Almond Thumbprint Cookies

Baking with almond flour brings delicious flavour and nice texture to these cookies. Working almonds into your diet is easy because of how scrumptious they taste, but they also come loaded with numerous health benefits. Use your favourite kind of jam to personalize these cookies.
Prep Time: 15 minutes
Cook Time: 15 to 20 minutes
Yield: 16 large or 24 small cookies

Ingredients

• 180 g / 2 cups almond flour
• 93 g / 3/4 cup whole wheat flour
• 5 g / 1 tsp baking powder
• 3 g / 1/2 tsp fine sea salt
• 113 g / 1/2 cup Crystal margarine
• 67 g / 1/3 cup granulated sugar
• 60 ml / 1/4 cup unsweetened applesauce
• 30 ml / 2 tbsp maple syrup
• 10 ml / 2 tsp pure almond extract
• 2 ml / 1/2 tsp pure vanilla extract
• 120 ml / 1/2 cup desired jam

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 350ºF (175ºC). Line a baking sheet with parchment paper.
2. In a medium bowl, whisk together the almond flour, whole wheat flour, baking powder, and salt. Set aside.



3. In the bowl of a stand mixer with the paddle attachment, cream together Crystal margarine with the sugar until light and fluffy; about 2 minutes.



4. Add the applesauce, maple syrup, and the extracts. Blend until well-incorporated, stopping every so often to scrape down the sides and bottom of the bowl.



5. Add the flour mixture, one third at a time, and incorporate more flour (on low speed) until it is all combined and forms a dough. The dough will be quite soft, so transfer it to a bowl and chill for an hour (or longer) to make it easier to handle.




6. With a small ice cream scoop, or a smaller spoon if smaller cookies are desired, scoop even-sized balls from the dough. Roll dough into balls and place onto the baking sheet.




7. When all the dough has been rolled, take your thumb, finger, or the end of a wooden spoon and gently make an indent into the ball.



8. Place the indented balls of dough into the freezer to chill and rest, for about 15 minutes, and then place the chilled balls into the preheated oven. Bake for 15 to 20 minutes, or until the cookies are lightly golden in colour.
9. Take out of the oven, and while the cookies are still hot use the end of a wooden spoon to gently re-dent the hollows made by your thumb. Allow these to cool, for about 5 minutes, on the baking sheet before carefully transferring cookies onto a wire rack to cool completely.



10. Fill the cooled cookies with about 1/2 teaspoon (2 milliliters) of preferred jam.

Chef Notes

• You may substitute all-purpose flour for all, or some, of the whole wheat flour.
• Add orange or lemon zest to the dough (when adding in the extracts) for a change in flavour.
• Try sour cherry, raspberry, or even apple butter for the jam (we used apricot!)