Vegan Caramel Cashew Cookies
Vegan, gluten free, heart-healthy
I love to bake cookies that are not overly sweet, but instead carry so much flavor I simply can’t stop eating them. Try these simple vegan chia spice cookies and see for yourself. Instead of wheat flour I use a combination of cashews, oats, teff flour and chia seeds that produce highly nutritious, light cookies. Instead of butter I use heart-healthy coconut oil that adds just the right amount of healthy fat to bring out the colorful spices. Finally, you can use brown rice syrup, a low glycemic sweetener paired with date caramel for a fantastic sandwich cookie.
Vegan Caramel Cashew Cookies
© Sweets You Can Eat by Megan Matthews and Patricia Schroeck 2019-2023
Ingredients
Dry
1 cup raw cashews, unsalted
1 cup oats
1 cup teff flour
2 tablespoons chia seeds
2 teaspoons ground ginger
2 teaspoons ground pepper
1 teaspoon ground cardamom
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
Wet
2/3 cup maple syrup or brown rice syrup
1/2 cup coconut oil, melted
Caramel
1 cup pitted, chopped dates
1 teaspoon coconut oil, melted
large salt crystals
Makes 12-14 sandwich cookies
Having trouble finding the ingredients to make this recipe? Click on each ingredient and we will link you to our recommendation with Amazon. Or go to our page directly and shop there:
Instructions
1. Preheat oven to 350ºF/180ºC. Cover two cookie sheets with parchment paper or spray with coconut oil.
2. Dry. In a food processor or blender combine raw cashews, oats, teff flour, chia seeds, spices, baking powder and salt. Grind together to form a rough texture resembling a dry cookie dough. Do not over grind into flour, leave some texture.
3. Wet. In a microwave safe bowl, combine maple syrup and coconut oil. Heat about 30 seconds at a time until melted, do not let this mixture boil.
4. Add the ground dry ingredients to the wet ingredients and stir until a wet dough forms. Use your hands since the dough is crumbly until it comes together. Press together firmly into a large ball. Refrigerate for 30 minutes.
5. Form cookies using 2 tablespoons of dough rolled into balls. Place cookie balls onto cookie sheets, flatted to ½ inch (12 mm) thick. Make sure they are shaped nicely into round cookies. Space 1 inch (25 cm) apart to allow for spreading.
6. Bake 12 minutes or until the cookies have browned a little. Do not over bake these cookies, take them out before they start to brown on the tops. Place cooled cookies in the freezer for 30 minutes to make them hard so to sandwich them together.
7. Caramel. Add chopped dates along with melted coconut oil into a blender or food processor, pulse well until the dates form a sticky puree.
8. Once cookies are cooled scoop 1 tablespoon caramel into the center, sprinkle large crystal salt and top with another cookie
Photos by Milkshake Creative
Do you want to be our test baker? Please, share a photo of you with your bake on Instagram or Facebook and let us know how the recipe turned out and add any other comments you have! We can’t wait to hear from you!
This recipe contains affiliate links, which means that Sweets You Can Eat LLC (Megan’s and Patricia’s partnership) will make a small commission if you purchase using these links. The price you pay is the same as going there directly. We only recommend products that we use ourselves and that we trust and love!