Raspberry Almond Thumbprint Cookies

A few weeks ago I was sitting in my family room, when the doorbell rang. My good friend had just tried out a new recipe and needed me to tell her if it turned out good or not. I’m ALWAYS willing to help a friend in need, so I tested a vegan, gluten free cookie she had just made. Now I’m not sure if it’s because I’ve been off refined sugar for a long time, or if I was super hungry, but these cookies made me happy. Instantly.

Fast forward a few days. I was babysitting my cute niece who told me she wanted cookies. How could I deny my cute little niece cookies? I remembered where my friend had told me she found the recipe and looked it up. I was so happy I had all the ingredients (because I don’t usually cook vegan, gluten free). All the ingredients except raspberry jam.

I knew I wanted to make these cookies. The reason I don’t have jam in my house, is because I would eat jam if it were in my house. And let’s be honest… most jam is just straight sugar. Anyways, I had a little idea about how to get around the no jam problem I was having to make these cookies. I thought to myself… I wonder if I sprinkle a little bit of water on freeze dried raspberries, and then added maple syrup to taste if that would work as a quick and easy jam. It worked. The reason I think it worked is because there wasn’t any water in the raspberries to start with. Had they been fresh raspberries, I think there would have had too much liquid, and it would have turned the cookies soggy. Not to mention, I don’t just have raspberries in my fridge. Like ever.

Raspberry Almond Thumbprint Cookies

Ok, let’s move on to the RECIPE. I didn’t have a chance to ask the author if I could share the recipe right on here, so I am going to LINK TO IT HERE. The website is called “Oh She Glows”. I haven’t been on there before this, but it seems right up my alley with a lot of healthy cooking. Since I know some of the ingredients in this recipe aren’t totally conventional, I figured it might help to give you a little cheat sheet on them:

RICE FLOUR: Rice flour is a common flour used when baking gluten free things. I don’t eat gluten free, however I eat enough wheat through bread, that I figure when I can mix up my grains, I ought to. I think variety in all things are good. You can buy rice flour, but it can be pricey. I use my WONDERMILL to grind brown rice, and voila! I have cheap and healthy rice flour in seconds!

ALMOND BUTTER: Almond butter is like peanut butter, made out of almonds. I get mine at Costco and I like it. If you’re looking to stick to “healthy” check that the only ingredients in there are almonds.

GROUND FLAX SEED: The ground flax seed in this recipe is what replaces the eggs. It’s pretty common for people to use ground flax seed as an egg replacement, or in smoothies. Ground flax seed is just flax seeds that have been ground. You don’t want to grind these in your Electric Mills because they have oil in them. You can however grind them in the Wonder Jr hand grinders. If I’m being honest, I just buy it pre-ground. It’s worth it to me.

ALMOND MEAL: Almond meal is just finely, finely ground almonds. Again, you can purchase this, or you can make it. If making it, place raw almonds into a high-speed blender or food processor. Process on high speed until a fine crumb, making sure not to process too long or the oils will release.

Have I told you about the pan my mom got me for my birthday. It’s like an EXTRA LARGE cookie pan that fits the whole oven. It’s awesome. Except when you preheat your top smaller oven and realize the inside of that is smaller than regular ovens, and have to restart, and heat the bottom oven.