Confessions—I am a horrible cookie maker.  Horrible. They always turn out flat and runny, or hard and chewy and not the good type of chewy.  Yes, there is a reason why there is only one cookie recipe in my cookbook, lets just say too many attempts ended up in the trash.

Jam thumbprint cookies have forever been one of my favorites! I pretty much held my breath through these cookies entire baking process, believing they would turn out horrible like the rest of my cookie attempts.  Well, there must have been some magic in the air, like the magic that brought Frosty the Snowman to life, because these cookies were somehow perfect!

I may never attempt grain-free cookie baking again just so I can go out on a high note!

Second confession—my husband ate these for breakfast for about 3 days straight until they were gone…hey they are pretty much as healthy as cookies get, so I don’t have any problems with that!

To make these gluten and grain free thumbprint cookies, I used the minimally honey sweetened blackberry jam from my cookbook, which I am totally addicted too!  A taste tester once told me she could have eaten the whole batch and licked the skillet…you know something is good when you want to lick the skillet right!?

I love the idea of edible gifts—this blackberry jam or these rosemary sea salt pecans would make the perfect gift placed in a glass mason jelly jar and tied with gold and white twine.  If you are looking for other fabulous hostess gifts, check out my “20 Hostess/Host Gifts under $25.”

Blackberry Jam Thumbprint Cookies {Grain Free, Gluten Free}

makes 16 cookies | approximately 6.6g carbs per cookie

Ingredients

• 2 cups raw cashew pieces*
• 2 tbsp maple sugar**
• 2 tbsp coconut flour
• 1/2 tsp aluminum-free baking powder
• 4 tbsp butter, softened
• 1 egg
• 1 tbsp raw honey
• about 1 tsp honey-sweetened blackberry jam per cookie (recipe in my cookbook) –> to save time use a jar of jam (preferably fruit sweetened)

*using whole cashews will result in a different measurement

**using coconut sugar will not bake the same

Directions

• Warm the oven to 350 degrees F and arrange the baking rack to the lowest possible position.  Line a baking sheet with parchment paper.
• Add the cashew pieces, maple sugar, coconut flour and baking powder to the bowl of a food processor and pulse to a thicker flour like consistency.  Add the remaining ingredients, with the exception of the blackberry jam.  Blend to form a cookie dough, usually till the dough starts to move around in a ball in the food processor.
• Using a 1 1/2 tbsp cookie scoop, scoop the cookies on to the parchment paper lined baking sheet.
• Using the flat part of your thumb, make a small indentation.  Drop about 1 tsp or less of blackberry jam into each little indention.
• Bake 11-12 minutes, or until they start to turn golden brown, watching closely at the end as cashews will burn easily.
• Set aside to cool for 5 minutes before transferring to a cooling rack.
• Cool completely and enjoy—tidbit, I enjoyed mine the best, slightly chilled from the refrigerator!