These thumbprint cookies offer classic shortbread flavor with dazzling jam centers. Using almond flour makes them gluten free and extra delicious! They’re tender and buttery with a pop of sweetness in the center. Make these irresistible cookies for any special occasion, or just because.

This thumbprint cookie recipe is honestly so easy to make. You don’t need a mixer. You don’t need to wait for perfectly softened butter. You don’t need to chill the dough before baking. The dough comes together so quickly and rolls so easily that this recipe would be a fun baking project with kids. If you don’t typically bake with almond flour, this recipe is absolutely worth buying the bag.

Thumbprint cookies are particularly fun and versatile because you can change the flavor and the color of the centers by your choice of jam. These treats are perfect for the holidays, like Valentine’s Day (I suggest raspberry or strawberry filling), Easter (try several jams for a fun color mix), Independence Day (perhaps raspberry and blueberry), and Christmas (anything red).

For those with special diet considerations, I’ll point out that this recipe happens to be gluten free and egg free. You can make it dairy free and vegan by substituting coconut oil for the butter (see recipe notes). It’s also partially naturally sweetened with maple syrup. Of course, the recipe is not nut free due to the almond flour, but it might be just the cookie you’ve been searching for.

I’ve been perfecting this recipe over the past couple of months. I’m just so excited to share it with you! I hope it becomes a go-to recipe for you, too.

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These fluffy cranberry orange muffins will make your house smell like the holidays! I hope they become your new favorite holiday muffin recipe. They’re fluffy and moist and delicious—everything I want a muffin to be.

These muffins are bursting with fresh cranberry and orange flavor. This recipe calls for fresh cranberries, which are generally available in United States grocery stores from October or November through December. You can also use frozen cranberries, but I don’t recommend dried cranberries here.

These muffins are made with wholesome ingredients like whole wheat flour and Greek yogurt. They’re naturally sweetened with honey or maple syrup. You can keep those details to yourself, though—no one will guess that these muffins are healthier than most.

You can easily mix these together by hand. No mixer required. Serve them for breakfast or brunch, or bring them to your holiday parties!

It took me eight tries to get these muffins just right, but they were absolutely worth the effort. I’m sharing the recipe again because they’re just so wonderful this time of year.

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This blueberry cake is my official summertime dessert. I hope it becomes yours, too. It’s tender, fully loaded with blueberries, and simple to make—no mixer required. It’s a dream!

This blueberry cake recipe is naturally sweetened with maple syrup, which makes it extra delicious. Thanks to the blueberries and maple syrup, it’s nicely sweet but not over the top. Some cakes are so sweet that they give me a stomachache, but this one is just right.

This cake will absolutely be a hit at your Fourth of July festivities. Serve it as a “snacking cake” or make it celebration-worthy with a scoop of vanilla ice cream or whipped cream. I’ve even enjoyed a slice with yogurt for breakfast.

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Let’s talk about buttermilk for a minute. Buttermilk in baked goods yields wonderfully fluffy, light and tangy results. You’ve seen me use buttermilk in muffin and pancake recipes, and I’m super excited to share a simple cake recipe that calls for buttermilk later this week.

So, what is buttermilk? Traditionally, buttermilk was the fermented liquid leftover after churning cream into butter. These days, store-bought buttermilk is typically made from milk with added lactic bacteria, which produce lactic acid.

Contrary to what its name and thickened texture suggest, buttermilk is not buttery and is relatively low in fat. Store-bought options are usually about on par with whole milk, though reduced-fat options exist.

Why do we use buttermilk instead of plain milk? Tangy flavor aside, the acid present in buttermilk helps counteract baking soda, which is basic. Baking soda on its own is quite bitter—it needs both acidity and liquid to taste and function properly.

Buttermilk acts similarly to sour cream or yogurt, which are thicker cultured dairy products. Since buttermilk is thinner, I typically use about two-thirds cup buttermilk in place of one cup sour cream or yogurt.

Today, we’re talking about acidified buttermilk, or milk with added acid (vinegar or lemon juice) so it acts as buttermilk. This is the perfect substitute for your baking projects when you don’t have buttermilk on hand.

I love use this trick because it saves me from buying buttermilk, since I never seem to use up a full bottle in time! This method is also convenient if you follow a dairy-free or vegan diet, because you can make buttermilk with any type of milk.

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Are we still baking banana bread? Is that still a thing? Of course it is. I developed this gluten-free banana bread recipe in response to one of the most common questions on my healthy banana bread recipe: “Can I make this with almond flour?”

While my go-to banana bread recipe offers other gluten-free options within the post (including a delicious oat flour option), the almond flour answer is not as straightforward. I think it took me seven tries to get this recipe just right!

This version required several modifications, so I’m sharing it as its own recipe today. I’ll also walk you through how I modified the recipe to work with almond flour, which might be helpful if it’s your preferred flour, or you happen to have a surplus in your pantry.

This banana bread is very tender, moist and decadent. These qualities are natural by-products of using almond flour and additional eggs to hold the bread together. This “bread” almost reminds me of pound cake in texture, and it could definitely pass as banana cake—perhaps you’d like to top it with cream cheese frosting.

While it’s different in texture from my favorite banana bread, this gluten-free banana bread is awesome in its own right. Like the other recipe, it’s easy to mix together—by hand, in one bowl, no less! It’s also naturally sweetened with honey or maple syrup. And, I believe it qualifies as paleo as well. Ready to make some?

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Let’s talk about flax eggs! We’re living in a strange alternate reality where flaxseed is often easier to find than actual eggs. Flax eggs, made simply with ground flaxseed and water, are a pantry-friendly substitute that just might save you a trip to the store. In fact, you can also make chia seed “eggs” using this technique, if you have those on hand.

If you’re vegan or have an egg allergy in your family, you may be well familiar with flax eggs already. I didn’t invent them and I don’t know who did, but I’ve learned a lot about them over the years.

I’ve been guilty of referencing flax eggs as a substitution option without providing more detail. Now, I can link to this page so you’ll know what the heck I’m talking about. Today, you might learn more than you ever wanted to know.

Flax eggs work well when they’re a small component in baked goods, pancakes, and other flour-based recipes. Flax eggs yield a “gluey” substance similar to egg whites, which helps bind ingredients together. They also contain some fat, like real yolks do. As a bonus, they also offer some fiber, which you won’t find in real eggs.

Unfortunately, flax eggs don’t offer as much structural support as real eggs, and they definitely don’t work in egg-focused recipes like scrambled eggs or frittatas.

Flax eggs are an imperfect substitute, but in the right recipe, they can work great!

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Want to make someone’s day? Bake them some banana bread! Just yesterday, I said, “I’m going to bake some banana bread,” and watched a full-grown man’s eyes light up like a kid’s on Christmas morning.

Banana bread is one of those classic, all-American comfort food recipes that fills the whole house with warmth and makes everything better. Banana bread is magic.

I perfected this banana bread recipe for my cookbook and wanted to share with you here. This recipe has all the hallmarks of classic banana bread—it’s fluffy, moist, infused with sweet banana flavor, and beloved by toddlers and adults alike.

Bonus? This recipe requires just one bowl, a few measuring cups and some basic ingredients.

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Let’s talk about oat flour! Oat flour is a nutritious whole grain flour that is easy to make out of—you guessed it—oats. Oat flour offers a mildly nutty flavor and a tender crumb. Plus, oat flour is gluten-free if you make it with certified gluten-free oats.

“Can I use oat flour?” is one of the most frequent questions I’m receiving on recipes for baked goods. This question tells me a few things:

1. You’re having trouble finding traditional flours at stores.
2. Oat flour is going mainstream.
3. You’re curious about how oat flour works.

So today, I’m sharing how to make oat flour. Plus, I’ll provide guidance on how to substitute oat flour for best results. Oat flour is more suitable for some recipes than others.

You’ll also find recipes that are designed specifically for oat flour, including my all-time favorite waffles. I’ll be sharing more healthy recipes that use this wonderful flour soon!

Watch How to Make Oat Flour

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Got some cornmeal in the back of your pantry? Great, let’s make cornbread! This cornbread recipe is my favorite. It’s made with browned butter, for maximum butter flavor, and it’s naturally sweetened with honey (maple syrup works, too).

This cornbread is not exactly traditional, though it has classic cornbread flavor as far as I’m concerned. It’s sweetened, like Northern cornbread, but it’s made in a skillet, like Southern cornbread. I grew up near the border of the two regions, in Oklahoma, and all I knew was my mom’s cornbread from the Jiffy box. Dinner was always more exciting with cornbread on the table.

On the cornbread sweetness scale, this one falls somewhere around the middle, near Jiffy levels. It’s not dessert-level sweet, nor is it dry. If you prefer sweeter cornbread, be sure to serve yours with honey or jam.

This cornbread is golden and fluffy on the inside. I love to make it in my large cast iron skillet—it yields lightly crisp edges and keeps the cornbread warm for a long time. What’s better than warm, freshly made, homemade cornbread?

Preheat the oven to 375 and let’s get going! If you don’t have a skillet, I’ve got you covered.

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I’d like to introduce you to my new favorite cookies. This peanut butter oatmeal cookie recipe yields cookies that are tender on the inside, chewy around the middle, and just barely crisp around the edges.

These cookies are loaded with pure peanut butter flavor. They’re sweet, but not cloyingly so. If you’re a fan of my monster cookie recipe, you’ll enjoy these as well. I can vouch that they’ll be a hit with your family, friends, kids and coworkers.

Oats make these cookies more hearty than most. In fact, oats are the only structure this flourless cookie recipe needs. As long as your oats are certified gluten free, these cookies will be, too.

These cookies are easy to make, too. You don’t need to soften your butter first (just melt it). You don’t need to pull out a heavy stand mixer (your hand mixer or some elbow grease will work great). And, you’ll only need one mixing bowl. Winning!

More than any other merit, though, these peanut butter cookies are delicious. They’re cookies and that’s what cookies should be, right?

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