Whole Grain Thumbprint Cookies

Whole Grain Thumbprint Cookies are delicious cookies made without butter, eggs, refined sugar, or oil. Yes, these cookies taste surprisingly good because they are made with stellar ingredients (oats, spelt, walnuts, cinnamon, coconut flakes, etc) but in all honesty, if you’re used to buttery sweet cookies, these may not be the cookies for you. My husband, a non-vegan thinks these cookies taste like dirt (his words) but I find them scrumptious – oaty and nutty with a hint of coconut and cinnamon.  So, I think it all depends on what you’re used to eating.

The small amount of jam in the center is essential (there’s just something special about a little bit of berry or peach jam in a whole grain cookie).

Super easy to make, Whole Grain Thumbprint Cookies will disappear as quickly as you make them (if you have plant-based eaters around) so I highly recommend you make a double batch. Each batch makes about 12-14 cookies.

The recipe below is a variation of the Jam Dot Holiday Cookies by Forks Over Knives. My recipe is a whole grain version (theirs is gluten-free) without refined sugar (I use date sugar instead of cane sugar), and calls for toasted coconut flakes instead of raw coconut flakes (toasted has more flavor).

Whole Grain Thumbprint Cookies

Ingredients:

• 3/4 cup oat flour
• 1/2 cup whole grain spelt four
• 6 tablespoons date sugar
• 1/4 cup chopped walnuts*
• 2 tablespoons toasted coconut flakes
• 1 tablespoon ground flaxseed meal
• 1/2 teaspoon baking powder
• 1/4 teaspoon baking soda
• 1/2 teaspoon cinnamon
• 1 pinch salt
• 1/2 cup unsweetened non-dairy milk (I use Milkadamia)
• 1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 6-7 teaspoons fruit jam (preferably made with simply fruit)

*If available, use both black and red chopped walnuts (red walnuts are sweet and add color to the cookies).

Directions:

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees.

Line a medium-sized cookie sheet with parchment paper.

Blend the floors, date sugar, walnuts, coconut flakes, flaxseed meal, baking powder, baking soda, cinnamon and salt in a bowl and blend with a whisk.

Blend the vanilla extract with the non-dairy milk and then pour the non-dairy milk into the dry ingredients and gently stir with a spoon until the dry ingredients are blended in (do not use a mixer).

Using your hands, roll the dough into about 10 balls and place them in rows on the parchment paper lined cookie sheet. Gently flatten them into disks using the back of a spoon.  Using your thumb or index finger, make an indent into the center of the cookie.

Place 1/2 teaspoon of jam into the center of the cookie.

Bake for about 18 minutes until light brown.