These vegan raspberry thumbprint cookies are easy to make and ready in about 15 minutes! With a light and fluffy texture and raspberry jam filling, these healthy cookies are perfect for the Holidays!
It’s cookie season! Well, I’m cookie obsessed so it’s really always cookie season (especially as a food blogger), but this time of year there’s so many fun and seasonal cookies to bake.
These healthy raspberry thumbprint cookies are one of my favorites when I need something sweet but don’t want to over do it on the sugar. They’re sweetened with just maple syrup so they have a delicious maple flavor and made with a base of almond flour and gluten free all purpose flour.
Fill them with your favorite store bought jam or use my homemade raspberry chia jam!
To keep these thumbprint cookies from spreading too much, we’ll just be using a touch of baking powder, but no baking soda.
Baking soda is more responsible for spreading, and these cookies use just the right amount of flour so they hold their shape while baking. Try my matcha sugar cookies next!
How to make vegan thumbprint cookies
Preheat the oven to 350 degrees Fahrenheit.
In a medium mixing bowl, add combine the almond flour, all purpose flour, baking powder and salt. Be sure to spoon and level the flours into the measuring cups, don’t pack it in or scoop from the bag.
Add in all remaining ingredients aside from the jam and use a wooden spoon to mix together.
Use a small or medium cookie scoop to roll into balls (about 1 1/2 tbsp of dough) and place on a baking sheet lined with parchment paper.
Add another piece of parchment paper on top and use a flat bottom cup to press down into a cookie shape. You don’t want to press them too much since we’ll press down again to get the jam in.
Remove the top piece of parchment and bake the cookies for 9-12 minutes, or until the bottoms are just lightly golden brown.
Remove from the oven and use the bottom of 1 teaspoon and press down about halfway into the center (while they’re still warm!).
Fill with 1 teaspoon of jam of choice, I use Bonne Maman raspberry jam, but you can also use my homemade raspberry chia jam or any jam of choice.
To make the drizzle, whisk together 1 cup of powdered sugar and 1-2 tablespoons of milk until creamy. Drizzle over the cookies once cool. Alternatively, just sprinkle with a little dusting of powdered sugar.
Baking tips
The dough might seem kind of wet when you’re forming them into cookies, so it helps to have slightly damp hands when you roll them into balls.
They don’t spread while baking, so pressing them down before they go in the oven is essential!
You can make the indents in the cookies and fill them with jam before they bake, I just like to do it after, but it really works either way!
How to store
Once prepared, these vegan thumbprint cookies will keep for about 3 days at room temperature. Keep them in an air tight container for best results so they don’t dry out.
You can freeze these cookies, but do so before you add the jam. Let them cool completely, then transfer to a freezer safe bag and freeze for up to 2 months.
Reheat in the oven just until warm through the center, then cool and add your jam!
Ingredient swaps
FLOUR. This recipe calls for both almond flour and gluten free all purpose flour. You can sub the gluten free AP flour for a regular all purpose flour, but I don’t recommend any additional swaps aside from that.
BUTTER. You can use coconut oil instead of butter. I prefer butter for the flavor, but refined coconut oil will also work. I do not recommend virgin coconut oil since it will have a coconut flavor.
SUGAR. This recipe calls for just maple syrup, no other sweetener, so I do not recommend any swaps here. The syrup is a key liquid ingredient, so swapping out for a granulated sugar won’t work.
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Vegan Raspberry Thumbprint Cookies
by: claire cary
Ingredients
- 1 ¼ cup fine blanched almond flour
- 1 ¼ cup gluten free all purpose flour can sub for regular
- ¼ tsp salt
- ½ tsp baking powder
- ¼ cup melted butter or refined coconut oil butter for a richer flavor
- ½ cup real maple syrup
- 1 tsp vanilla extract
- ¼ cup raspberry jam of choice see notes
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 350 degrees Fahrenheit.
- In a medium mixing bowl, add combine the almond flour, all purpose flour, baking powder and salt. Be sure to spoon and level the flours into the measuring cups, don't pack it in or scoop from the bag.
- Add in all remaining ingredients aside from the jam and use a wooden spoon to mix together.
- Use a small or medium cookie scoop to roll into balls (about 1 1/2 tbsp of dough) and place on a baking sheet lined with parchment paper.
- Add another piece of parchment paper on top and use a flat bottom cup to press down into a cookie shape. You don't want to press them too much since we'll press down again to get the jam in.
- Remove the top piece of parchment and bake the cookies for 9-12 minutes, or until the bottoms are just lightly golden brown.
- Remove from the oven and use the bottom of 1 teaspoon and press down about halfway into the center. Fill with 1 tsp of jam of choice, I use Bonne Maman raspberry jam, but you can also use my homemade raspberry chia jam or any jam of choice.
- To make the drizzle, whisk together 1 cup of powdered sugar and 1-2 tbsp of milk until creamy. Drizzle over the cookies once cool.
Yajaira says
Incredible! I haven’t even added the drizzle yet and already they taste amazing. I made them with strawberry jam and followed another comment and took them out halfway to add the jam and continued baking and it was so good because the jam melted just enough and settled into the center. Absolutely easy to make and love how simple the ingredients are.
Claire Cary says
Yum! Love these with strawberry jam as well.
Claire says
Just finished making these and I am so pleased with how they turned out. I am a gooey jam person so I took them out halfway through baking and dotted the jam in, to bake with the cookie. They came out perfect, the texture was so nice and I can guarantee they won’t last long in this household!
FYI for those looking for a super sweet cookie, this isn’t it! However, it’s a perfect mix of sweet, salty, and bitter. You won’t be disappointed.
candice says
Made these today. Came out perfectly delicious. I followed the recipe exactly as written. Only thing I changed was baking them a few minutes longer. Will definitely be making these again. Thank you for the sweet cookie recipe.
Claire Cary says
Thank you Candice! So glad they turned out well.