My younger brother, Stephen, is a master cookie maker. When our large extended family gets together, he’s got the cookies covered. We started this Buttery Jam Thumbprint Cookie with his original recipe, adding and subtracting ingredients until finding the taste and texture we wanted, but minus the whopping amount of carbs from the originals. They’re easy to make, colorful, and with lots of options for the filling, you won’t believe how great 2 net carbs can taste!

We doubled the amount of butter (my that has a nice ring to it) you find in a typical shortbread cookie recipe, resulting in a yummy, soft texture. We used our Low Carb Jam and Berry Sauce and our Easy Lemon Curd (Stephen’s idea) for our fillings, but any sugar-free jam or preserve will work great.

We used a mixture of almond flour, coconut flour, and baking powder to best mimic the baking properties of white flour. Blend these 3 ingredients into a mixing bowl and set aside.

If you have a stand mixer, use the paddle attachment to beat 1 cup softened butter (that’s 2 sticks), with the powdered erythritol. Blend on medium-high speed for 5 minutes. We know that’s a lot longer than most, but the extra time produces a mixture that’s velvety-smooth, light in color, and fluffy in texture. If you’re using a hand held mixer, use a large mixing bowl and beat on medium-high for 5 minutes as well.

Bring the egg to room temperature, or place the egg in a bowl of warm water for about 5 minutes before incorporating into the batter. This creates an emulsion that traps air so when it bakes, the air expands, resulting in a more tender cookie. We use a combination of pure vanilla extract and pure almond extract for an extra punch of flavor. Experiment with extracts for your personal preference. Add the egg, extract(s), and a pinch of salt to the batter, and blend on medium-high for an additional two minutes, stopping to scrape the bowl every 30 seconds.

Switch to low speed and gently blend in the flour mixture, adding half at a time. Be careful not to overmix! The best pastry chefs out there recommend you stop mixing when you still see some streaks of flour, and then finish mixing by hand. Makes for the perfect cookie texture.

We use a cookie scoop to help with even distribution. Our scoop holds approximately 1.5 tablespoons of dough, which divides the dough into 24 cookies. This dough is the perfect consistency for rolling into balls without having to chill first. Place the cookie balls onto 2 cookie sheets lined with parchment paper. Next, dip the bottom of a juice glass into a small bowl containing 1/8 cup of powdered erythritol before using to pat down the balls into 2 to 2.5 inch circles. Your hands can do the job, too. Now the fun part – using your thumb or the handle of a wooden spoon, make an indentation in the center for the filling. Each cookie will hold about 1 teaspoon of jam or lemon curd.

If you’re using a 1 tablespoon cookie scoop, you’ll have 36 cookies instead of 24. Your bake time will be slightly less with a smaller cookie, about 10-12 minutes. Spoon in the filling before you bake, or after the cookies are baked and cooled. For our tastebuds, for our preference, the jam and lemon curd flavors are a bit more lively when you spoon in after baking. We store unfilled cookies on the countertop, loosely covered, to give the texture time to firm up, and then fill the cookies right before eating. Either way, they’re delicious!

Bake at 325 degrees F for 12 to 15 minutes, or when tops of cookies are set and bottoms are lightly browned. It’s important to allow the cookies plenty of time to completely cool before serving. Store in a container at room temperature or in the fridge. We cover loosely with foil to store. We hope you fall in love with these low-carb delicious treats!