Gluten Free Salted Caramel Thumbprint Cookies
It’s finally that time of year again to start sharing everything Christmas. This is my very favorite season and I’m so excited to start the holiday cooking and baking extravaganza!
It’s been cold and snowy in Colorado this past week so it's the perfect time to decorate the tree, watch Christmas movies on repeat, and bake some cookies! I’ll be sharing some of my favorite holiday cookie recipes with you over the next few weeks so you can join in on the baking fun too.
First up are these Gluten Free Salted Caramel Thumbprint Cookies. I make a super easy cookie dough using almond flour and King Arthur Measure-For-Measure Gluten Free Flour, brown sugar, and a good amount of butter. Next up, I chill the dough for at least two hours (although I prefer overnight) and make a creamy caramel sauce on the stovetop.
When the dough is chilled, I roll it into 1-inch balls, dredge them in whisked egg white, and press the tops into brown sugar. This creates the most delicious caramelized and crackly exterior while keeping the inside tender and slightly chewy.
Next, I bake the cookies on a parchment lined, rimmed baking sheet for 9 minutes, remove the cookies from the oven, carefully create indents in the center of each cookie, and bake for another 5 minutes. When the cookies are cool, I fill each with some of the cooled caramel sauce and sprinkle with a pinch of flaked sea salt and serve.
Eat well and enjoy!
About that Room Temperature Butter and Cream
It is necessary for these to be room temperature before making the caramel sauce. If they are cold, it could result in the mixture going a little wild and bubbling over. It can also cause the sugar to harden instead of melting into a sauce.
How to Make those Indents in the Cookies
You’ll want to work quickly while doing this so that the cookies don’t harden. Also, I don’t recommend using your actual thumb as the brown sugar will be very hot. The back of a round tablespoon measuring spoon works great as well as the back of a soup spoon. My personal favorite if you have it though: The rounded cork from a whiskey or gin bottle. These are the perfect size and make the perfect indent. Whatever tool you choose though, make sure you lightly grease it first.
Ingredient Details - The Cookies
- Softened Butter – You’ll want the butter to be softened (but not melted) before making the cookies. This makes it so much easier to cream together with the brown sugar and create the base for the rest of the cookie ingredients. I used salted butter in almost all of my recipes but you can use salted or unsalted butter for this.
- Granulated Sugar and Dark Brown Sugar – The combination of these two sugars works so well for these cookies. The granulated sugar adds a light sweetness while the dark brown sugar adds a caramelized sugar flavor.
- Large Egg – You’ll want to separate the egg for this recipe. The yolk goes into the cookie mixture to bind everything together and the egg white is whisked and used to coat the cookies before baking to create a thin sort of crust.
- Vanilla – This helps heighten the sweetness of this recipe. I prefer 100% pure vanilla extract but you can sub imitation if that’s what you have on hand.
- Salt – This is the tiniest pinch of salt so it won’t add too much saltiness to these already salted cookies. Instead, it will just help heighten all of the yummy flavors.
- Cornstarch – I love adding cornstarch to cookie recipes! It helps so much with the texture and creates a cookie that is tender and chewy.
- Almond Flour – I suggest using finely ground almond flour for this recipe. I have not tried other nut flours, but I imagine anything similar to an almond would work!
- Gluten Free Flour – I use King Arthur Measure-For-Measure flour in this recipe. I have not tried other gluten free flours so I’m not sure how well they would work.
- Flaked Sea Salt – I use Celtic sea salt for this recipe but any type of flaked salt would work!
Ingredient Details - The Salted Caramel Sauce
- 100% Pure Cane Sugar – You’ll want to make sure the sugar for the salted caramel is 100% pure cane sugar. Any additives could ruin the recipe and create a weird sauce.
- Salted Butter – Salted butter is a must for this sauce as it adds to the saltiness without being too overpowering.
- Heavy Cream – This may also be called heavy whipping cream at the store. Any kind of cream can be used in this recipe. But do not use milk as it will not have enough fat to bind everything together.
- Vanilla – This helps heighten the flavors of the caramel sauce.
- Salt – I usually use sea salt or kosher salt but any kind of 100% finely ground salt would work!
These Gluten Free Salted Caramel Thumbprint cookies are tender on the inside with a caramelized brown sugar crust on the outside. The creamy salted caramel center makes them so decadent and perfect for the holidays. You’d never know they were gluten free!
- 8 tbsp butter (softened to room temperature)
- 1/4 cup granulated sugar
- 1/4 cup dark brown, tighly packed sugar (plus 3/4 cup for dredging the cookies)
- 1 large egg (separated)
- 2 tsp vanilla
- 1/4 tsp salt
- 2 tsp cornstarch
- 1/2 cup almond flour
- 1 - 1 1/4 cup gluten-free flour (I used King Arthur Measure-For-Measure flour)
- Flaked sea salt for garnish
- 1 cup 100% pure cane sugar
- 6 tbsp salted butter (softened to room temperature and cut into even chunks. Room temperature is VERY IMPORTANT!)
- 1/2 cup heavy cream (at room temperature. Room temperature is VERY IMPORTANT!)
- 1 tsp vanilla
- 1 tsp salt
In a medium bowl, whisk together the almond flour, gluten-free flour, cornstarch, and salt. Set aside.
In the bowl of a stand mixer (or in a large mixing bowl using an electric hand mixer), cream together the softened butter, granulated sugar, and ¼ cup dark brown sugar on medium speed until creamy and well combined, about 8 minutes. Add the egg yolk, reserving the egg white in a bowl, and vanilla. Mix until just combined. Gradually add the dry ingredients to the wet ingredients and mix until just combined.
The dough will be crumbly but should hold together when formed into balls. If the dough won’t hold together, add water, 1 Tablespoon at a time, until you can form a dough ball.
Cover the bowl tightly with plastic wrap and place in the refrigerator for at least 2 hours (I prefer overnight).
Cover the egg white and leave on the counter and let come to room temperature. If you are chilling the dough overnight, place the egg white in the refrigerator in an airtight container. Take out of the refrigerator about 1 to 2 hours before using so that it comes to room temperature.
Heat the sugar in a medium heavy-duty saucepan over medium heat, stirring constantly using a heatproof rubber spatula or wooden spoon. The sugar will form clumps before melting into a thickened, amber-colored syrup as you stir. Watch it closely to avoid burning. Once the sugar is completely melted, carefully stir in the room temperature butter until melted and combined. The caramel will bubble fairly rapidly when the butter is added so be careful. If the butter separates or forms clumps, remove from the heat and whisk very quickly until combined again, using caution, as this mixture will be very hot. When the butter and caramel combine, return to the heat and cook for 1 minute without stirring.
Very slowly stir in the room temperature heavy cream. Use caution, as the mixture will bubble rapidly again. After all the heavy cream has been added and combined, stop stirring and let the mixture boil for 1 minute, watching it closely to avoid over boiling. Remove from the heat and stir in the vanilla and salt. Set aside and allow to cool and thicken.
Beat the room temperature egg white just until foamy and set aside. Place the ¾ cup brown sugar into a medium/large shallow bowl or plate – Set next to the bowl of egg white. Preheat your oven to 350 degrees Fahrenheit.
Remove the cookie dough from the refrigerator and form into 1-inch balls. Roll each ball into the egg white and then dip into the brown sugar and place a few inches apart on a parchment lined, rimmed baking sheet.
Bake at 350 degrees for 9 minutes. Remove from the oven and carefully press a deep indent into each cookie, creating a little bowl shape. You’ll want to work fairly quickly while doing this to avoid the cookies cooling too much and cracking when you make the indent (They will crack somewhat though, so don’t worry if they do!). You’ll also want to be careful, as the brown sugar coating can be hot. I like to use the back of a metal measuring spoon, small soup spoon, or the rounded cork from a liquor bottle. Whichever option you choose, you’ll want to very lightly grease the tool first. Place the cookies back into the oven for 5 minutes.
When the cookies are slightly golden brown, pull them out of the oven and place on a wire rack to let cool completely. They will be very soft when you first pull them out of the oven so be careful transferring them to the wire rack. I like to use a small, sturdy, thin spatula for this.
When the cookies are cool, and the salted caramel is cool but still soft, fill each cookie with enough of the caramel to fill just below the brim of the indent. Sprinkle with flaked sea salt and serve.
These cookies keep well at room temperature while store in an airtight container.