Almond Thumbprint Cookies {vegan}

 Wholesome and pretty, these ruby-jeweled almond thumbprint cookies will charm their way into your life. They use just 7 ingredients and 2 bowls–one for the maple syrup and oil, another for the flours, cinnamon, and salt. Make little finger indents, fill with bright red jelly, and bake!

Naturally-sweetened with maple syrup and without dairy or eggs, these are vegan cookies. With sweet-tart jam peeking out of the centers, and made with almond flour, oats, and wheat flour, almond thumbprint cookies are both rustic and dainty.

Standing at the keyboard and trying to describe these little cookie cookies to you, on came a crushing case of writer’s block. All I could think of is sneaking into the kitchen and helping myself to a couple more almond thumbprint cookies. They’re addicting!

Around the holidays, I fill the centers with a simple thickened cranberry sauce. Year round, I use whatever jelly or jam we have in the fridge.

Keep these in an airtight container. In a day or so, the moisture from the jam softens the dough, and you’ll swear they taste even better. Which makes them great make-ahead cookies.

Almond Thumbprint Cookies recipe details:

• If you’ve got cranberry sauce leftover from Thanksgiving dinner but it’s a bit runny, reduce the sauce with a quick stovetop simmer.
• This recipe includes directions for making a small batch of thicker (less water) cranberry sauce.
• You can fill thumbprint cookies with raspberry or apricot jam, or any colorful jam or jelly.
• No almond flour? Grind almonds in the blender or food processor along with the oats.
• Feel free to substitute gluten-free flour for the white whole wheat flour.
• Adapted from Natural Foods Cookbook by Mary Estella.

You might also enjoy these gluten-free chocolate chip almond cookies.

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Print Recipe

5 from 3 votes

Almond Thumbprint Cookies

These little gems keep and travel well. You can fill the thumbprint indents with any flavor of jam, but around the holidays you'll want to use cranberry jam. Makes 30 to 35 small cookies.

Prep Time20 minutes mins

Cook Time20 minutes mins

Total Time40 minutes mins

Course: Dessert

Cuisine: Vegan

Keyword: cookies, healthy, thumbprint

Servings: 30 small cookies.

Author: Letty | @lettyskitchen

Ingredients

• 1 cup oat flour (or 1 cup old-fashioned rolled oats, ground in blender)
• 1 cup almond flour (3 + 3/8 ounces)
• 1 cup whole wheat flour pastry flour (4 ounces)
• ½ teaspoon ground cinnamon
• ¼ teaspoon fine sea salt
• ½ cup maple syrup
• ¼ cup avocado or grapeseed oil

For the cranberry "jam":

• ½ cup water
• ⅓ cup maple syrup or organic cane sugar
• 6 ounces fresh cranberries
• 1 teaspoon orange liqueur, optional

Instructions

• Mix the ground oats, almond flour, whole wheat flour, cinnamon, and salt in a bowl. In another bowl, whisk maple syrup and oil together until smooth. Stir into flour mixture until well blended.
• Preheat oven to 350°F.
• Form dough in 1-inch balls, using a rounded teaspoon (or #100 cookie scoop) to measure.
• Arrange about 1 ½ inches apart on baking sheet lined with parchment or silicone baking mat.
• Gently press your pointer or pinky finger in the center of the cookies, creating space for the jam.
• Fill each cookie with scant ½ teaspoon cranberry jam, dropping from a spoon, or if you have pastry bag skills, pipe the jam into the indentations. Bake 10 to 15 minutes, or until light golden brown on the bottoms.

Cranberry “jam”:

• Heat water and maple syrup or sugar in a saucepan, stirring until it comes to a simmer. Add cranberries, and cook until the cranberries pop and break down, about 10 minutes. Mash with a potato masher or fork so there are no large cranberry pieces. Set the mixture aside to cool.

Notes

• No almond flour? Grind almonds in the blender or food processor along with the oats.
• Feel free to substitute gluten-free flour for the white whole wheat flour.

Nutrition

Calories: 81kcal | Carbohydrates: 10g | Protein: 2g | Fat: 4g | Saturated Fat: 1g | Sodium: 21mg | Potassium: 42mg | Fiber: 1g | Sugar: 3g | Vitamin A: 1IU | Vitamin C: 1mg | Calcium: 18mg | Iron: 1mg

Did you make this recipe?Mention @lettyskitchen or tag #lettyskitchen

Nutrition information is an estimate provided by an online nutrition calculator. The numbers will vary based on the quantity consumed, brands used and any substitutions. Numbers do not include the jam filling.