These Caramel Thumbprint cookies are made with just a few simple ingredients and perfect for holiday baking. Vegan, gluten-free, and free of refined sugar — give them a try!
A closer look at what’s inside:
Almond Flour
Made of 100% almonds, almond flour is a healthy gluten-free flour to use in baking! It adds a lovely nutty flavor and makes the texture of these cookies just right. Opt for organic almond flour if possible as almonds are often contaminated with glyphosate — the EPA says 89% of almond crops are treated with this harmful herbicide.
Maple Syrup
Using maple syrup to sweeten, these cookies are refined sugar free! I love using maple syrup in recipes as it is low glycemic and won’t cause blood sugar to spike like traditional white sugar.
Flax Butter
Made of flaxseed, this healthy spread has a mild nutty flavor. Flaxseeds are rich in omega-3 fatty acids and lignans, which are thought to be beneficial in preventing cancer and cardiovascular disease. I used unsweetened Flax Butter from O3 Superfoods in this recipe — their spreads are made with organic stone-milled whole flaxseed and that is the only ingredient in the unsweetened blend making it vegan, gluten-free, and sugar-free.
Coconut Oil
Coconut oil helps to bind these cookies together. While coconut is high in saturated fat, it is composed of medium-chain triglycerides which are thought to be processed differently than most saturated fat potentially reducing cholesterol, boosting energy, and aiding in weight loss.
Salt
Just a little salt is used in this recipe to help balance the sweetness in the dough.
Caramel Sauce
Put your favorite dairy-free caramel sauce in the center of these cookies for the perfect bite! I like to make my own caramel sauce with coconut sugar and dairy-free milk — for these cookies I actually used chocolate milk to add a touch of chocolatey goodness.
Looking for more healthy cookie recipes? Try these Chocolate Tahini Cookies made with black beans!
This is a sponsored post written by me on behalf of O3 Superfoods. The opinions and text are all mine. The O3 Superfoods product mentioned in this post were sent to me as a gift to use in this recipe, thank you so much!
Caramel Thumbprint Cookies
Ingredients
- 2 1/2 cups almond flour
- 1/3 cup maple syrup
- 1/4 cup O3 Superfoods Flax Butter
- 1/4 cup coconut oil melted
- 1/8 tsp salt
- 1/4 cup caramel sauce or more as needed
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 350° Fahrenheit.
- Mix the almond flour, maple syrup, flax butter, melted coconut oil, and salt together until well combined. Move to the refrigerator to chill for 1 hour or more. This allows the coconut oil to harden back up and keeps the cookies from flattening out in the oven.
- Scoop out rounded teaspoons of chilled dough and roll into a ball using your hands. Place on a baking tray lined with parchment paper at least 1 inch apart.
- Press your thumb softly into each dough ball to create an indent. The cookie dough will likely crack, just make sure the crack doesn’t run into the imprint or you may want to roll and try again. If the crack does go into this imprint this may cause your caramel sauce to leak out (depending on how thick the sauce is).
- Bake for 15 minutes or until the cookies start to brown on the bottom.
- Remove the cookies from the oven and transfer to a cooling rack.
- Once cooled, fill each cookie indent with caramel sauce.
I am not a medical professional. This content is not intended to be a substitute for professional medical advice, diagnosis, or treatment. Always seek the advice of your physician or other qualified health provider with any questions you may have regarding a medical condition, dietary changes, or well-being.