Looking for a gluten-free thumbprint cookie that is easy to make and delicious to eat? My gluten-free raspberry thumbprint cookie recipe is my jam. It’s buttery, light and the raspberry jam is just icing on top. This post contains affiliate links. Please see my disclosures.
There is nothing I love more than a soft, buttery cookie – and that’s why I’m excited to share my gluten-free thumbprint cookie recipe with you today.
These soft-baked and gluten-free raspberry thumbprint cookies are the bomb! They’re like buttery little pieces of heaven that melt in your mouth. They are infused with a subtle burst of lemon too, making them even more flavorful than meets the eye.
Let’s talk a bit about how you can make these delicious thumbprint cookies yourself.
How to Make Thumbprint Cookies
Here are step-by-step instructions to making these tasty gluten-free thumbprint cookies:
Step #1: In a small bowl, combine the sugar and lemon zest. Really rub the lemon zest into the sugar until fragrant. You’re going to love this part as it will smell so good in your kitchen!
Step #2: Next, combine the sugar with butter, lemon juice and lemon extract before combining it with all the dry ingredients (flour, baking soda and salt). Mix all the ingredients together until it’s well combined and smooth.
Please note that I used Bob’s Red Mill 1-to-1 Gluten-Free Baking Flour – my favorite wheat flour substitute. This gluten-free flour blend already contains xanthan gum, so I omitted the xanthan gum from my recipe. If your mix does not have xanthan gum, be sure to add it.
Step #3: Next, take a chunk of the dough and roll it between your hands into a small ball. Don’t worry, the dough won’t stick to your hands because it’s very buttery.
Place each dough ball on a parchment lined baking sheet until you have about 36 balls of dough ready to go.
Step #4: Next, gently place a small thumb-sized imprint into the center of each cookie. You can use your thumb to do it, however, if you don’t want to use your thumb you can use the back of a ½ teaspoon. It creates the perfect circle every time and gives you a more uniform look.
Step #5: Now the fun part… fill the center of each cookie with raspberry jam. While I used raspberry jam as the filling for my cookies, you could use any type of jam that tickles your fancy – blueberry, strawberry, fig or even orange marmalade make great options.
Once you’ve filled all the cookies with the jam, place them in a preheated oven and bake for 10 minutes.
Whatever you do, don’t over bake these cookies!
They may not seem like they’re done after 10 minutes, but I promise you they are. If you over bake the cookies, the bottoms will become too brown and you won’t get that melt in your mouth butter cookie experience that I know you’re craving!
The cookies will crack a bit when you bake them… the cracks give ’em that extra special homemade charm. (And if one cracks and looks funny, you’ll just eat it before anyone can see it.)
Recipe FAQs
Storing Leftovers: These thumbprint cookies store well at room temperature for 3-4 days. (As if they would last that long!)
Make Ahead Dough: If you’d like to make the dough ahead of time, you can keep the dough in the refrigerator for 1-2 days before baking.
Vegan: This recipe is vegan if you use vegan-approved sugar and a vegan butter substitute.
Allergens: As written, this recipe is gluten free, dairy free and egg free, but always double check all ingredients as formulas can change.
More Cookie Recipes
If you love cookies, you might enjoy these tasty gluten-free cookie recipes as well. Check ’em out:
Gluten-Free S’mores Cookies: You gotta try these delicious chocolate and marshmallow cookies.
Gluten-Free Classic Chocolate Chip Cookies: These are classic chocolate chip cookies that taste like the cookies of your childhood.
Gluten-Free Pumpkin Thumbprint Cookies: These soft cookies are made with cassava flour and are filled with a pumpkin frosting, yum!
Raspberry Thumbprint Cookies
Ingredients
- 1 cup sugar
- 1 tbsp lemon zest from 1 lemon
- 1 cup dairy free butter melted and cooled
- 2 tsp pure lemon extract
- 4 tbsp lemon juice from 1 lemon
- 2 ½ cups gluten-free flour blend I used Bob's Red Mill 1:1 Gluten-Free Flour blend
- 2 tsp xanthan gum if your blend doesn’t already contain it
- 1 tbsp baking powder
- ½ tsp salt
- ½ cup raspberry jam
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 350º F. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper and set aside.
- In a small bowl, combine granulated sugar and lemon zest. Rub the zest into the granulated sugar until they are thoroughly combined and the lemon fragrance is released.
- Place the lemon sugar in a large bowl. Stir in dairy free butter and mix until combined and mixture is light in color, then stir in lemon extract and lemon juice.
- Whisk together gluten-free flour blend, xanthan gum (if using), baking powder and salt.
- Gradually add the dry ingredients to the wet ingredients, mixing in between, until no streaks of flour remain.
- Take a heaping tablespoon of dough and roll in a ball. With your thumb, lightly press down on the dough until an indentation in the middle of the dough forms. Fill with ½ teaspoon of raspberry jam. Repeat with remaining dough and jam.
- Bake for 10 minutes. Remove the cookies from the oven and let cool completely before removing from the pan. Cookies will be fragile when warm.
I haven’t heard this before. I’m not sure why it happened. Did you make any substitutions?
I made these but they came out flat. I even tried them again at lower temp and it did the same. Any suggestions?
Our neighbors brought some of their raspberry jam thumbprints and I wanted some. But I found out I have a gluten allergy earlier this year. This recipe hits the spot. They do fall apart, but I honestly think it’s my lack of gluten free baking to blame. I used bobs mill 1:1 and it worked great. Most importantly the taste was there. Kudos to you for this recipe. Greatly appreciated this holiday season.
I haven’t tested them this way.
Can I freeze & add raspberry jam when thawed for serving?
THESE ARE GOOOOD. I am gluten free and dairy free. Bob Mill’s 1/1 flour (the one mentioned in the recipe) is the bomb and is what I ALWAYS use when baking. So totally recommend getting a bag, esp for these. Also, I did not have lemon, so I didn’t add lemon zest, lemon juice, or lemon extract. Instead, I added 1 tsp of vanilla extract and 2 tbsp of coconut milk and they turned out wonderful (for anyone who doesn’t want to add the lemon ingredients). I used Crocker Plant Based Butter and cooked our cookies at 325 degrees for 15 mins because we have dark pans (for anyone who has dark pans).
I made these today! I used real butter because that’s what I had on hand but, kept everything else exactly as recipe said. The cookies spread a bit while baking but, Wow-are they delicious! My whole family loved them- we can’t stop eating them!! I’ll be making these again!
Oven temps can vary. Trust your gut and bake a little longer as needed.
Hi! I just made these and it seems like the 10 mins baking time isn’t enough! They are still doughy and seem raw in the middle 🙁
I’m sure you could!
These look delicious. I’m wondering if instead of the lemon extract, can I replace it with vanilla or just leave it out of the recipe?
I’m sorry it didn’t work. I’m not sure what might have happened? Maybe add a little extra water to help the dough come together?
dough will not hold together. followed recipe exactly. can I add an egg
You could certainly play with it but I haven’t tried it with those swaps.
I think it’ll work. Good luck!
If I can’t have lemon, could I sub vanilla for the lemon extract? And what would you recommend to replace the lemon juice—milk?
Can you use regular butter if you are not vegan?
Jenny, these look wonderful and I’m so happy they are vegan too! Can’t wait to try them.