Berry Jam Thumbprint Cookies
Buttery, tender almond flour cookies with a jewel of homemade jam in the center. Make them with berries in summer, apricots in early summer, or figs in the fall, all naturally sweetened, with no refined sugar.
Yield: Makes 1 dozen · Active: 20 min · Total: 45 min (plus cooling) · Year-round (berries are seasonal to North America in summer, apricots in late spring into early summer, and figs from late summer into fall in California; frozen berries and dried figs or apricots work the rest of the year) · Best eaten: afternoon
Ingredients
2 cups blanched almond flour
2 tbsp coconut flour
½ cup maple sugar or coconut sugar (or liquid sweetener: ¼ cup raw honey or pure maple syrup)
½ tsp unflavored grass-fed gelatin
½ tsp Baja Gold sea salt
1 stick (4 oz) grass-fed unsalted butter, cold, cut into tablespoons
½ cup homemade jam: berry (raspberry, blackberry, mulberry, or strawberry), fig, or apricot (recipes below), or any naturally sweetened preserves
Method
Preheat the oven to 350°F with the rack in the middle. Line a baking sheet with parchment.
Combine. Place the almond flour, coconut flour, sugar (or honey), gelatin, and salt in a food processor. Pulse 2–3 times to combine.
Add the butter. Add the cold butter and process until the dough forms a ball. If you used honey or maple syrup, the dough will be softer, so chill it 20-30 minutes before rolling.
Shape. Using a 1½-inch cookie scoop, scoop a dough ball and roll it smooth with your hands. Place it on the baking sheet.
Make the thumbprint. Use your finger to press an indentation in the top of each ball. If the edges crack, just pinch them back together.
Fill. Spoon a teaspoon of cooled jam into the center of each cookie. Don't overfill, or the jam will bubble over as it bakes.
Bake 11 minutes, until just turning golden brown at the edges.
Cool completely on the baking sheet; the cookies are fragile while warm and firm up as they cool.
Homemade Jams (naturally sweetened, no refined sugar)
Each makes about ¾ cup, more than enough for a dozen cookies. The rest is lovely on toast or yogurt. Whichever you make, cook it until thick and let it cool completely before filling the cookies.
Berry Jam (raspberry, blackberry, mulberry, or strawberry)
2 cups berries, fresh or frozen (hull and chop strawberries)
1 tbsp fresh lemon juice
1-2 tbsp raw honey or pure maple syrup, to taste
Optional: 1 tbsp chia seeds, for a quicker set
Simmer the berries and lemon juice in a small saucepan over medium heat 15-20 minutes, mashing as they burst, until thick enough that a spoon dragged across the bottom leaves a trail. Take it off the heat and stir in the sweetener (honey added off the heat stays raw) and optional chia seeds. It thickens more as it cools.
Fig Jam
2 cups fresh figs, stemmed and chopped (about 10-12), or 1 cup dried figs, stemmed and chopped, plus ¾ cup water
2 tbsp water (for fresh figs)
1 tbsp fresh lemon juice
Optional: 1 tbsp raw honey or pure maple syrup (figs are so sweet, you may not need any)
Optional: a pinch of Ceylon cinnamon
Simmer the figs, water, and lemon juice over medium-low heat 15-20 minutes (20-25 for dried figs), stirring often, until soft and jammy. Mash with a fork for a rustic jam, or blend for a smooth one. Stir in the optional sweetener and cinnamon off the heat.
Apricot Jam
2 cups fresh apricots, pitted and chopped (about 6-8), or 1 cup unsulfured dried apricots, chopped, plus ¾ cup water
1 tbsp fresh lemon juice
1-2 tbsp raw honey or pure maple syrup, to taste
Optional: a splash of pure vanilla extract
Simmer the apricots and lemon juice (plus the water, for dried apricots) over medium-low heat 15-20 minutes, stirring often, until thick and jammy. Blend dried-apricot jam smooth. Stir in the sweetener and optional vanilla off the heat.
Storage
Cookies: In an airtight container in the fridge up to 1 week (the butter and jam keep best chilled), or frozen up to 3 months. Let them come to room temperature before serving for the most tender texture
Homemade jam: Refrigerated up to 2 weeks in a clean glass jar, or frozen up to 3 months
Nourishment Notes
Almond flour — vitamin E, magnesium, and monounsaturated fats, plus a tender, buttery crumb with no grains.
Coconut flour — fiber that helps bind the dough and gives it structure.
Grass-fed butter — fat-soluble vitamins A, D, E, and K2, plus butyrate and CLA.
Grass-fed gelatin — glycine and proline, the building blocks of collagen. It also helps hold these grain-free cookies together.
Berries — anthocyanins, vitamin C, and fiber. Raspberries and blackberries bring ellagic acid, and mulberries add resveratrol and a little iron.
Figs — fiber, potassium, calcium, and natural sweetness, so the jam often needs no sweetener at all.
Apricots — beta-carotene, potassium, and fiber.
Maple sugar and maple syrup — manganese and zinc. Raw honey, stirred in off the heat, keeps its enzymes and trace minerals.
Fresh lemon — vitamin C and a bright tang that helps the jam set.
As a circadian treat, these land best in the afternoon, when the body handles natural sugars most gracefully in daylight.
Sourcing
Blanched almond flour — organic and fresh (keep it in the fridge). U.S. almonds are pasteurized by law, even when labeled "raw," so the gold standard is blanching and grinding your own from organic, unpasteurized Spanish almonds, like Terrasoul's
Coconut flour — organic, unsweetened, and single-ingredient
Maple sugar or coconut sugar — organic
Raw honey — organic, local, and unfiltered
Maple syrup — organic, Grade A dark
Unflavored gelatin — from grass-fed, pasture-raised cattle, with nothing added (Great Lakes Wellness is one example; certified organic gelatin is rare)
Grass-fed butter — organic, cultured, unsalted butter from 100% grass-fed cows, or raw butter from a local dairy
Berries, figs, and apricots — organic, ripe, and in season from a farmers' market, or organic frozen berries year-round. For dried figs and apricots, choose organic and unsulfured (bright orange dried apricots are usually treated with sulfur dioxide)
Lemons — organic
Chia seeds (optional) — organic
Ceylon cinnamon and vanilla (optional) — organic; true Ceylon cinnamon from Sri Lanka, and pure vanilla extract with no added sugar
Baja Gold sea salt
— Anna aka Food Marshall