As many of you know, I am currently 22 weeks pregnant with my second child and am trying not to eat everything in sight. As with my first pregnancy, my cravings tend to center around starchy things: potatoes, bread, bread with potatoes on it, and sweet baked goods. If you put a cookie in front of me, I will eat it. So while I’m still making sure I eat super healthful plant-based meals to nourish the baby, my free time is spent looking through recipes and writing down ideas for baked goods that I can make and then shove into my face. I do need extra calories, after all!
A couple of weeks ago I was craving almond cookies, so I made some, tried them, and decided they weren’t very exciting. They needed more flavor and more sweetness, which is where the cinnamon and sugar come in. I love cinnamon and almond butter on toast or apple slices, so why not put cinnamon on almond cookies and call them snickerdoodles???
These Almond Butter Snickerdoodles really hit the spot. They’re rich, slightly sweet, slightly salty, and fun to make! If you have kids, I recommend letting them roll the dough balls in the cinnamon sugar and flatten the balls onto the cookie sheet.
With my first batch, I tried rolling the dough in cinnamon mixed with coconut sugar, but the flavor was a little too caramelly (a new word). Next I used maple sugar, which was fantastic. Maple sugar is a bit pricey though, so feel free to use the kind of sugar you have on hand. I generally try to avoid cane sugar, but this is a dessert after all.
Disclaimer: I try very hard to eliminate all oil from my recipes, but I really wanted these cookies to be crispy. I ended up using coconut oil, which is not a health food and may raise LDL (bad) cholesterol. If you have issues with high cholesterol, I suggest trying Earth Balance instead and limiting yourself to one cookie per day. If not, enjoy your coconut oil cookies this time because YOLO.
These may not be the prettiest snickerdoodles, but they sure are delicious! Picky husband, Abby, and the neighbors with Celiac all gave these cookies two thumbs up!
Okay, on to the recipe!
- ½ cup almond slices, toasted 6-7 min. at 350 degrees F, chopped
- 1¼ cup gluten-free all-purpose flour
- ½ cup almond flour
- ½ tsp. salt
- ½ tsp. baking powder
- ½ cup smooth, unsalted almond butter
- ½ cup refined coconut oil, melted
- ¾ cup coconut sugar
- 1 tsp. vanilla extract
- ½ tsp. almond extract
- 3 Tbs. maple sugar (or other granulated sugar of choice) + 1 Tbs. ground cinnamon
- Optional: extra sliced almonds or whole almonds for decorating
- Preheat oven to 350 degrees F and line a baking sheet with parchment paper.
- In a medium bowl, stir together the AP flour, almond flour, salt, and baking powder.
- In a large bowl, beat (by hand or with a hand mixer) the almond butter with the coconut oil, coconut sugar, vanilla extract, and almond extract until well blended. Stir in the chopped almonds.
- Scoop the dough out by heaping tablespoons and form balls with your hands roughly the size of ping-pong balls. Roll the balls in the sugar and cinnamon mixture until generously covered.
- Place the coated dough balls onto the baking sheet and, using the palm of your hand or the bottom of a glass, press the cookies until they are about ⅓ inch thick. If desired, gently press an almond or almond slice into the center of each cookie.
- Bake 12-15 mins until bottom edges appear golden. Cool 2-3 mins on baking sheet, then transfer to a wire cooling rack to cool completely.
- Store in refrigerator in an air-tight container up to one week.
I hope your family enjoys these almond butter snickerdoodles as much as mine did!
If you try them, let me know what you think!
♥ ♥ ♥
Also try my Almond Oatmeal Breakfast Cookies with Chia Seed Jam!
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