Almond Thumbprint Dough

Our #EatTheDough cookie this week was an almond thumbprint cookie. It turned out like a fancy gourmet cookie dough, but it was the worst to make. Don't do it. I wanted to add a gluten-free, dairy-free dough to our offerings, so when we adapted this recipe we used a mix of rice-based flour and ground almonds instead of regular wheat flour, and replaced the butter with coconut oil. If you make this dough, don't do that.

The oil was too firm when refrigerated and too loose when room temperature which made these hard to work with. Thumbprint cookies are so named because before you bake them you push a depression into the cookie with your thumb and fill it with jam. Because we were not going to be baking these, we froze small dollops of jam to roll inside a ball of dough instead. But the dough consistency made this a nightmare, and in order to make these less messy when eating, we made the determination to dip them in white chocolate. The result is pretty, tasty, and very rich.

I won't be making this recipe again.

But here it is anyway, in case I want to refer back to it and make an adaptation in the future.

This recipe was adapted from Dear Crissy's Raspberry Almond Shortbread Cookies.

Anna's Almond Thumbprint Cookie Dough

Ingredients:

1/2 cup seedless raspberry jam

1 cup coconut oil, solid but not hard (cool but not cold)

2/3 cup granulated sugar

1/2 tsp almond extract

1 cup ground almonds (or almond flour)

1 cup gluten-free flour (I used King Aurthur brand)

1/2 tsp salt

2-3 cups white chocolate melting candies or white chocolate chips

Method:

1. Using a piping bag with a round tip, pipe 18-20 dollops about the volume of 1/2 tsp of raspberry jam onto wax paper or silicon mat-lined baking sheet. Alternately, drop by small spoonfuls on to the baking sheet. Freeze.

2. In a medium bowl, mix the coconut oil, granulated sugar, and almond extract with an electric mixer. 

3. In a separate bowl, combine ground almonds, gluten-free flour and salt.

4. Mix dry ingredients into wet ingredients with a mixer until well combined. Refrigerate until chilled but not too firm, about 20-30 minutes.

5. Scoop small scoops of dough onto a cookie sheet and press thumb into each scoop to form a bowl-shape. Drop a frozen dollop of jam into each scoop and roll by hand into a ball. Refrigerate until firm, about 40-50 minutes. (Jam will thaw quickly. If it becomes too warm to work with, pop it back in the freezer for about 10 minutes before continuing.)

6. Melt the white chocolate in a large, microwave-safe bowl. Microwave on high for 1 minute, then stir with a spatula. Heat for 30 more seconds, stir for at least 10 seconds, and repeat just until completely melted.

7. Using a fork, dip dough in white chocolate to cover and allow to cool on a wax paper or silicon-lined baking sheet. Optional, use remaining white chocolate to drizzle a design over the top. Refrigerate until set, about 5-10 minutes.

Store refrigerated in an airtight container.