I’m happy you enjoyed them! I live in Germany and have never tried Spitzbuben. I’ll have to try those out. Thanks for the tip and for your feedback!
Im not a big fan of almond extract- have you ever substituted with vanilla extract?
Thank you!
You can use whatever extract you’d like. :) I like lemon but vanilla works, too!
I have the THM baking blend and I was wondering if I could use that? It has organic coconut flour, golden flax meal, almond flour and oat fiber.
Unfortunately not. This recipe uses a mix of almond flour + coconut flour and there’s not really a sub for either of those (though you could use another type of nut flour instead of almond flour). Sorry about that! Does it say on the bag how it’s supposed to be used? Like a sub for AP flour or something like that?
The suggested uses are: muffins and biscuits, pancakes and waffles and bread. Thanks for the quick reply!
These look great! Do they freeze well?
Thanks! And they do. Hope you’ll enjoy them! :)
Is there a substitute for coconut flour?
Unfortunately, coconut flour’s not interchangeable with any other type of flour as it absorbs so much more liquid. Sorry about that!
These look so yummy! Can you substitute butter for the coconut oil?
You can use 1/2 cup butter in place of the coconut oil. Enjoy! :)
What brand of almond flour do you use? I know that almond flours vary and want to make sure I use one that works with the recipe.
Thanks!
I’ve used Bob’s Red Mill and several different random brands of German almond flour without issue. :) Enjoy!
I am hoping to make these for a cookie exchange this year. Have you ever tried using an egg replacer? I have an egg allergy.
I’m sorry but I haven’t tried that. If I were you, I’d try a chia egg. Good luck if you try it out! :)
I’m gluten free but not dairy free. Can I use butter in place of coconut oil?
You can use 1/2 cup butter in place of the coconut oil. Enjoy! :)
This looks amazing but when I tried it it was very dry… I added another egg and t more tablespoons of oil but it still wouldn’t form into a ball between my hands. What could I be doing wrong?
Hi there! I’m sorry you’re having difficulties! What brand of almond flour did you use? And did you make any changes or subs at all to the recipe? None of the other commenters have had that issue (and I’ve made these tons of times) so either one of the ingredients or one of the measurements were off. Or perhaps you really, really packed the almond flour? But even then, I don’t think it’d come out crumbly and dry. There have been times when I follow one of my own recipes (which has nothing but great reviews) and they come out terribly. Then I realize I added too much or too little of something. It happens. :/ I’m sorry! I hope you’ll give them another try. :) Maybe you could use a scale next time, if you didn’t last time.
Thanks for your quick reply. I measured very carefully (using the scale) so I
am not sure where I went wrong. I think it might be my flour. Thanks anyway, I will try again with new flour!
Good luck with the next batch! :)
New flour, no problem! Very tasty cookies, thank you!
Yay! I’m happy you enjoyed them. :) What kind of flour did you use that didn’t work? I’m asking so the other commenters can avoid it. :)
Soft and chewy as promised! Thank you so much for sharing this recipe! I recently developed a gluten intolerance and was seriously freaking out about all the holiday baking I was going to miss. These turned out so good!
I’m thrilled you found the recipe and that you enjoyed them! I’m not actually GF but I have loads of GF recipes that are super tasty so I hope you’ll try some others, too. :) Thanks for your comment!
Hi Erin would I be able to use ground almond instead of almond flour, I have that in my pantry and all the other ingredients just don’t really want to have to go to the supermarket until I need to go shopping again, thanks
Hi there! I see that you have a UK email address. I believe that almond flour = ground almonds in the UK so you have what you need. :) I hope you’ll enjoy the cookies!