Vegan Almond Orange Cookies
Delightful vegan cookies made with almond flour and fresh orange zest, flavored with vanilla extract for a bright, aromatic treat.
- Total time
- 25 mins
- Makes
- 12 cookies
- Oven
- 350°F
- Ingredients
- 7
About these cookies
These almond orange cookies are soft and tender inside with lightly crisp golden edges. Almond flour gives them a rich, nutty, almost marzipan-like crumb, and a full tablespoon of fresh orange zest keeps them bright. Maple syrup and coconut oil add a gentle caramel sweetness. You only need seven pantry ingredients and two bowls, and they're naturally gluten-free, so they're an easy bake for an afternoon tea tray or a lunchbox.
Steps
- Tap a step to check it off.
Tips for success
- Use finely ground blanched almond flour, not almond meal. Meal still has the skins on, which makes the cookies coarser and more crumbly, and they're more likely to fall apart.
- Have the maple syrup at room temperature before you stir it into the melted coconut oil. Cold syrup can make the oil set into hard flecks, and the dough won't come together smoothly.
- Zest only the bright orange outer layer of the peel, because the white pith underneath is bitter. One large orange usually gives about 1 tablespoon of zest.
- These cookies hardly spread, so scoop about 2 level tablespoons of dough per cookie and press each one to roughly 1/2 inch (1 cm) thick. If the dough is too sticky to scoop, rest it for 10 minutes so the almond flour can absorb some of the liquid.
- Maple syrup browns quickly, so check at 12 minutes and take them out once the edges are golden. The centers will still look soft, but they firm up during the 10 minutes on the baking sheet, so don't move them before then.
Swaps
- Coconut oil: use 1/4 cup melted vegan butter. The cookies will taste more buttery and spread a little more. A neutral oil like avocado oil also works, but the cookies come out a bit softer and lose the faint coconut note.
- Maple syrup: use 1/2 cup agave syrup. It tastes milder and less caramel-like, and it browns even faster, so start checking at 11 minutes.
- Orange zest: use the same amount of lemon or clementine zest. Lemon makes the cookies sharper and tangier, and clementine makes them sweeter and more floral.
- Vanilla extract: use 1/4 teaspoon pure almond extract. It's much stronger than vanilla, so this small amount is enough, and it makes the cookies taste more strongly of almond, like amaretti.
Storing
Store the cooled cookies in an airtight container at room temperature for up to 4 days, or in the fridge for up to a week. Let refrigerated cookies come to room temperature before eating, because the coconut oil makes them firm when cold. To freeze, wrap them well and keep for up to 3 months. Thaw at room temperature, then warm in a 300°F (150°C) oven for 3–4 minutes to refresh the edges.
