
These quick, high-protein cookies combine three of my favorite flavors: shortbread, raspberry, and chocolate. Because they are wheat-free, dairy-free, and egg-free, they avoid many allergy and dietary issues. Their fat, protein, and fiber content makes them filling, so they work well after a light meal. This could be just the recipe you need to delight your sweetheart on Valentine’s Day.

Prep Time | 15 minutes |
Passive Time | 20 minutes |
Servings |
dozen
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Ingredients
- 1 cup finely ground almond flour 110 grams
- 2 tablespoons sugar 25 grams
- 1/8 teaspoon salt
- 3 tablespoons vegan butter such as Miyoko's or Earth Balance, 44 grams
- 1/2 teaspoon vanilla
- 1 1/2 teaspoons raspberry fruit spread or jam or more, maybe 1 tablespoon
- 12 dairy-free chocolate chips optional
Ingredients
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Instructions
- Heat oven to 350°F with a rack in the center. Line a cookie sheet with parchment paper for easy cleanup (optional).
- Put dry ingredients in a medium bowl and stir to mix. Add vegan butter and vanilla. Stir with a fork to combine into a dough.
- Put dough on a cookie sheet and shape into a rectangular log about 1.25 x 1.25 x 6 inches. Cut log crossways into twelve even slices (Cut in half, then each half in half, and then each quarter into thirds.) Space cookies about 1 1/2 inches apart on cookie sheet. Press your thumb gently into the center of each cookie to make a little dent to hold the filling. If any cookie rims around the thumbprints crumble, press them back into shape so the filling won't run out when it gets hot.
- Fill thumbprints with 1/4 teaspoon of jam or 1/8 teaspoon of jam topped by a chocolate chip. Bake for 10 minutes, until your kitchens smells like a doughnut shop and the cookie tops begin to turn golden.
- Cool cookies on the cookie sheet for 10 minutes, then remove with a spatula. Eat some warm if you like or let them cool and firm up more on a wire cooling rack. These cookies may keep well for several days, but I doubt I'll ever find out.
Recipe Notes
- Neat: Don't pile on the jam. When it heats up, it will just roll lava-like down onto the cookie sheet and burn.
- Ingredients: Almond flour is just skinless, finely ground almonds. Look for coconut spread and buttery spread near the margarine in the cooler section. I don't eat a lot of almonds and don't use almond milk because the nuts require a lot of water to grow. On the other hand, growing almonds may be a reasonable use of the water. I'm glad to have this recipe in my bag of tricks for when I need a quick, pretty, gluten-free dessert.
- Speed: Instead of creating a dough log to slice, you could just dip the dough out into your palm using a teaspoon and then roll the dough into balls. My dough-log trick saves about five minutes and results in more uniform cookies, reducing the likelihood of sibling squabbles. It also reduces snickering. (I made the first few batches as round cookies, but kept thinking of them as R-rated Happy Lady cookies. OTOH, that might be just the ticket for Valentine's Day.)