Happy Holidays! No matter what you celebrate, one thing we can all agree upon is holidays call for fresh baked cookies. I wanted to make something besides gingerbread men this year because those fellas are just so darn high-maintenance with rolling them out and reworking the dough into a big enough piece to cut in to and such, so this year I went the opposite direction and made the easiest cookies ever (with the exception of sugar cookies I suppose.) I even cheated and just used Hershey’s Kisses for the filling on most of them, although for my dairy-free friends I used raspberry jam. Unfortunately I gave all those away (and maybe ate a couple myself) before taking pics, but both versions turned out to be a hit. My husband even likes them and usually if I offer him gluten-free food he looks about as enthusiastic as though I’m offering him a mud pie. He’s my own personal “Mikey likes it!” barometer and these pass with flying colors.

Gluten-Free Thumbprint Cookies

5 Cups Gluten-free flour mix such as Pamela’s baking and pancakes flour

1/2 Cup melted coconut oil

1/2 Cup Maple syrup

1 cup Coconut milk (I used unsweetened vanilla) or any milk you like best

1 teaspoon cinnamon

1 teaspoon vanilla

Hershey’s kisses (about 20 or so) or whatever filling you choose.

Mix all the ingredients besides the filling/kisses and then roll each cookie in your hands to make them round as  you set them on parchment papered cookie sheets.

Go ahead and make a thumbprint in the cookies before baking but you’ll have to deepen them when they come out of the oven too.

If you are using jam, add the jam before baking. There should be about 20 cookies or so. Bake for about 14 minutes or slightly less, depending on your oven. When they come out, deepen the thumbprints and add the Hershey kisses right away so the bottom gets to melt a tad into the cookie.

Cool on a cooling rack for a good couple of hours before trying to bag up these babies, otherwise the chocolate will melt.

These are not super sweet, so you can sprinkle them with sugar or a cinnamon/sugar mix if you want, although personally I like the fact they taste almost like a shortbread biscuit rather than a cookie. I mean considering these are made with coconut oil and cinnamon, and are lacking in refined sugar, they are practically a superfood, right? Well, maybe not quite but I like to think that they are on the healthy side for a cookie.

And now it seems only appropriate to say, “Merry Kissmas!” XOXOX