Vegan 3-ingredient almond flour cookies are nutty, rich, crisp around the edges, and chewy in the middle. Like a healthy shortbread cookie, they're made with only 3 ingredients and just might be the easiest cookies you'll ever make! No eggs, refined sugar, gluten, or oil.
Why You'll Love Them
Who doesn't love an easy cookie recipe? And friends, this one is about as easy as it gets!
Prepare to fall in love with these almond flour cookies. They're buttery-tasting, crisp-yet-chewy, and lightly-sweetened. They're also:
- vegan and FREE from oil, gluten, soy, coconut, and refined sugar
- made with minimal ingredients (plus a pinch of salt)
- versatile - add extracts, citrus zest, chocolate chips, or dried coconut
- ready in 20 minutes
- and absolutely delicious!
Jump to:
Ingredients
- Almond Flour - I'm currently using this blanched almond flour by Nature's Eats. I haven't tested this recipe with almond meal.
- Maple Syrup - this is important for the overall texture and sweetness of the cookies, so I can't recommend any substitutions.
- Vanilla - pure vanilla extract balances the nutty flavor of the almond flour and adds lovely aroma.
- Salt - I do think these taste even better with a small amount of salt, but it's also totally fine to omit it.
See recipe card below for quantities and full recipe.
How to Make Almond Flour Cookies
As promised, these are ridiculously simple. There's no butter or oil to deal with, no baking powder or soda, and no gluten.
The hardest part is simply scooping up twelve individual balls of dough and flattening them with a glass, which isn't hard at all. In fact, it's actually pretty fun!
- Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F (176 C), and combine all ingredients in a mixing bowl.
- Scoop up one barely rounded tablespoon of dough per cookie. Place on the cookie sheet about 2 ½ inches apart.
- Use the bottom of a glass to flatten the cookies, with a small piece of parchment paper in between to prevent sticking. Bake for 10 to 12 minutes or until the edges and bottoms are golden.
Let the cookies cool completely, then store in an airtight container.
Look at that texture! The edges are just the right amount of crispy and the centers are pleasantly chewy, reminiscent of a really good peanut butter cookie.
The cookies maintain their awesome texture overnight, too. And they're sturdy and hold together well. No crumbly cookies here!
Variations
The simple, most basic form of these cookies is probably my favorite, but if you're feelin' fancy and want to try other flavors, here are a few variations we tested:
- Pumpkin spice - add 2 ½ teaspoons pumpkin spice to the almond flour before adding the wet ingredients.
- Citrus - add a full teaspoon of fresh orange, lemon, or lime zest to the mixing bowl.
- Chocolate chip - after flattening the cookies, press chocolate chips into the tops.
RELATED: Try these other cookies made with almond flour:
Equipment
One of the great things about this recipe is how simple it is. No need for any special equipment!
All you need are a bowl large enough to stir the cookie dough together, a standard-size baking sheet, and some parchment paper or a baking mat. A small cookie scoop comes in handy, or simply use a tablespoon.
How to Store
Once the cookies are completely cool, store in an airtight container at room temperature for 3 to 4 days or in the refrigerator for up to a week.
Almond flour cookies also freeze well. Remove from the freezer a few hours before serving.
More Ways to Use Almond Flour
I hope you love these quick and easy almond flour cookies. If you try the recipe be sure to comment below and let us know!
📖 Recipe
Almond Flour Cookies (Vegan, 3 Ingredients!)
Ingredients
- 1 ½ cups fine almond flour (170 g)
- ⅛ teaspoon fine sea salt, optional
- ¼ cup maple syrup
- 2 teaspoons vanilla extract
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F (176 C), and line a baking sheet with parchment or silicone mat. Tip: during testing, my Silpat mat produced better texture, a more crisp cookie, as compared to parchment paper.
- In a mixing bowl whisk together the almond flour and salt, if using. Add the maple syrup and vanilla, and stir until fully combined. The dough should look moist but still slightly crumbly and ragged.
- Scoop up one barely rounded tablespoon of dough per cookie (see photos in post for reference). Place on the cookie sheet about 2 ½ inches apart.
- Cut a small, cookie-sized square of parchment paper, and locate a flat-bottomed glass. Use the glass to flatten the cookies, with the parchment square in between to prevent sticking. The cookies should be about ¼ inch thick and 2 ½ inches in diameter. It's okay for the outer edges of the cookies to be somewhat jagged. This gives the cookies a lacy (yet rustic) look and those frilly parts get nice and crisp.
- Bake for 10 to 12 minutes or until the edges and bottoms are golden. If you suspect your oven runs hot, you may want to check on them sooner than 10 minutes. Allow the cookies to cool on the baking sheet.
Notes
- Pumpkin spice - whisk 2 ½ teaspoons pumpkin spice blend into the almond flour before adding the wet ingredients.
- Citrus - add a full teaspoon of fresh orange, lemon, or lime zest to the mixing bowl.
- Chocolate chip - after flattening the cookies, press chocolate chips into the tops.
Estimated Nutrition (per serving)
Nutrition information is an estimate and will vary depending on the exact amounts and specific products and ingredients used. We calculate this information using the online calculator cronometer.com.
Manisha
I am normally not one to comment, but this is legitimately the BEST cookies I've ever made! I can't believe this is just a three ingredient recipe - goes to show that delicious doesn't necessarily mean complex. I will forever be grateful to you for sharing this with us so generously! The husband is sold on this recipe as well! 🥰
Sharon
just made them, great! quick and easy, my husband is going to love them. (please Lord give me the willpower to not eat all of them before he gets here, lol.
Senitra
I baked for 10 min and they came out great. I still have to get used to almond flour desserts. I put a couple butterscotch chips in a few and those were even better, but not as healthy. Will try again with some lemon zest.
Monica
I wanted you to know how much I love this simple, delicious recipe. I enjoyed the plain cookie so much that I started playing with it, making thumbprint cookies. I've made it with strawberry and wild blueberry jam in the middle, I've made it with chocolate in the middle, a chocolate hazelnut spread in the middle, and today I might have made my favorite! I rolled the dough balls in powdered organic sugar, then made a thumbprint in the middle and put some homemade vegan lemon curd in it! I also added lemon zest to the dough. At this point, do I even need any other cookie recipe?
Sara
So thrilled to be able to enjoy such a quick and delicious gf/df cookie! I made 6 larger cookies on silpat. They were still a bit sticky after 12 mins. Still sticky after cooling, but after putting them on a raised crisper tray in my toaster oven/air fryer for 10 mins, they were perfect! Crunchy and browned on the outside and chewy on the inside. The 12-batch is in the oven now ;-).
Sara Okrent
Sooo easy. But not fully-done after 12 mins in the oven, so I air cooled and then baked again in my air fryer/toaster for another 10 mins. Still chewy and a little bit undone. Cooled again and stored in container at room temp. Tastes great. Crunchy outside and chewy inside. This will be my go-to recipe from now on.
Susan
Very quick and easy to make! I used your suggested flattening technique and they turned out looking bakery pro and combo chewy middle and slightly crispy edge was perfect for me - thank you for this keeper recipe.
Lori
Kathy, sorry they didn't turn out for you this first time. If you didn't add anything liquid or increase the maple syrup it sounds to me like the oven temp or possibly the pan? Sounds like you already tested the oven temperature to make sure it's not running low. Any chance you live at elevation? Otherwise I'm really not sure what happened. Hopefully that next batch is the charm!
Andy
Lori, I really like the simplicity of the recipe, but I'm puzzled that there aren't any eggs/flax eggs and baking powder/soda. I've tried a couple of recipes that included a flax egg, and baking powder + baking soda, and the cookies came out really good. If these two ingredients aren't necessary, why do most recipes include them? Does the absence of these ingredients in your recipe mean the cookies won't rise and will be flat?
Lori
Hi Andy,
Yes, I've found leaveners just don't make as much of a difference in a base of 100% almond flour (compared to grain flours), and we loved the texture so much I decided to go with simplicity.
You can see from the first photo that even without any baking powder or soda the cookies puff up ever so slightly in the centers. You don't need a flax egg because the almond flour binds naturally and the maple syrup provides moisture. Give 'em a try and let us know!
Andy
Lori, I made both these and the pecan sandies. I stuck 2-3 chocolate chips on top of each. My family tasting panel preferred the pecan sandies because they had better flavor, were slightly chewy but also crispy. The almond flour ones had less flavor and came out hard and dense maybe because I made them about 1/8" thick. I'll stick to making the pecan sandies. If I can make a suggestion, it's very useful to have the weight in grams for every ingredient if possible. Also, it's great that your recipes don't include coconut oil.
Kelly
These are really quite delicious - they sort of remind me of Pecan Sandies shortbread cookies (next time I will throw some crushed pecans in the mix)!
Lori
I thought the same thing and created some pecan sandies based off of this recipe! Here you go: https://myquietkitchen.com/almond-flour-pecan-sandies/
So glad you enjoyed the cookies, Kelly!
Laurie Mcdaniel
Just made these with lemon zezt. Yummy!!! My challenge is I am at 7500 ft so cooking is still off. ( middle too gooey)I tried 15 min @ 375 and better..any suggestions?
Lori
Hi Laurie, you could also press them just a tad thinner. Hopefully combining that with the increased oven temp should do it!
Marie
I made these tonight, so easy!! I used molasses just because I had it and wanted to use it. I also mistakenly used 1 tspn of almond extract with 2nd tspn of vanilla extract. couldn't discern an almondy flavor nor vanilla but the actual flavor was pretty good with a slight molasses flavor. I easily got 16 oreo sized cookies. next time I will definitely use maple syrup and maybe plop some dried cherries or cranberries on top. I also baked on parchment paper with zero issues removing them. thanks for an easy tasty cookie recipe 🙂
Melinda Carley-Diehl
Wow!! I can't believe these are good but they really are! Thank you!!
Carol Murphy
I just made these and they are delicious.! Thank you. I just went back into the recipe and I see that you've added raw pecans?
Lori
Oh shoot, that’s a technical error. Thank you so much for bringing it to my attention! The pecans are part of a new recipe. Correcting it now. Thanks so much and I'm so glad you enjoyed the cookies!
Cathy
These are surprisingly delicious. Easy to make. I like your glass and parchment paper way of flattening them. Works very well. Thank you for this delightful recipe.
Gail Vasilnek
I made these cookies with 1/2 c. almond flour and 1 T. of coconut oil and maple syrup. It made three cookies and they were delicious, a perfect afternoon snack. I'll watch them better the next time as they got a little extra crispy around the edges.
KIM
Just made these! Thank you for a quick cookie recipe with minimal ingredients. I made some original, cinnamon on top, and pumpkin spice.