Elevate your holiday baking with festive Cranberry Thumbprint Cookies. Made with just four simple ingredients, these cookies are absolutely irresistible!
If you have leftover cranberries after making the sauce, try my Cranberry Almond Chocolate Chip Cookies or Cranberry Chocolate Chip Cookies.
Cranberry Thumbprint Cookies are the easiest dessert you’ll make this holiday season. The cookie dough comes together right in your mixer and the entire process from start to finish takes only 30 minutes! These cookies are perfect for a holiday party or a sweet homemade gift or even for a cookie exchange with your friends and neighbours.
I love this recipe because it lets you turn great ingredients into delicious cookie perfection! For similar cookie recipes, be sure to check out my Coconut Flour Chocolate Chip Cookies and Sugar-free Nutella Thumbprint Cookies.
Ingredients You’ll Need
Instructions
Prepare the cookie dough:
- Before you begin, preheat the oven to 350°F and line your baking sheet with either parchment paper or a silicone baking mat.
- Fit your electric mixer with the whisk attachment and beat the butter and sugar at medium speed until it becomes fluffy. Then, whisk in the vanilla extract.
- Add ½ cup of almond flour at a time, mixing the dough until it is well combined.
- Note: The dough will be a little crumbly, but it will stick together when you shape the cookies.
Press and shape the cookie dough:
- Scoop out 1 tablespoon of dough and press it together to form a ball and place on the prepared baking sheet.
- Then, with the tip of your thumb, press an indentation into each ball. If the dough cracks, you can re-seal it by smoothing it out with your fingers, but it’s also totally fine to have a few cracks.
Bake and fill the cookies:
- Place the cookies in your preheated oven and bake for 12-14 minutes until they’re golden brown.
- Allow the cookies to cool for at least 10 minutes, as they will be very fragile when they come out of the oven.
- Using a small spoon, fill each cookie (center of each ball) with ½ teaspoon of homemade cranberry sauce or cranberry jam.
Serve and enjoy:
- Once the cookies have cooled completely, transfer them to a container or serving dish and enjoy!
Expert Tips
- You can use a piping bag or a zip-top bag with the corner cut to easily fill the middle of the cookies with cranberry sauce or jam.
- The cookies are fragile when they’re hot, so let them cool completely before you transfer them.
- These cookies don’t spread much when they bake, so you can place them pretty close together and fit more on your baking sheet.
- This recipe is a great way to use leftover cranberry sauce from the holidays, but you can also find cranberry jam at your local grocery store.
More Holiday Desserts
Cranberry Thumbprint Cookies
Video
Ingredients
- 6 tbsp butter or vegan butter
- 1/2 cup sugar or a natural sweetener you prefer
- 1 tsp vanilla extract
- 2 1/2 cups almond flour
- ½ cup homemade cranberry sauce or sugar-free cranberry jam
Instructions
- Pre-heat the oven to 350˚F. Line one large baking sheet with parchment paper or a silicone baking mat.
- In the bowl of a standard electric mixer fitted with the whisk attachment, beat the butter and sugar at medium speed until it becomes fluffy. Then add the vanilla extract and whisk until well combined.
- Add ½ cup of almond flour at a time. Notice that the dough will be a little crumby, but it will stick when pressed together.
- After adding all the almond flour and everything is well combined, scoop about 1 tablespoon of the dough and shape it into balls. Make an indentation with your thumb into each ball. The dough will probably crack a little when you press your thumb into it. You can re-seal some cracks by smoothing it out with your fingers. But know that it’s totally fine to have a few cracks.
- Bake for about 12-14 minutes or until they are golden brown. The cookies will be very fragile when you remove from the oven. So, allow them to cool down for about 10 minutes before handling them.
- Fill each cookie with a 1/2 teaspoon of homemade cranberry sauce or cranberry jam. Enjoy!
Notes
- The cookie dough was adapted from the blog Wholesome Yum.
- To store: Store the cookies for up to 5 days in an airtight container in the fridge.
- To freeze: After baking, flash freeze the cookies before transferring them to a freezer-safe bag for up to 3 months.
Nutrition
Nutrition information is automatically calculated, so should only be used as an approximation.
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When do you add the butter? There’s no mention of it in the instructions.
You mention eggs in the instructions but not in the list of ingredients. Did you mean butter when you said eggs?
Yes, I meant butter instead of egg. Sorry about that. I just adjusted the recipe to clear further confusion. Thanks for pointing it out!
Eggs missing from recipe, how many to use?
There isn’t eggs in this recipe. I meant butter instead of egg. Sorry about that. I just adjusted the recipe to clear further confusion. Thanks for pointing it out!
These are great! But I found them really crumbly, so I added an egg WITH the butter already mentioned. Stayed together really well and came out delicious!
That’s great. Thanks for the feedback and let me know about the egg. Next time I’ll add an egg too 😉
Can these be made with gf flour?
Yes it can.
Can you substitute coconut flour for the almond flour?
I believe not. Sorry.
Amo
Thank you for creating this really great cookie recipe! Gluten free is especially appreciated. 🤗
You’re very welcome!
Mine flattened out…
I added the egg as one user suggested. But my cookie flattened and spread
Thanks for giving the recipe a try! To troubleshoot the issue, did you use the same ingredients and measurements as mentioned on the recipe card? Sometimes, variations in ingredient amounts or types can affect how cookies hold their shape. Additionally, if the butter was too soft, it could cause the cookies to spread more than desired. Let me know if I can assist further to help you achieve the perfect cookies next time!
Delicious cookie!
Indeed! It’s so good 😉