In my quest to find foods that offer guiltless pleasure, I’ve stumbled upon this special nugget of a healthy recipe at the Natural Gourmet Institute for Food & Health in New York City.

There to satisfy my unending appetite for healthful eating, I was given a recipe for what has become my new favorite treat, Thumbprint Cookies. I want to share this easy to make recipe because I know you will love it as much as my family and I do.

These cookies are even good as part of a healthy breakfast because of ingredients like whole oats, raw almonds, fruit juice sweetened jelly, and cinnamon. This is also a recipe with which you can be very creative. I have offered up options that you can try when you feel the urge to change up the recipe on a whim, just to keep it interesting.

Dry Ingredients:

1 cup whole wheat pastry flour (try substituting coconut flour for a wheat-free option)

1 cup rolled oats, lightly ground in food processor

1 cup raw almonds, or walnuts or cashews, lightly ground in food processor

¼ teaspoon cinnamon

Wet Ingredients:

½ cup coconut oil, canola oil (expeller pressed), or walnut oil

½ cup pure maple syrup

½ teaspoon vanilla extract

¼ teaspoon almond extract

¼ teaspoon sea salt

4 oz. fruit juice sweetened jelly (Sorrell Ridge or Knutsen) or premium fruit spread in any flavor you like (mix it up and use a few different flavors!)

Pre-heat oven to 375 degrees F. Combine dry ingredients in one large bowl. Combine wet ingredients and salt in smaller second bowl and emulsify. Add wet ingredients to dry ingredients and mix well. Roll dough between the palms of your hands into walnut size balls and place on a lightly greased cookie sheet. Using the flat of your thumb, make a well in the center of each cookie and fill it with jelly. Bake 18-20 minutes or until cookies are lightly browned.

Replace the jelly with a strawberry, almond, cashew or small piece of dark chocolate.

Then enjoy!!