Vegan Salted Cacao Thumbprint Cookies are the perfect gluten free, vegan holiday cookie that will be crowd pleasing to all of your guests!
How is Thanksgiving already over?! It seems like it came even faster this year than last. But what a wonderful Thanksgiving we had. Our Vegan besties Charles and Alicia hosted a Thanksgiving Brunch this year with food starting at noon, so those who had family dinners to go to could come have some mimosas or a Bloody Mary and hang out, before going to a family gathering. And yea... Vegan Thanksgiving?! But you know there were so many delicious dishes of such a variety, we didn't even notice the lack of turkey or butter. Plus, we had a well stocked bar so we ate and drank in waves until after 9 pm.
Dan and I brought a few vegan friendly sides and then I decided to make these Vegan Salted Cacao Thumbprint Cookies, too. Since one of their good friends who was coming over is gluten free, not only were the sides and these cookies vegan, but also gluten free. Which to some people (ok probably most people) sounds horrible. My mother-in-law after we told her our Thanksgiving plans gave me an "Ewwww. Good luck with that." But honestly, I love the challenge and these cookies were wonderfully simple. Almond flour, 100% cacao baking chocolate, pure NH maple syrup, coconut milk, and virgin coconut oil.
Super easy. Just a mix of the almond flour, maple syrup, and coconut oil.
Mixed well...
...then rolled into about 16 little balls.
Then a 'thumbprint' in the center of the ball to create a little well that the cacao will eventually be poured in. Then they're popped into the oven for about 12 minutes.
While they bake, in a make shift double boiler melt the baking chocolate and coconut milk. For added sweetness you could add honey or agave syrup too, although I like the cacao flavor so I just used the coconut milk and bars.
Melted and mixed until nice and creamy.
Then, when the cookies are done, I added the cacao into the little thumbprint impressions in the balls. The cookies are really really soft and crumbly so some of them I made a deeper thumbprint for more of the cacao.
Once filled, I added a sprinkle of coarse sea salt for a wonderful salt touch.
Super simple, Vegan Salted Cacao Thumbprint Cookies.
Vegan and gluten free. Although it wasn't nearly as good as the lemon frosted apple cupcakes and pecan and date crust pumpkin pie that Charles and Alicia made, they certainly made a delicious addition. Especially when we cracked open the 5th bottle of wine 😉
Vegan Salted Cacao Thumbprint Cookies
Ingredients
- 2 1/2 cups of almond flour
- 1/4 cup of coconut oil melted
- 1/4 cup of pure maple syrup
- 1/2 cup of coconut milk
- 2 oz 100% cacao baking chocolate
- coarse sea salt
Instructions
- Pre-heat oven to 350°.
- In a large bowl, mix the almond flour, coconut oil, and maple syrup.
- Roll out dough into 16 small balls. Place on an un-greased baking sheet and with thumb, indent the center of each ball.
- Bake for 12-14 minutes.
- While the cookies bake, in a double boiler melt chocolate with coconut milk until combined and creamy.
- When cookies are done, fill the indents with a bit of the cacao. If needed, create a larger indent in the cookies. Sprinkle coarse sea salt over cacao if desired.
skd
I think it will be very difficult to keep a count while munching on these goodies
Tracy
Haha! So true! 🙂
breakfastdramaqueen
Wow, these are so, so cute!
Butter, Basil and Breadcrumbs
Happy Fiesta Friday! What delicious looking cookies that you've brought to our table this weekend! I will be making these cookies for my friend who needs gluten free... well, most likely a double batch, because I have a feeling that I'll be eating more than my fair share!! Thank you so much for sharing these with all of us.. I know that they're going to be delicious! <3
Tracy
Oh I hope you do! Double batch is definitely smart 😉
Julie is HostessAtHeart
Yum! I could pop a couple of these cookies into my mouth right now!
acasadisimi
Looks very delicious!
Tracy
Thank you!
healthydoseofawesome
Looks amazing!
Evelyn
Wow! I'm going to make these for christmas 😀 thanks for sharing!
Tracy
Great! Thank you! 😀
Lauren
I love thumbprint cookies!! And this looks so much healthier! Mmm 🙂
Michelle @ Giraffes Can Bake
Vegan and gluten free can definitely be tasty, and these definitely look like they fall in that category! Yummy!
apuginthekitchen
Those thumbprints look delicious.
Tracy
Thank you!