Valentine’s Day is just around the corner. How are you celebrating? Whether you’re looking for the perfect sweet treat to say I love you, or to share with friends, these Gluten Free Strawberry Thumbprint Cookies are sure to be an instant classic.

Gluten Free Strawberry Thumbprint Cookies

Thumbprint cookies are one of my favorite cookies. Whether it’s Gluten and Dairy Free Turtle Thumbprint Cookies or these jam filled treats, they’re a classic for a reason. A little soft and a little chewy and bursting with the buttery and nutty flavor of pecans, they’re truly a full sensory experience.

Ingredients

Gluten Free Strawberry Thumbprint Cookies combine easy pantry staples with premium, buttery, and sweet pecan meal. These are as easy to shop for as they are to make!

Gluten Free Flour – Bob’s Red Mill Gluten Free 1 to 1 Baking Flour is my go-to for both sweet and savory dishes. It makes it easy to measure for recipes that aren’t written as Gluten Free.
Vanilla Extract – The better the quality the vanilla, the more pronounced the flavor.
Salt – Enhances all of the flavors of the ingredients.
Eggs
Sugar
Dairy Free Butter – Make sure that your butter is room temperature. This will keep your cookies tender and moist yet a little crispy.
Pecan Meal – This gives nutty, buttery flavor and the ultimate bite to these cookies. Pearson Farm pecan meal is a great Gluten Free flour alternative. Pearson Farm ensures the pecan meal is never cross contaminated with other tree nuts making this friendly for those with nut allergies.
Strawberry Jam – The sweet and bright pop of strawberry jam cooks down and becomes the perfect accent to these pecan kissed cookies.

How to Make Gluten Free Strawberry Thumbprint Cookies

Making homemade cookies is easy and rewarding. It’s a whole sensory experience from the feel of the dough and the way it perfumes the house to that first bite of warm cookie soft from the oven. Fill up your cookie jar with these nutty jam filled treats, but be warned, they won’t last long!

Time needed: 1 hour

A little crunchy, and a little chewy, these classic cookies are as easy to make as they’re delicious to eat!

Cream
Add the room temperature Dairy Free butter and sugar to a bowl and mix on high for three minutes until light and fluffy. Mix in the eggs and vanilla.
Dry Ingredients
Mix in the salt and flour until just combined.
Chill
Allow the dough for chill for 30 minutes in the refrigerator.
Pregame
Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Line two baking sheets with parchment paper.
Roll
Place the pecan meal into a plate. use a 1 1/2″ scoop to portion out the cookie dough. Roll the cookie dough into the pecan meal and place onto the prepared baking sheets.
Form
Use the back of a spoon to press the cookies down, creating a crevice for the jam. Add the jam into the center of each cookie.
Bake
Let the cookies bake for 11-13 minutes.
Cool
Allow the cookies to cool completely…if you can wait that long! Enjoy!

Variations

These cookies are completely Dairy Free and Gluten Free. However, the same recipe can be made with regular flour and dairy butter.

In addition, have fun with the jam! Strawberry is a classic but you can add your favorite jams and preserves such as raspberry, cherry, and blueberry.

Storage

These Gluten Free Strawberry Thumbprint cookies will keep for a week at room temperature and up to six months if frozen. Allow them to cool completely. If you plan on eating them within the week, keep them stored in an airtight container with layers of wax paper separating them. This will keep them fresh and also prevent them from sticking to each other.

You can also freeze these cookies. After letting them cool transfer them freezer safe bags. It’s helpful to mark the date you baked them on the bag. When ready to eat allow them to gently defrost in the refrigerator overnight.

Top Tip for Gluten Free Strawberry Thumbprint Cookies

Make sure that your Dairy Free butter is at room temperature before mixing your cookie dough. This will allow the batter to come together easily without over mixing. Once you have made your cookie dough let it refrigerate for at least thirty minutes before forming your cookies. Allowing the butter to reharden will prevent your cookies from spreading out too quickly and keep the pretty jam filled thumbprint shape.

Types of Gluten Free Flours

There are so many more quality Gluten Free options widely available these days. I wanted to quickly share with you some of the types I like to use and have had success with.

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 Types of Flour

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.

Types of 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”.