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Whole Wheat Raspberry Almond Thumbprint Cookies Recipe

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Is it really November already?  That means it’s almost been an entire year since we left Sicily!  And it has been an entire year since I participated in NaBloPoMo, or, National Blog Posting Month for those of you not in the know.

That’s right, November is when a large group of crazy bloggers decide to torture challenge themselves by writing a new blog post every single day of the month.

Last year I decided to participate in NaBloPoMo despite the fact we were packing up and moving across the world.  And somehow, I managed to do it!  This year, to challenge myself even further, I’ve decided to post a new recipe every single day of this month.

How am I going to manage this?  I’m not sure yet.  But it will give me an excuse to dig through my piles of notebooks and find all those recipes I always meant to write about, but never did!  And it will also force me to get back behind the camera that I’ve been neglecting too much lately!

So to kick things off I’m pulling out this thumbprint cookie recipe from last October that I posted on Flickr but never shared with the rest of you!  Who doesn’t love jam thumbprint cookies?  I’ve always adored this type of cookie but for some reason had never tried making them myself.

When we were getting ready to leave Sicily, I had an abundance of nut flours in my freezer that needed to be used up.  You see, on a whim, I had purchased a variety pack of nut flours from King Arthur Flour’s Baker’s Catalog, but never got around to using some of them.

I had a bag of toasted almond flour and a bag of toasted hazelnut flour sitting in the freezer making me feel guilty. And that’s when I just happened to run across Cafe Fernando’s Thumbprint Cookies! His recipe uses ground hazelnuts so it was exactly what I needed!  Don’t you just love it when that happens?

First, I made Cafe Fernando’s recipe using the toasted hazelnuts.  The only change I made was to use whole wheat flour and I think I added a touch of vanilla extract to the dough.  I filled that first batch with apricot jam and they were delicious!  I highly recommend Cafe Fernando’s hazelnut version!

But I still had that toasted almond flour, remember?  Well, it was easy enough to adapt the original recipe by switching out the ground hazelnuts for ground almonds.  And to give the cookies even more almond flavor, I added a bit of almond extract.  Again, I used whole wheat flour rather than all-purpose and this time I filled the cookies with raspberry jam since almonds and raspberries make perfect companions.

These cookies were amazing!

And I really am kicking myself now because I never shared them with you. These cookies are so easy to make and perfect if you have little helpers to do the thumbprints!

Whole Wheat Raspberry Almond Thumbprint Cookies

1/2 C. butter
1/3 C. lightly packed brown sugar
1/2 t. almond extract
1 C. whole wheat flour
1/2 C. toasted almond meal or flour (toasted ground almonds)
Raspberry jam

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees
2. Using a mixer, cream together butter and sugar until light and fluffy.
3. Whisk together flour and almond meal then add to butter mixture and blend well.
4. Put cookie dough in refrigerator for 30 minutes.
5. Line two baking sheets with parchment paper; roll teaspoonfuls of dough into balls and place on baking sheet; make an indentation with your fingertip in the center of each ball.
6. Bake for 15 minutes or until the edges are just slightly brown.  Let cool on wire rack.
7. Fill cookies with raspberry jam.

Yield: approximately 2 dozen cookies

This recipe is based on the Thumbprint Cookies found at Cafe Fernando

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Comments

  3. Kalyn says

    Yummy! And I love the idea of a cookie with whole wheat flour. Good luck on NaBloPoMo. I thought about it for about 10 seconds and then said "Are you kidding? I'm already going nuts."
    Reply

  4. Cenk says

    Glad to hear you liked the recipe! Your cookies look delicious. Toasted hazelnut flour sounds great. I just bought some regular hazelnut flour and now I'm wondering how it would turn out if I toast them in the oven for a while. I should give it a try. Thanks a lot for the mention, by the way!
    Reply

  7. sawyer says

    these cookies look great. i'm going to try this out...i've never used almond grounds/meal in baking before.....you have beautiful pictures as always... please check out my foodblog sometime,and let me know what you think!
    Reply

  8. Nicole says

    Emon: I might have to start taking requests if I run out of ideas! What do you have in mind? Andrea: I'm really looking forward to NaBloPoMo. Of course I might have something different to say in a few days... Kalyn: I like trying to incorporate whole wheat flour into desserts when I can. Usually it adds a great flavor in addition to some extra nutrition. Unfortunately, all the butter in these cookies keeps them from being even the slightest bit "healthy." But everything in moderation, right? :-) Cenk: I'm not sure how much of difference the toasted hazelnut flour made, it's just what I happened to have on hand! But I'm sure that toasting the flour in oven for a bit will definitely give it a great flavor. Laura: I know, I have a huge list, too. Thanks for stopping by! Mansi: Thanks! I've used Earth Balance for vegan recipes before and I think it's a great butter substitute (although I will always prefer the real thing)! Sawyer:Thanks, I hope you enjoy them! I'll head over now and check out your blog!
    Reply

  15. Laura says

    Used your recipie and it was all too dry. Didn't have the almond meal so used the wheat flour to fill in the half cup. Finally added an egg and teaspoon of vanilla and still to dry to make into a ball. What did I do wrong?
    Reply

  16. Lily L says

    Thanks Nicole! These cookies turned out great.I turned them vegan by replacing the butter with 1/4 cup of canola oil. Had to undercook them a bit because the bottom was browning too fast but they crisped up on the cooling rack. Keep these wonderful nutritious recipes coming!
    Reply

  17. Erika says

    Nicole, these look beautiful and I have a batch in the oven right now. I added one egg yolk, just to keep them from being completely short, and used fig jam for the center (I have a lot of it due to a productive season last summer for the two fig trees in a friend's yard). They smell delicious!
    Reply

  20. Rae says

    I just made these and the "dough" was pretty dusty. I managed to roll them into a ball but they fell apart again when I thumbprinted them. :p I think next time I'll add an egg yolk and use 1/2 cup whole wheat and a 1/2 cup almond meal, so the ratio of wet to dry is the same as my favorite vintage Betty crocker recipe. :) good idea though, using almonds and whole wheat...
    Reply

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