Gluten-Free, Dairy-Free Coconut Jam Cookies

Greetings friends! Hope you all had a happy Independence Day! Mine was filled with food, family, friends, fireworks, and so much gratitude. It was perfect.

Now, the nerd in me just loves holiday-inspired desserts. So I made these red & blue cookies for a 4th of July BBQ, but I do think they would be great for any occasion. I love the summery combination of the coconut mixed with the sweet jam. I can't wait to make them again and experiment with some new fruit flavors!

Since this was a BBQ with my boyfriend's family, I made the recipe gluten-free, dairy-free so that he could enjoy them as well. I hope you do too!

Gluten-Free, Dairy-Free Coconut Jam Cookies

Ingredients for the homemade jam:     
2 cups fresh raspberries
2 cups fresh blueberries
1/2 cup (total) white sugar
fresh lemon juice

Directions: Making the jam ended up being my favorite part! It was so easy and all the leftovers made me very happy. But feel free to cut this recipe in half if you don't want too much jam (or double if you want lots!). All you have to do is mash up 2 cups of fruit and combine with 1/4 cup sugar and a squeeze (about a teaspoon) of fresh lemon juice in a small sauce pan and boil over medium high heat until it thickens. I boiled my jam for about 10 minutes, or until it was thick enough that I could see the bottom of the pan when scraping my spoon through it. Then I popped it into the fridge while I prepared the cookie dough to cool it down. It should thicken even more once cool. Store the extra jam in an air-tight container in the fridge.

Ingredients for the cookies:
inspired by sarcasticcooking.com recipe here
1 cup almond meal, packed
3/4 cup gluten-free flour, packed
1 tsp. baking soda
1/2 tsp. salt
lemon zest (I only used about 1/2 tsp)
1/2 cup melted coconut oil
1/2 cup maple syrup (grade B)
1 tsp. vanilla extract
1/2 cup shredded coconut
your homemade jam!

Directions: Combine almond meal, gluten-free flour, baking soda, salt, and lemon zest in a mixing bowl and whisk together. Pour the coconut oil, vanilla extract, and maple syrup into the dry ingredients and mix until just about combined. Then add in the shredded coconut and continue to mix all the way through, until no flour is visible. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F, and line a baking sheet with parchment paper, or lightly greased tin foil. Keep the dough refrigerated while oven preheats. Once the oven is ready, roll a tablespoon of dough into a ball (flour your hands with gluten-free flour if necessary) and then place it on the baking sheet, spacing all cookies about 2 inches apart. Press your thumb into the center of each ball of cookie dough, creating a small indent. Drop about 1/2 tsp of jam into each crater. I made half of my cookies with blueberry jam & half with raspberry. I also baked my cookies in two batches, and kept any unused dough in the fridge.

Bake the cookies about 11-15 minutes, depending on how hot your oven runs. General rule of thumb is to bake until golden brown but not dark! :) Place on cooling rack until the cookies are room temperature. Then enjoy!

Love,
Amy