Raspberry Pistachio Thumbprint Cookies

The pistachios add crunch to these Raspberry Pistachio Thumbprint Cookies, and the raspberry jam adds brightness and color! One batch of the raspberry jam will be enough for two batches of these cookies, or use the jam in yogurt, oatmeal or on toast or biscuits.

December 4th is National Cookie Day! Celebrate by baking a batch of these raspberry pistachio thumbprint cookies. These are pretty cookies to make for the holiday season. There’s a natural pairing of red (raspberry) and green (pistachios) to keep things festive! And these cookies also happen to be gluten free and dairy free too.

Baking Christmas cookies is so much fun. It’s nice to have a lot of cookies around during the holidays for gifting, cookie exchange parties and sharing with family and friends. Make several batches, and it’s okay to store some in the freezer too if you want to save them for later.

“Santa stop here! We have cookies!”

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The History of Christmas Cookies:

The tradition of making and eating Christmas cookies in the United States began in the 1700’s (prior to this, baking cookies for Christmas was already popular in Europe.) Americans have the Dutch and the Germans to thank for many of these earliest cookie customs as immigrants to the US brought their traditions with them.

Gingerbread and sugar cookies were popular first. Since both types of dough are unleavened and easy to roll, they have always been a popular choice for baking cut-out cookies and decorating.

All of these years later, we can’t imagine a Christmas without baking Christmas cookies. There are thousands of festive cookie recipes to choose from.

Ingredients needed:

• frozen raspberries
• chia seeds
• almond flour
• refined coconut oil
• maple syrup
• kosher salt
• shelled pistachios

How to make Raspberry Pistachio Thumbprint Cookies:

Make the raspberry chia seed jam:

In a medium saucepan, lightly mash the raspberries and bring them to a simmer over medium heat, stirring frequently. After about 5 minutes, the berries will begin to break down. Add the chia seeds, stir to mix, and reduce the heat to medium-low. Continue cooking, uncovered and stirring frequently to prevent the bottom from burning until it cooks down a little (about 5 minutes). Remove from the heat; the jam will continue to thicken as it cools.

When the jam is lukewarm (or a little cooler), transfer the jam to a small jar or bowl and refrigerate to cool completely while you prepare the cookie dough.

Make the cookie dough:

In a large bowl, stir together the almond flour, coconut oil, maple syrup and salt until completely mixed and a thick dough forms. For the dough into a ball, wrap with plastic wrap, and refrigerate for at least 1 hour to let the dough firm up (or up to 24 hours)

When ready to bake, preheat the oven to 375 degrees F. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper or a silpat mat.

Finely chop the pistachios (either by hand or using a mini food processor). Place them on a plate.

Form the chilled dough into 15 balls of dough, about 1 generous tablespoon each. Roll each ball in the ground pistachios and arrange on the baking sheet (about 2-inches apart). Make an imprint in the center of each cookie with your thumb (or use a tool with a round, blunt end- like a cocktail muddler). Fill each imprint with about 1 teaspoon of the raspberry chia seed jam. Bake for 12 to 14 minutes, until the cookies are light golden brown around the edges.

Let the raspberry pistachio thumbprint cookies cool for 5 minutes on the baking sheet before transferring them to a wire rack to cool completely.

This recipe for raspberry pistachio thumbprint cookies comes from the new baking book: Bakerita by Rachel Conners. This is a great baking book for people who have eating limitations. It focuses on gluten-free, dairy free and refined sugar-free recipes. There are a ton of delicious baked good recipes in the book. You can still bake delicious things if you have to avoid certain foods!

Fun Facts about Christmas Cookies:

• Peanut Butter Blossoms are the most visited recipe on the internet.
• The practice of putting out cookies for Santa began in the 1930’s during the Great Depression, when parents were trying to instill a sense of thankfulness in their children.
• Santa Claus eats an estimated 336,150,386 cookies on Christmas Eve.
• Gingerbread cookies were not originally associated with Christmas. They were actually famous all over Europe at the time of the crusades.
• Queen Elizabeth I invented gingerbread men. She had her royal bakers create gingerbread cookies shaped like visiting dignitaries in order to honor them.