Grain-free, dairy-free, vegan, refined sugar-free Paleo Thumbprint Cookies warmly spiced with cardamom, and make excellent holiday gifts. Plus as far as I’m concerned, they’re healthy. Eat Share them all!

Cardamom Almond Flour Paleo Thumbprint Cookies | TheRoastedRoot.net #healthy #dessert #recipe #glutenfree #paleo #vegan

Over the weekend, I finally finished reading The Fault in Our Stars (took me 2+ months), so you can just imagine the hot mess of a situation that was happening on my couch, and how in need of cookies I was. Crockodile tears? Psssh! T. Rex tears. Emotion eating? Yes to the nth degree.

During the 18,000 stages of grief I was going through while finishing the book and ugly cry-texting my friends, I LIT-RALLY ate half of a batch of these Gluten Free Gingerbread Cookies, as well as a sizable portion of this batch of thumbprints. And amidst the ugly cry-texting, T. Rex tears and lone cookie fest-ing, I sobbed to myself, “I’m gonna have to bake more cookies,” because: gifts.

I imagined handing my friends and families holiday “cookie” plates filled with nothing but good intentions. Like, “Here, friends, have a plate of air. What’s that you ask? Yes, I read another tear-jerking teenage novel. I promise, I won’t do it again…until I do.”

The Fault in Our Stars: making air out of holiday cookie plates.

You don’t need the excuse of a tearjerker to pop thumbprint after thumbprint in your mouth. And you don’t get to feel guilty over these, because there’s no sugar, dairy, or grains in the whole recipe. 

The thumbprints taste SO buttery in spite of the fact that there’s ZERO butter in them.

And they’re the easiest things ever to make. You just stir every last ingredient together. No eggs, no creaming of butter and sugar. Just you, a bowl, and your good intentions.

I used my Cranberry Sauce with Ginger and Maple (<- paleo) and Dalmatia Fig Spread (<- not paleo, but delicious) for filling these thumbprints. You can use any jam or preserve you’d like – just note that using store-bought jams will make these thumbprints un-paleo on account of the sugar. I won’t notify the paleo authorities if you don’t notify the book club authorities that it took me 2 months to read TFiOS.

Cardamom Almond Flour Paleo Thumbprint Cookies | TheRoastedRoot.net #healthy #dessert #recipe #glutenfree #paleo #vegan

Make these for your homies!

Cardamom Almond Flour Paleo Thumbprint Cookies | TheRoastedRoot.net #healthy #dessert #recipe #glutenfree #paleo #vegan

Cardamom Almond Paleo Thumbprint Cookies

4.69 from 19 votes
Cardamom Almond Paleo Thumbprint Cookies are fun and easy to make. Whip them up any time of year, particularly during the holiday season!
Prep Time 10 minutes
Cook Time 10 minutes
Total Time 20 minutes
Servings: 22 cookies

Ingredients

  • 2 ยฝ cups almond flour
  • ยฝ teaspoon baking soda
  • ยผ teaspoon sea salt
  • ยผ teaspoon ground cardamom
  • 5 Tbsp coconut oil melted and cooled
  • 3 Tbsp pure maple syrup
  • 1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
  • 1 teaspoon almond extract
  • Homemade Cranberry Sauce* or jam

Instructions

  • Preheat the oven to 375 degrees F.
  • Add the dry ingredients to a bowl and stir to combine.
  • Add the remaining (wet) ingredients to the bowl with the dry ingredients and stir vigorously until well-combined and a dough forms. If the dough seems too crumbly, add another tablespoon of coconut oil or pure maple syrup. The dough should resemble the consistency of regular cookie dough - neither too wet nor too dry, and it should press together easily.
  • Roll a small ball of cookie dough in your palms, and gently press the center with your thumb. Place on a cookie sheet. Repeat for remaining cookie dough.
  • Fill the cookies with cranberry sauce (or preserves of choice) by measuring ยฝ teaspoon of sauce/preserves/jam per cookie, and placing in the center well of the cookie.
  • Bake in the oven for 8 to 12 minutes, or until cookies are golden-brown around the edges.

Notes

*You can also use any type of store-bought or homemade jam. Fig preserves are amazing here!

Nutrition

Serving: 1of 22 ยท Calories: 115kcal ยท Carbohydrates: 8g ยท Protein: 4g ยท Fat: 8g ยท Fiber: 1g ยท Sugar: 4g
Author: Julia
Course: Desserts & Treats
Cuisine: American
Keyword: almond flour, cardamom, dairy free, gluten free, grain free, healthy cookie recipe, healthy dessert, paleo thumbprint cookies, vegan
Did You Make This Recipe?I want to see it! Tag @the.roasted.root on social media!
Julia Mueller
Meet the Author

Julia Mueller

Julia Mueller is a recipe developer, cookbook author, and founder of The Roasted Root. She has authored three bestselling cookbooks, – Paleo Power Powers, Delicious Probiotic Drinks, and The Quintessential Kale Cookbook. Her recipes have been featured in several national publications such as BuzzFeed, Self, Tasty, Country Living, Brit.co, etc.

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4.69 from 19 votes (19 ratings without comment)

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Questions and Reviews

  1. Hi! Iโ€™ve made these once before for a bridal shower where the bride was GF and they were a hit! Iโ€™d like to include them in some Christmas cookie boxes but I make a lot of cookies ahead of time. Do you think these would freeze ok? Thank you!

    1. Hi Christina! I’m so thrilled to hear you enjoyed the cookies! I often freeze cookies so I would say they should turn out just fine! I’d just tell the people you give the cookies to that they’re best when served warm so microwaving them for 10-20 seconds is advisable ๐Ÿ™‚