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A fun take on a traditional dessert, these paleo and vegan salted caramel thumbprint cookies are a delicious holiday treat made with clean ingredients!
I may or may not have made these salted caramel thumbprint cookies about 4 times now. Not only are they super easy with simple, easy ingredients, they are so incredibly tasty and addicting.
Traditional versions of these cookies are filled with some kind of fruit jam, but I’m not a huge fan of fruity desserts. But when they are filled with salted caramel like in these paleo thumbprint cookies? I’ll take 5, please.
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Paleo & Vegan Salted Caramel Thumbprint Cookies Recipe
After I made a dairy free caramel sauce for my pecan pie cheesecake, I knew it was something I had to use again on another dessert. I just couldn’t believe how delicious it was! That’s when this paleo and vegan thumbprint cookies recipe came to me. I just couldn’t get the idea of biting into soft, pillowy cookies with sweet caramel center out of my head.
Ingredients in These Salted Caramel Thumbprint Cookies
Not counting salt, these paleo thumbprint cookies only have 7 ingredients, and that’s including the caramel sauce! And if you are accustomed to grain free baking, you should have all of the ingredients in your pantry.
You need to make the caramel sauce before anything else because it needs time to cool and thicken.
- Almond Butter
- Maple Syrup: You can substitute with honey if you don’t have maple syrup on hand
- Coconut oil
- Sea salt flakes: These are thick sea salt flakes to the top the cookies at the end, and these are my favorite brand.
These are almond flour thumbprint cookies, so almond flour is a big part of what makes up the base of these cookies.
- Almond flour: Use blanched almond flour, not almond meal.
- Sea salt
- Ghee: I really love the buttery flavor of ghee, but if you are ultra sensitive to dairy or if you are vegan, you can substitute with the same amount of coconut oil.
- Maple syrup: Honey will also work!
- Vanilla extract
Tips To Yield the Best Results for This Paleo & Vegan Thumbprint Cookies Recipe
While this is a simple and easy paleo and vegan thumbprint cookies recipe, here are some ways to ensure that you have have the best and the most delicious result:
- The caramel sauce will need a bit of time to set and cool, so make sure you make it first. You can even do this a day ahead.
- The dough for the cookies will be a bit too moist for handling when you first mix the ingredients together. This is why you’ll want to chill the dough covered for at least 15 minutes.
- Make the indent in the center deeper than you would expect. The center will rise a bit while baking.
- If the sides crack while making the indents, smooth it as best as you can. It doesn’t have to be perfect through.
- The caramel center will solidify at room temperature but it’ll still be soft. If you want it to harden more, you can chill the almond flour thumbprint cookies in the refrigerator once they are done.
- I highly recommend you sprinkle these cookies with flaky sea salt like this brand. The crunchy saltiness is amazing!
I’ve brought these salted caramel thumbprint cookies to a holiday cookie exchange recently and they were a huge hit. They are wonderful for Christmastime, but you can enjoy them anytime of the year!
Other recipes you might love…
- Nut-Free Cassava Flour Chocolate Chip Cookies (Paleo, Vegan, Gluten Free)
- Cranberry Pistachio Paleo Chocolate Cookies
- Paleo Chestnut Chocolate Chip Cookies
Paleo & Vegan Salted Caramel Thumbprint Cookies
A fun take on a traditional dessert, these paleo and vegan salted caramel thumbprint cookies are a delicious holiday treat made with clean ingredients!
5 from 11 votes
Print Pin Rate
Course: Dessert
Cuisine: American, Swedish
Keyword: almond flour cookies, Almond flour thumbprint cookies, gluten free thumbpring cookies, paleo christmas cookies, paleo christmas dessert, Paleo thumbprint cookies, vegan holiday desserts, vegan thumbprint cookies recipe
Prep Time: 10 minutes minutes
Cook Time: 10 minutes minutes
Dough chilling and cookie cooling time: 25 minutes minutes
Servings: 16 cookies
Calories: 129kcal
Ingredients
Thumbprint Cookies
- 1/2 batch
- 1 1/2 cups almond flour
- 1/8 tsp sea salt
- 1/3 cup ghee or coconut oil for vegan, melted
- 3 tbsp maple syrup
- 1/2 tsp vanilla extract
- Sea salt flakes
Instructions
Make the salted caramel sauce first and let it cool at room temperature while making the cookies.
In a large mixing bowl, mix together almond flour and sea salt.
Add in ghee, maple syrup, and vanilla extract, and mix until a wet dough forms.
Form the dough into a ball, cover with a plastic wrap, and chill for 15 minutes to set.
Preheat oven to 375 degrees F and line a baking sheet with parchment paper.
Divide the dough and form into 16 balls and place on the parchment paper 2 inches apart.
Make an indentation in the center of each dough with your thumb or the rounded end of a utensil, a little deeper than you would expect. The center will rise a bit while baking. Smooth out the sides the best you can if they crack.
Bake for 8-10 minutes until golden brown.
Remove from the oven and if the indents have risen too much, push down on them lightly while the cookies are still hot. Transfer to a cooling rack with a spatula to cool for 10 minutes.
Spoon the salted caramel sauce into each cookie. If you have leftover sauce, you can use it with another batch of these cookies, or drizzle over other desserts or fruits.
Sprinkle with sea salt flakes.
Cool completely until the caramel filling solidifies. Store in an airtight container in the refrigerator for up to a week. The filling will set more as it chills.
Nutrition Facts
Paleo & Vegan Salted Caramel Thumbprint Cookies
Amount Per Serving (1 cookie)
Calories 129Calories from Fat 99
% Daily Value*
Fat 11g17%
Saturated Fat 5g31%
Cholesterol 10mg3%
Sodium 29mg1%
Potassium 26mg1%
Carbohydrates 6g2%
Fiber 1g4%
Sugar 3g3%
Protein 2g4%
Vitamin C 1mg1%
Calcium 24mg2%
Iron 1mg6%
* Percent Daily Values are based on a 2000 calorie diet.
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