These almond flour cookies are made with vegan butter and are perfect for family and friends’ weekend visits. Thick, moist and delicious, these undetectably vegan, eye catching cookies, will walk off the plate!
Vegan Almond Flour Cookies
Buttery, thick and moorish, these almond flour cookies are crispy outside and moist inside. If you need to spice up your cookie making with something new, these French style butter cookies are it!
These almond flour cookies are easy to make and just perfect with tea of coffee.
The almond flour differentiates these cookies from so many others, and is one of the secrets to vegan cookie success.
Baking with no dairy, butter and egg can mean cookies end up dry and cracked, or do not hold together well. But almond flour changes everything when mixed with a few other ingredients, and adds a nutty delicious taste!
About these Vegan Almond Flour Cookies
Dairy and egg free, these cookies are inspired by French butter cookies from Brittany, Palets Bretons. They look so inviting that no one can resist! And you don't need special moulds to bake these thick eye catching cookies.
With this no fuss recipe, there’s no need for a hand mixer or blender! You can combine the ingredients in just one bowl with a spatula!
For baking, the dough is easy to roll out, and there’s no need to dust with flour. Just rest the batter for a bit in the fridge after mixing. No mess, no fuss, super tasty!
Ingredients for the almond flour cookie recipe
Vegan Butter: I used to buy butter from the shops but not anymore. I always have delicious homemade vegan butter on hand for cookie backing and, well everything that butter goes with. It's just 5 ingredients and 10 minutes to make. I used it for this recipe.
Almond Flour is the star of these butter cookies. I use fine almond flour. The colour is not brown but light and golden. If you use almond meal or ground almonds with almond skin, the colour is brownish.
Cake Flour is the best to make the dough light and crispy outside. If you do not have it, add two tablespoons of corn flour into a cup and then fill it with all purpose flour. The texture can be similar to cake flour. Just make sure you’re precise with the measuring.
Granulated Sugar: I use granulated beet sugar for this recipe. Cane sugar can be used but may vary the colour slightly.
Egg Replacement: Add one and half tablespoons of water into grained flax seed powder. Leave it for five minutes. This is your egg replacement for the cookie dough.
Salt: Salt adds a bit of complexity and combines so well with the butter and almond flour. Think sweet, salty, soft, crispy and buttery all at once! I used sea salt.
Pure Vanilla Extract: Adds a caramelly, sugary goodness!
Apricot jam: A nice vegan apricot jam works perfectly – whatever you have in the fridge.
How to Make Vegan Almond Flour Cookies
This recipe of vegan cookies can yield 7 cookies with 2.4 inch (6cm) diameter and 1 inch (2.56 cm) height round molds. And 9 cookies with 3 inch (7cm) diameter and less than half inch (1cm) height round molds.
If you do not have a round mold, you can cut the dough with a glass.
Mixing the cookie dough
Simply combine all the ingredients in one large mixing bowl and mix the dough with a spatula.
Then you fold the flour into the dough (don’t knead it like bread).
I use a pat and fold technique. This is best and easiest method to prevent the dough from creating extra gluten by over mixing. We don’t want the cookies to be as hard as rocks!
Once all the ingredients are roughly combined, divide it into two and place the one onto the other and push from the top to down by hand. Repeat this for four to five times in a large mixing bowl. Then the dough becomes smooth and even.
Mixing everything in one large mixing bowl, means you don’t have to dust with flour on the kitchen bench.
With making the dough:
- There’s no need to use a hand mixer or a blender. A spatula is the best to combine ingredients.
- Once combined, place the dough onto a wrapping film and cover it up with another one before rolling it out
- Once the dough is flattened, place it with the wrapping films directly onto a plate and leave it in the fridge. Easy!
Baking the Dough
Make baking the almond flour cookies extra easy!
- It’s important to make the cookies an even thickness. I use sushi bamboo rolling mats either side of the dough to keep the sides straight, and to rest the rolling pin on. I set them at a half inch thick. It works well. But you can substitute the sushi mats for your own cheat.
- These thick butter cookies need round moulds for each cookie but don’t worry if you don’t have moulds, they can be made with foil. Cut two foils (for each cookie mould) into a 4 inch square. Place the two foil sheets together on top of a glass and shape the foil around the glass to create some height. (See image)
- Coat the top of the cookies with apricot jam to make them pretty and shiny (in the traditional French version they use egg yolk). I add a pinch of turmeric for extra colour and make some lines with a fork.
- Preheat the oven at 375 degree F (190°C) but bake at 340 degree F (170°C). If you made the cookie dough into a half inch height (1cm), bake for 25 minutes. After 20 minutes, check out the surface and cover with foil if it's getting too dry or looking like it could burn. If you made them into one inch height (2.5cm), bake for 30 to 35 minutes.
Transfer the cookies onto a wire rack as soon as baked. Serve immediately with a cup of tea or coffee!
Tips for the Vegan Almond Flour Cookies
How long these vegan almond flour cookies can last
These vegan cookies can be left at room temperature for up to one week. Place them into an airtight container after they have been cooled down.
What can you substitute for eggs in healthy cookie recipes?
For vegan egg yolk replacement, flax seed powder works as a binder. Add one and half tablespoon of water to the half table spoon of flax seed powder. This is one of the best vegan egg yolk replacement for cookies.
Let's recap
- Do not knead the dough and avoid over mixing. It's super important! For this, use a spatula and the pat and fold technique when you combine the dough.
- No need to add air into the vegan butter tomake it fluffy. Use a spatula instead of a whisk to combine with sugar.
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Ingredients
- ⅔ cup almond flour (65g)
- ½ cup and 1tbsp vegan butter (120g)
- 1 cup cake flour (120g, or gluten free flour)
- ¼ cup and 1tbsp unwashed granulated sugar (59g)
- ½ tsp sea salt (2.5g)
- ½ tbsp flex seed powder (with 1½ tbsp water)
- ½ tsp baking powder
- 1 tbsp apricot jam (for coating the top optional)
Instructions
Making the Cookie Dough
- Keep the butter at room temperature but not melted. Place the butter into a mixing bowl and add granulated sugar in two lots (mixing it in before adding more). Mix them up well with a spatula for 3 minutes and add salt.
- Add egg replacer and make the moisture of the dough even. Add almond flour and combine ingredients.
- Add sifted cake flour and baking powder at the same time. Fold flour into the dough by scooping up from the bottom to the top. Then cut the dough. Keep doing this for 1 minute. Do not over mix the dough.
- Use a push and folding technique. Cut the dough into two in the mixing bowl, and place one onto the top of the other. Push the dough from the top to the bottom with the spatula or hand. Repeat this for 5 times until the surface of the dough gets smooth and even.
- Place the dough onto a wrapping film and cover with it. The dough is sandwiched with wrapping films. Roll out the dough into a rectangular shape. Use half inch bamboo sushi rolling mats one each side of the dough. Use them to maintain even thickness of the dough when it's rolled. Use the spatula to shape the edge lines. Once the dough is rolled out, place it into a plate and leave it in the fridge for at least for 3 hours, ideally overnight.
Baking the Cookie Dough
- While leaving the dough in the fridge, make the round moulds for each cookie. Cut foils into two lots of 4 inch squares. Place them together on top of a glass and shape the foil around it to create some height for the mouldsCut the foil to about twice the height of the dough.
- Preheat the oven at 375 degree F (190°C) but bake at 340 degree F (170°C).
- Remove the dough from the fridge and cut with a round mold. If you do not have the mold, use a glass. Please see the note about the size of the cookies and how many cookies can be yielded.
- Coat apricot jam on the surface and make a decoration by scratching with a fork.
- Change the oven temperature into 340 degree F (170°C). If you made the cookie dough into a half inch (1cm) height, bake for 25 minutes. After 20 minutes, check out the surface and cover with foil if it's getting too dry or looking like burning. If you made them into one inch height (2.5cm), bake for 30 to 35 minutes.
- Transfer the cookies onto a wire rack as soon as baked.Serve immediately with a cup of tea or coffee!
Recipe Notes:
- While it’s tempting to use a hand mixer or blender, a spatula is best for this almond flour cookie dough. Adding air into the butter with the hand mixer, may cause the surface of the dough to be uneven and sink in the middle.
- After combining the ingredients, sandwich the dough with two wrapping films and roll it out. This way you don't need to dust the flour, and it's easy to handle the dough to roll out.
- Preheat the oven at 375 degree F (190°C) but bake at 340 degree F (170°C) for 25 minutes. This way, the cookies get crispy on surface but are moist inside.
- Coat the apricot jam. Allow to dry, and then coat it again.
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