The Spunky Coconut

Gluten-Free ❤ Dairy-Free ❤ Paleo

You are here: Home / Cookies / Scandinavian Thumbprint Cookies

Scandinavian Thumbprint Cookies

By

2glutenfreecookieswedish-tumbprint-cookies You may remember my Santa Lucia post last December, where we made saffron buns. I mentioned how I’m from Danish heritage, and that we love to incorporate Scandinavian traditions at Christmas.

This book, Swedish Cakes and Cookies, is one of my favorite cookbooks, despite the fact that there are only about three gluten-free recipes in it. I love the pictures, and I get inspired by all the different ideas.

There are a few recipes that I want to adapt and post in the next couple weeks, beginning with this one, called Thumbprint Cookies. This was actually one of the already gluten-free recipes in the cookbook. But it called for a stick of butter, an egg, and a cup of potato starch. I wanted mine to be egg-free for those of you who don’t use eggs, and have less butter and starch. They came out pretty amazing, and we all loved them. 🙂 I hope you do too.

♥, Kelly

Scandinavian Thumbprint Cookies

gluten-free, egg-free

Dry Ingredients

⅓ cup tapioca flour
⅓ cup almond flour
⅓ cup coconut flour, sifted
1 tablespoon chia seed meal (I grind my seeds in coffee grinder or Magic Bullet.
½ tablespoon seeds is equal to about 1 tablespoon meal)
¼ teaspoon sea salt

Wet Ingredients

3 tablespoons honey
¼ cup applesauce
½ teaspoon vanilla
¼ cup melted ghee or coconut oil

directions

  1. Set the oven to 350°F.
  2. Add the dry ingredients to a mixing bowl and whisk to combine.
  3. In a separate bowl combine the wet ingredients, adding the coconut oil or ghee last, while the mixer is on.
  4. Add the dry ingredients to the wet and combine with an electric mixer.
  5. Roll into little balls and place on unbleached parchment paper.
  6. Use you fingers to create an indentation and fill it with raspberry or strawberry spread.
  7. Bake for about 15 minutes.
Share this:

Reader Interactions

Comments

  1. Wow, those look beautiful and I will be making them. Just wondering if I would be able to swap flax seeds for chia seeds. if not, i’m making them as is.

    thanks for the recipe…

  4. These sound amazing! I love thumbprint cookies – and I love the look of that cookbook! What a wonderful adapatation. I am going to try using ground cashews instead of almonds, I’ll let you know how it works. I love the prune filling in kolaches, I might have to make a prune filling for these little morsels! Thanks for sharing. 🙂 xo Kim | http://www.affairsofliving.com

  7. I swear you’re reading my mind! I was just thinking last night I need to figure out a thumbprint cookie. We did roll out ones but I want something easy. Thanks Kelly!

  8. Did you use almond meal or almond flour? Would Bob’s Red Mill almond flour work? I keep meaning to order from Honeyville but always just end up putting off the recipes that call for finer almond flour (i.e. Elana’s recipes)

  9. These look so tasty! And it’s great that they’re egg-free too. I feel like I’m eating way too many eggs these days.
    And the funny thing is; I’ve got the exact same cookbook. I bought it when I was in Sweden a few years ago. It’s very inspirational indeed!

  11. Hi Kelly! It has been a while since we talked. (I had the blog called the Cook and the Critic, I don’t know if you remember me or not.) These look amazing!!! I am Swedish so I really appreciate this recipe. Thanks for making them without eggs. I have been wanting to make cookies this holiday season and I am sooooo happy to have rediscovered your website. All of your cookie recipes seem so doable. And I can’t wait to try these.

  14. These look great. We have a Swede in the house, so your pic got a big smile from my husband… Will have to try them out.

    I emailed you yesterday – hope you got my note.

    Best
    Nicola

  15. I just made your Thumbprint Cookies this morning and they are the easiest things to make. They stayed together even after I put my print in it. I used Watkins Cranberry extract for the season and I used some of my homemade Blackberry jam I made this fall. They were wonderful Kelly and I think that coconut and almond go so wonderful together. Keep up the great work. Your site is one of my favs!

    Thanks and Merry Christmas.

  16. These look wonderful! I’m glad Neveen asked about the flax seed, as that was my question as well. 🙂 My husband’s family is Norwegian and we also enjoy recreating some recipes like julecake. I think we’ll be trying these soon!

    -Sea
    http://www.bookofyum.com

  17. Hi Kelly, I love your recipes they are just amazing! I have one question about this recipe-can I use an egg instead of the apple sauce and chia seeds? If not, can I substitute flax seeds for the chia seeds?
    Thanks so much for all your delicious recipes!

  18. Thanks guys!

    Wendy, I remember you!

    Gail, Woohoo! I’m so happy to hear that!

    Also, yes you can use an egg or flax. 🙂

  22. These are delicious and sooo easy!!! I can’t eat almonds – so I subbed brown rice flour and it worked very well. These are the perfect tea biscuits – thank you so much for sharing!!

  23. I was about to be outraged that somebody stole your recipe and photo and sent it in to Tropical Traditions, but I guess it was you! They look great.

    I’ve never used chia seeds. Do you think the recipe will be OK if I substitute flax seeds?

  28. Hey Kellly,
    I’ve blogged about these on a recent post about home made Xmas gifts. Feel free to contribute amy other ideas suitable for home made xmas gifts. Hope you have a great Xmas season!

  29. Thank you, thank you, thank you Kelly. Really, thank you. I just found out that my daughter is allergic to wheat, corn, and eggs. We already avoid dairy and sugar as part of our normal diet. I have been at a loss for baked goods, but I just made these FABULOUS cookies and could cry with happiness. Really I can’t say it enough, thank you!!!

  30. I made these tonight and then realized I did not have tapioca flour! Egads!

    I used quinoa flour instead and flaxseed meal and they came out yummy with Strawberry Rhubarb preserves. YUM!

  33. Hi Kelly,

    I have made your cookies three times and each time they have been received with RAVE reviews. My sister in law has Celiac’s and I can’t wait for her to try these cookies. I’m so happy you used healthy, easy to find ingredients. In addition to the vanilla extract, I also added a pinch of almond extract to make raspberry almond cookies. SENSATIONAL!! Thank you Thank you Thank you!

    Sincerely,
    Savita

    Berkeley, CA

  34. Hey Kelly! I’m planning on making these tommorrow and I have a question- can you substitute another flour for the tapioca flour? I have an all-purpose baking flour (gluten free) and also spelt flour. I can buy the tapioca flour if you think that would be best, I’m making them for a group so i want them to taste good =) Just wanted to see what you think.

  35. I am super excited to have found your beautiful recipes. I am Swedish and have been wanting to bake Scandinavian cookies but haven’t had the recipes. I live in Uganda and I can’t get almond flour or meal here. I am new to the diet, pardon my ignorance – can I ground almonds and use instead? Thank you again, Johanna

  37. Made these tonight and they were great! I made them with egg and butter per the original recipe. Half with sugar free blueberry jam and half with pumpkin butter for a fall twist! Thanks, great recipe!

  39. I’ve wanted a thumbprint cookie recipe for years. I’m so glad I found you as I was rambling through Pinterest! Oh, I’m so excited to try these! Thank you!!!

  40. These cookies turned out perfect and tasted even better than I imagined they would! Incredible!!

  42. My son is SCD and totally grain free. Is there something else I could use for the arrowroot flour? These look great. Thanks. Tracey

  43. I’m always confused by ingredients that say a measurement, sifted.

    1/3 cup coconut flour, sifted

    Does this mean 1/3 cup coconut flour, THEN sift it

    OR

    Does it mean sift coconut flour UNTIL you have 1/3 cup?

    Thanks!!

    Sharon

  44. I am obsessed with Thumbprints this year, and I’m really excited to attempt these this snowy morning! Thank you for sharing your recipe (especially the brands of jams without added sugar). I’ll update after I make these!

  46. These look great, but I need to echo another persons question….can’t do the seeds. Is it possible to replace the seeds and applesauce with an egg? Thanks!

  48. Made a double batch last night, and they turned out lovely, even despite our oven not working and having to use the broiler! The dough was so nice to work with; not sticky and unmanageable like some grain-free baked goods. Thank you so much!

  49. Are these supposed to be soft when they are done? I baked for a few minutes longer and they still seem soft and my dough seemed kind of wet? I followed the recipe exactly

  51. They’re in the oven now. Used psyllium husk instead of chia seed and a dropper of vanilla stevia instead of honey (added more applesauce to make up the liquid difference). Later I’ll probably try with an egg instead of chia. I’ll let you know how they turned out in a minute…

    Not bad. Should they be a bit crunchy/shortbready? cause these are kind of soft. Next time I’ll try less coconut flour and more almond/arrowroot.

  52. Last week, my doctor put me on a strict “detox” diet after some test results came back. That diet eliminates all sugars except unsweetened fruits, brown rice syrup (yuck), Stevia (yuck), and blackstrap molasses. I also can’t have eggs for over a month. I have a sweet tooth and wanted something sweet to help get me through this “diet” – I’m already mostly Paleo so that restricts a lot of stuff right off the bat. I made these cookies over Christmas and they were great, so I decided to try them again. I subbed the honey for blackstrap molasses, subbed 2 T of flaxseed for the chia, used apple sauce that had no additives, and jam with no added sugar (just fruit!). These turned out wonderfully! I am thrilled. Thank you for this great recipe!

  53. I forgot to mention that I used tapioca starch this time instead of arrowroot and I think I actually prefer the tapioca. The cookies seemed a lot more chewy using tapioca!

  54. Made 5 batches of these last night for Christmas. My only complaint is that the recipe doesn’t make very many cookies. Other than that, they are delicious! Thank you so much!

  57. These are seriously the best. I’ve made at least a batch or two for the past 4 Christmas the kids love to help make them and eat them ?? Thanks kelly