I’ve been staring at my pantry these days looking for exactly anything other than what I have.
You do that too, right?
Sure there is a bounty in this home, a true wealth of nutrients but like…. where is the box of Entemann’s coffee cake that happens to be literally the only thing I want to eat right now? Where is that? Somewhere beyond the too many cans of baked beans?
It was on such a day, with such a craving, and without yeast to speak of that these cookies were born. A crisp and tender cookie bowl to hold sweetened cream cheese and raspberry jam comnbination. Sweet, creamy, fruit, bright, comforting – all the things the wash over a cheese danish craving like no other. I added a buttery crumble topping because… listen, I was already in deep and a crumble makes good things great.
This cookie dough can house any number of creativity and cravings. If you were to combine a nutella and sweetened peanut butter mixture, I’d absolutely shake your hand in support. Swap out the raspberry for apricot or strawberry preserves. Leave it out all together. Make these your own – that’s the invitation.
Now.. let’s get to it.
Here’s what you’ll need for these danish turned cookies:
• all-purpose + almond flour. I really love the moist nuttiness almond flour adds to these cookies. It helps create a soft and crumbly texture. If you’d like to make these cookies gluten-free, this recipe also works with a 1-for-1 gluten free flour blend like Bob’s Red Mill. I would add an egg to the recipe if you’re making it gluten-free to help with the binding. They’ll be a little more delicate but it still works!
• softened butter + granulated sugar that we’ll whip to light and fluffy to help aerate the cookies. We’re not using leavening in these cookies so the air we whip into the butter and sugar is important.
• salt + vanilla extract to balance the flavor of the cookies. Really simply, right?
• cream cheese + sugar +egg yolk + granulated sugar to make a rich cheese filling.
• raspberry jam to brighten up and compliment the cheese filling.
• an optional crumb topping to sprinkle over the cookie pre-bake: an easy mixture of flour, cinnamon, granulated sugar + butter. A little extra effort but gives these cookies that true danish quality.
We’ll make the cookie dough first.
Start by whisking together the dry ingredients. This might feel like one of those things you don’t want to dirty a bowl for but I’ll tell you – it helps to evenly incorporate the ingredients so you won’t over-mix the cookie dough to tough.
Have I talked you into it?
Cream the butter and sugar to fluffy. The mixture will move from grainy and dense to light, a bit more smooth and fluffy after 3 to 5 minutes on medium speed.
We’re not only combining two ingredients, we adding air to the cookie dough to help create a tender texture.
Add the dry ingredients to the batter and incorporate on low speed.
To ensure all of the ingredients are thoroughly combined, I usually stop the mixer and finish incorporating with a rubber spatula. There are always some dry bits at the bottom that need attention.
Place the soft sweet dough on a piece of parchment paper. Coerce into a disk. Wrap lightly and refrigerate while we make the cheese filling and maybe the crumble.
The trick to smooth cream cheese filling is very very room temperature cream cheese – not even a hint of chill on it.
I unwrap my room temperature cream cheese and often pop it in the microwave for ten seconds. I don’t want to take any chances because a cream cheese lump is one of the hardest lumps to get smooth. Am I wrong?
Whip in the egg yolk, sugar, flour, and teeny tiny splash of almond extract if you’re into that sort of thing.
The crumble is a sandy, buttery mixture worked together with a little bit of spice. Listen… I put crumble on just about everything. There’s always room for it!
Spoon two tablespoons of dough into your palm and roll into a smooth dough ball. Use your finger to make space in each dough ball, making each dough ball a little bowl. Just be careful not to press all the way through the dough to the pan.
Spoon a heaping teaspoon each of ream cheese filling and raspberry jam into each dough bowl.
Sprinkle generously with crumble topping. (Or don’t, maybe you skipped this step.)
The cookies won’t brown significantly in the oven – that’s totally ok! The bottoms will get a toasty golden but the tops may remain pale.
You’ll notice the cream cheese filling firms up and the jam may bubble a bit. Allow the cookies to cool on the pan for at least 10 minutes so they strengthen and hold their shape before transferring. As you might imagine, these are deeply satisfying for an afternoon snack with second coffee.
Photos with my friend Jon Melendez.
Raspberry Cheese Danish Thumbprint Cookies
Ingredients
- For the Cookies:
- 1 3/4 cup almond flour
- 1 3/4 cup all-purpose flour
- 1/2 teaspoon sea salt
- 2 sticks (1 cup) unsalted butter, at room temperature
- 1/2 cup granulated sugar
- 1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
- For the Filling:
- 1/2 package (4 ounces) cream cheese, softened
- 1/4 cup granulated sugar
- 1 large egg yolk
- Splash of almond extract
- 2 tablespoons all-purpose flour
- 1/3 cup raspberry jam
- For the Crumble:
- 1/2 cup all-purpose flour
- 3 tablespoons granulated sugar
- 1/4 teaspoon ground cinnamon
- Pinch of salt
- 3 tablespoons unsalted butter, softened
Instructions
- To make the cookies, in a medium bowl whisk together almond flour, all-purpose flour, and sea salt.
- In a stand mixer fitted with a paddle attachment, or using an electric hand mixer in a large bowl beat together the softened butter and granulated sugar. Beat until the mixture is light and fluffy and pale in color – 3 to 4 minutes.
- Reduce the mixer speed to low and gradually add the flour mixture, mixing only to incorporate the dough and the dough will feel crumbly. Transfer the dough to a piece of plastic wrap or waxed paper, wrap into a disk and allow to rest in the refrigerator while you make the filling and crumble.
- To make the filling, in the bowl of the stand mixer (you don’t have to wash it), beat together the cream cheese, sugar, egg yolk, almond extract, and flour until smooth.
- To make the crumble, in a small bowl, combine the flour, sugar, cinnamon, and salt. Add the butter and work it in with your fingers until coarse and resembles chunky sand.
- Place a rack in the upper third of the oven and preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Line two baking sheets with parchment paper.
- Portion each cookie into two tablespoon balls and place cookies 2-inches apart on the prepared baking sheet. Gently press thumb into the center of each cookie creating a little bowl. Be sure not to press through the cookie to the bottom of the pan.
- Spoon in a teaspoon of cream cheese mixture and a dollop of raspberry jam. Generously sprinkle crumble topping on top of each jammed cookie.
- Bake for 15 to 16 minutes until lightly golden around the edges. Rotate the sheets from top to bottom, front to back in the oven so that the cookies bake evenly.
- Remove from the oven and allow to cool on the baking sheet for 10 minutes before removing to a wire rack too cool before eating and storing. Cookies will last up to 5 days stored in an airtight container at in the refrigerator.
Chloe
Loved these so much! For those looking for a gluten free/allergic to almonds option, I had good luck with using 2 1/2 cups of oat flour and 1 cup of potato starch to replace the almond and all purpose in the cookie. Put about 1/2 tsp potato starch in the cream cheese portion instead of flour, for stability, but could probably just skip it and be ok. I used just oat flour for the crumble. Thanks for the yumminess, Joy!
★★★★★
Angela
Taste good but mine definitely don’t look pretty like yours! ;)
SB
I made these and they were soooooo delicious! I love how they aren’t crazy sweet. I love the texture of the cookie. Will definitely make them again. The crumble recipe definitely made way to much for the cookies- but, darn, I guess I’ll put the left over crumble in the freezer for my next batch of cookies or muffins…. what a problem to have ?
★★★★★
Paella School
Delicious, thanks for the recipe. I can´t wait to do it.
Robin Morgan
I want to edit my earlier comment where I stated the the cookies end up being doughy. I left these cookies out uncovered for about 24 hours. This seemed to dry out the cookies and the doughy problem evaporated literally! I think I would reduce the amount of salt in the dough a bit.
★★★★
Robin E.
Ooh! These look so good. I am immediately imagining several riffs: a lemon zest-flavored cream cheese filling with blueberry preserves; a lemon or lime curd in place of the jam, with the sweetened cream cheese and a graham cracker crumble on top; maybe a ginger-flavored riff on the cookie part with lemon curd and orange zest cream cheese filling? So many possibilities! Thanks for posting this.
Robin LeFey
I made these cookies today. The final product looks okay but they are doughy inside. The exterior is crisp but the interior seems underbaked. I think that, instead of a thumbprint cookie, maybe a bar would bake all of the way through – like shortbread?
The recipe doesn’t mention where to add the vanilla. I added the vanilla to the well blended butter and sugar. I would definitely make half of the crumble recipe. To the cream cheese mixture, I added 1/16 tsp of almond extract and 1/16 tsp of vanilla extract.
I made these as a possible addition to my Christmas cookie repertoire. They’re not up to snuff. The finished product is too doughy.
★★★
Linda
I thought i read “danish cheese”, as in the blue, salty stuff :-) Now that would have been an interesting combination with the raspberry!
Joan
I did not try this recipe yet but I sure will thanks
Stephanie
Joy, what is the base of the cookie like, texture wise? It is more of a chewy or crumbly? Shortbread, sugar cookie, …pastry? Thank you in advance…these pictures have me drooling.
Michelle
It’s quite crumbly, definitely not chewy
Michelle
Joy. Oh my God. I made these yesterday and they are life changing! So delicious and so easy!! Definitely going to try a Nutella version soon. I only had half a cup of almond flour, so I popped in a half a cup of polenta as I thought it would have the same effect, and replaced the rest with flour and they came out perfectly.
Could I make a cheeky request that you add gram or ounce measurements for your UK superfans as I’m sure I’m not the only one who spends half the recipe googling stick measurement conversions! ;-)
Anna Meyer
I am so excited about these and will be making them this weekend! Back in January I had a cold and all I wanted was an Entemann’s cream cheese coffee cake from my childhood. I was wandering the aisles of Safeway at 9:30 at night in a desperate search for one. I couldn’t find it and settled for powdered sugar donuts – NOT THE SAME!
Stella
These look so delicious. I can’t wait to bake some up.
Andrea
For folks with a nut allergy, can just all purpose flour be used? Would it be exact amounts? Thank you.
Betze Browne
Brilliantt, Joy. THANK YOU!.
Suki
Such yumminess in a bite.