Low-FODMAP hazelnut Engelsaugen (thumbprint cookies) with strawberry filling

Low-FODMAP hazelnut Engelsaugen (thumbprint cookies) made with rice flour, toasted hazelnuts and butter, filled with homemade strawberry, maple syrup and chia. No wheat or honey; three make a portion.

At a glance

• Serves 12
• Prep time: 50 min
• Cooking time: 35 min
• Total time: 85 min
• Calories: 215 kcal per serving
• Protein: 3 g
• Fat: 14 g
• Carbs: 19 g

Ingredients

• 70g ground hazelnuts
• 160g rice flour
• 50g potato starch
• 1 pinch of salt
• 1 vanilla pod
• 130g butter
• 50g maple syrup
• 2 egg yolks
• 200g frozen strawberries
• 30g maple syrup
• 1 tbsp lemon juice
• 1 tbsp chia seeds

Method

You’ll need: oven · frying pan · saucepan · baking tray · wooden spoon

1. Toast the hazelnuts in a dry frying pan over a medium heat for 3–4 min until fragrant, then leave them to cool. Slit the vanilla pod open and scrape out the seeds.
2. Knead the hazelnuts, rice flour, potato starch, salt, vanilla seeds, the cold butter in pieces, the maple syrup for the dough and the egg yolks into a smooth dough. Wrap it and chill for 1 hour.
3. Cook the strawberries, the rest of the maple syrup and the lemon juice over a medium heat for 10–12 min, mashing the berries with a fork as they cook. Stir in the chia seeds and leave the filling to thicken for 15 min.
4. Preheat the oven to 175 °C (155 °C fan). Shape the dough into 36 balls and place them on two baking trays lined with baking paper.
5. Press a hollow into each ball with the handle of a wooden spoon, close any cracks at the edge with your fingers and fill the hollows with the strawberry filling.
6. Bake the trays one after the other at 175 °C for 13–15 min each until the edges are pale golden. Leave the Engelsaugen to cool on the tray for 10 min so they don’t break.

Good to know

Engelsaugen, called Husarenkrapfen in Austria, are balls of shortcrust pastry with a red dot in the middle. This dough works without wheat, and you cook the filling yourself from strawberries. Chia seeds set it, with no jelly needed.

Swaps

Hazelnuts → ground almonds (same amount, still low-FODMAP). Frozen strawberries → frozen raspberries (tarter, still low-FODMAP). Potato starch → cornflour. Butter → ghee (almost lactose-free).

Cooking tips

Rice flour dough cracks more easily than wheat dough. If it is too crumbly after chilling, knead it briefly with warm hands, and simply press any cracks around the hollows back together.

Storage

Keep for 1 week in a tin somewhere cool, with baking paper between the layers; the filling is only lightly sweetened, so it doesn’t keep as long as jelly.

Allergens

Contains hazelnuts, milk (butter) and egg; no gluten. Suitable for children and during pregnancy.

Frequently asked questions

Can you make thumbprint cookies gluten-free?

Yes, with rice flour, a little starch and ground nuts. The dough is more crumbly than with wheat flour: chill it for 1 hour, shape the balls quickly and press any cracks at the edge back together.

Are Engelsaugen low-FODMAP?

Classic ones aren’t, because of the wheat flour. These use rice flour, only a little hazelnut per portion and a filling of strawberries and maple syrup. Three make a portion under our low-FODMAP rule, based on data from Monash University. What you tolerate is individual.