Today: Gluten free thumbprint cookies.

I hit the sibling jackpot when my younger sister was born.  She was smart, funny, talented and clever.  And then she grew up.  And somehow, she got smarter, funnier, more talented and more clever.  I am so lucky that she only lives a mile away and was only sort of kidding when she said she had given up speaking to me for Lent.

She swung by our condo before the parade on Sunday, and brought her fiance and one of her lovely friends, Amy, along.  And Amy brought along some of the most delicious cookies of all time, adapted from this recipe and her friends’ blog, The Feasting Freds.  With another storm threatening to derail work plans (and following through on that threat with several inches of snow before dawn today), I dug through my cabinets to find that I had almost all the ingredients on hand.  I put on my frilliest apron and got to stress baking.

The original recipe (for maple walnut jam cookies) calls for whole wheat pastry flour, which I swapped out for a mix of coconut flour and almond meal.  I found I needed additional flour mix, as the dough was a bit too soft.  I used agave nectar instead of maple syrup, and was sure to use certified gluten free oats.

Gluten free thumbprint cookies with raspberry preserves

Ingredients:

• 1 cup chopped walnuts
• 1 cup gluten free oats (I like Bob’s Red Mill)
• 1/2 cup of almond meal (plus more, if needed)
• 1/2 cup of coconut flour
• 1/2 cup canola oil
• 1/2 cup agave nectar
• 1/2 tsp cinnamon
• a pinch of sea salt
• raspberry preserves (I like Bonne Maman, and not just because I was a French major)

Directions:

1. Preheat the oven to 350 F and prepare a rimmed cookie sheet.
2. Mix chopped walnuts and gluten free oats in a food processor and grind until they’re combined.
3. In a small bowl, mix the canola oil and agave nectar.
4. In a larger bowl, combine the dry and wet ingredients, and stir.  Add additional almond flour if needed.
5. Form the dough into small balls and drop onto cookie sheet.  Flatten each ball slightly and form a depression (or in happier terms, a raspberry preserves pocket) with your thumb.
6. Add a small amount of preserves (or your favorite jam) to each cookie.
7. Bake for 12-15 minutes and allow to cool slightly before transferring to a wire rack to cool completely.

These cookies can be a bit crumbly when they first come out of the oven, so it’s important to employ a little will power and allow them to cool and set up.  After a (very large) number of baking flops since forgoing gluten, this recipe was a real victory.  I’ll take ’em where I can get ’em.  These cookies were quick, easy, perfect for giving away and provided just the little project I needed to take my mind of this darn weather.

I’m grateful to Amy for sharing the recipe, and I am grateful to my sister for sharing her friends.

Also On Tap for Today:

• Check out Alex‘s guest post and recipe for spicy sweet potato lentil burgers
• Ready to bid adieu to winter
• Lucky for me and my sister, middle children are “more successful”

Have you made anything tasty lately?