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Cookie season is in full effect! What is your favorite cookie to break into this time of year? Gluten and Dairy Free Turtle Thumbprint Cookies are a decadent and fully loaded take on the classic thumbprint cookie.

Gluten and Dairy Free Thumbprint Cookies

What is better than the combination of caramel, chocolate, and pecans? It practically checks off the entire best of list. This classic combination of ingredients such as Gluten Free and Dairy Free Brownie Turtle Pie is a beloved mashup of flavors for a reason. These cookies pack everything you love of the nostalgic confection of turtles in the ultimate bite.

Ingredients

Is there any better smell than warm cookies baking away in the oven? With a few simple steps and ingredients Gluten and Dairy Free Turtle Thumbprint Cookies will have your friends and family coming back for another.

Gluten Free Flour – Bob’s red Mill Gluten Free 1 to 1 Baking Flour is my go-to flour for both sweet and savory recipes. It makes it easy to measure for recipes that aren’t traditionally written Gluten Free without having to add any extra ingredients.
Vanilla Extract – The better the quality the vanilla, the more pronounced the flavor will be.
Eggs
Sugar
Dairy Free Butter – Adds richness to these cookies while also giving them their soft, tender texture.
Pearson Farm Pecan Meal – Pearson Farm has been in operation for over 135 years. These premium Georgia pecans are harvested, shelled, and right on the farm ensuring that you receive the freshest in flavor.
Dairy Free Caramel – You can use Dairy Free condensed sweetened coconut milk for this, or your favorite dairy free caramel sauce.
Dairy Free Chocolate – Pick your favorite variety of either chocolate chips or a chocolate bar that has been finely chopped for easy melting.

How to Make Gluten and Dairy Free Turtle Thumbprint Cookies

These sweet cookies pack as much texture as they do flavor. They come together in just a few simple steps. Be warned, they’re addictively delicious!

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Time needed: 1 hour

Buttery sugar cookies are rolled in pecans and filled with caramel before being kissed by chocolate.

Pregame
Line two baking sheets with parchment paper and set aside.
Cream
Add the room temperature butter and sugar to a mixing bowl and mix on high for 3 minutes. The mixture should be light and fluffy.
Mix
Add the vanilla and eggs and mix to combine. Next add the salt and flour and mix until just combined.
Chill
Allow the cookie dough to chill for at least 30 minutes.
Roll
Place the pecan meal in a bowl. Use a 1 1/2″ scoop to form even sized cookies. Roll the balls into the pecan meal and place onto the prepared baking sheets.
Fill
Use the underside of a spoon to press down your cookies and create a center. Fill them with a little Dairy Free sweetened condensed coconut milk or caramel.
Bake
Bake the cookies for 11-13 minutes.
Finishing Touch
Melt your chocolate in the microwave until just melted. Drizzle the chocolate over your cooled cookies. Enjoy!

Variations

This recipe for Gluten and Dairy Free Turtle Thumbprint Cookies is completely Dairy Free. However, you can use dairy butter and caramel sauce with cream in it. The measurements will be the same.

Tools

Parchment paper not only prevents your cookies from sticking to the pan, but also allows them to bake more evenly. Bonus points it also makes for easy cleanup.

Using a scoop allows you to not only create equal sized cookies which will bake evenly but makes it easy to divide the batter. If you don’t have a scoop, you can use a spoon.

Storage

Cookies are the gift that keep on giving, especially these Gluten and Dairy Free Turtle Thumbprint Cookies. They will stay fresh for a week if stored in an airtight container. They can be kept at room temperature.

Top Tip for Gluten and Dairy Free Turtle Thumbprint Cookies

Allowing your butter to come to room temperature, regardless of whether it’s Dairy Free or dairy butter makes it easy to quickly mix together a smooth cookie dough. However you want to make sure you chill your dough before rolling your cookies and baking. This will prevent them from spreading out too quickly and being flat once they hit the oven.

Gluten Free Flours

My go to for baking is Bob’s Red Mill 1:1. It is a blend of several different gluten free ingredients and I find it just works consistently well for what I need. I could blend flour myself but I choose to spend my time other ways and the 1:1 is a really good product.

Oat Flour can give you a chewier, more moist product. It can lend a nice sweet flavor to baked foods and is a flour I tend to mix with others if I want a lighter or fluffy result. I am always very careful to buy organic gluten free oats because they can be sprayed with nasty stuff and be processed in a way that they are no longer gluten free.

Almond Flour has a nice nutty flavor but can tend to dry out what you are preparing. I like to balance it with an extra egg if I am adding it to meatloaf for example and add banana or egg if it is in a sweet treat. Your end product could be a bit denser if you are using straight almond flour as well. I do like using almond flour as bread crumbs or a crunchy topping on savory dishes.

Arrowroot is my normal choice for a thickener in sauce or gravy. It is great for things you want a good crunch on that would normally be dredged in flour. Arrowroot can also be used to temper other gluten free flours for sweets and baked goods.

Brown Rice Flour can also be used in combination with other gluten free flours for baked goods. I like to use it when making a roux and brown rice noodles are a favorite.

More Flours

Amaranth is another gluten free flour that works well when blended. It has a nice nutty flavor that makes it good for crusts, tortillas and breads.

Coconut Flour has a bit of a sweet coconut flavor. It tends to absorb liquid so you will need to adjust your recipe but it does give a nice light texture.

Corn Flour is a great thickener, makes delicious tortillas and one of my favorites, corn bread. Just make sure the corn flour you are buying was proceed in a gluten free environment and from a clean source.

Cassava Flour is the most similar to white or all purpose flour but can be expensive if you are using it often and is high in carbohydrates.

Tapioca is a great thickener as well for soups, pies and sauces and works well when combined with other flours.

Chickpea or garbanzo is used often in Indian and Middle Eastern cuisine… Think hummus, falafel, flatbreads. It has lots of healthy benefits and a mild nutty flavor. You can also use the water from the beans, called aquafaba, as an egg replacer or instead of cream for whipped cream. Crazy, I know, but it works so stop dumping it down the drain.

Gluten Free Grains

The gluten free grains we grab for most often are…

Quinoa- easy to make and flavor and is high in fiber and protein. It is actually one of the plant proteins that is a complete protein.

Oats are also good for fiber and a bit of protein but make sure they are clean and gluten free.

Buckwheat actually has no wheat in it but does have fiber, protein and trace minerals. I love buckwheat noodles. I also add them to salads and soups for texture and a bit of “chew”.