When I was a little girl, I used to loooove Girl Guide cookies.
This was back in the day when little girls used to come to your door to sell cookies – and for anyone reading this who was born after 1990, you will have no idea what I’m talking about (not so much about the girl guide cookies, but more about seeing little girls alone on the street, going door to door with cookies and a wad of cash!).
I digress.
I was never a Girl Guide myself, but I sure did love those cookies! My absolute favourite were the Samoas (caramel delights) and the Tagalongs. You could always get the Samoas but the tagalongs were harder to get. For those of you that don’t know, they are a crispy vanilla cookies layered with peanut butter and covered with a chocolate coating.
Well, I’m pretty sure you can only order them online (because, again, who in their right mind would let a little girl peddle cookies door to door now?). But, instead of ordering the cookies, I decided to try my hand at making them a bit healthier.
I made the base with almond meal that I mixed with a bit of additional cocoa powder to get them nice and chocolatey…
Then I added in coconut oil and maple syrup or honey (I’ve used both and the maple syrup has a bit more sweetness – this below is honey)
When that’s all mixed together, you get this nice mixture that you will want to make sure gets compact when squeezed.
Roll them into balls and make an indent with your thumb…
But, I find using your knuckle makes a better indent – which, I guess would make these knuckle cookies 😉
The chocolate coating mixture is enough to coat all of the cookies in their entirety but, if you choose to simply drizzle the top of the cookies instead of coat them, you may find yourself with leftover chocolate. If you pour it into a mason jar and store it in the fridge, it will keep for a few months and can be warmed in the microwave to use with future batches of cookies or even to pour over ice cream!
Once the cookies come out of the oven, allow them to cool for a bit and drop a teaspoonful of nut butter into the well of each cookie. Now you can pop them into the freezer to harden them (this step is important if you are completely coating the cookies but if you are simply drizzling the chocolate, this step is unnecessary).
Now, a quick drizzle of chocolate and you are good to go!!
Healthy Thumbprint Cookies
Ingredients
- 2 cup almond flour
- 2 tbsp cocoa powder
- 1/4 cup melted coconut oil + 4 teaspoons for chocolate
- 1/4 cup maple syrup or honey
- 1 teaspoon vanilla
- pinch salt
- 1/2 cup almond butter
- 1 cup dark chocolate chips
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 350°F.
- Prepare two baking sheets with either silpat mats or parchment paper.In a medium bowl.
- Add almond flour, cocoa powder, coconut oil, maple syrup, vanilla and salt
- Using a small cookie scoop or a tablespoon, scoop the dough and form into a round cookie shape, use your thumb to create a small dent in the center of each cookie.
- Place cookies on a parchment lined baking sheet for 13-16 minutes, until cookies are slightly golden brown on the bottom.
- Let cool completely on the cookie sheet.
- Once cookies have cooled, add a small spoon of almond butter into the dent of each cookie and spread it a little over the top.
- Place cookies in the freezer for about 20-30 minutes to let the nut butter harden a bit.
- In a medium bowl, melt chocolate chips and coconut oil in the microwave (you can also use double boiler). If using the microwave, add chips and coconut oil to a microwave safe bowl and heat for 1 minute, stir and heat in 30 second increments until chocolate has melted.
- Remove cookies from the freezer and dip each into the melted chocolate, one by one. Use a fork to dip and remove the cookie from the chocolate, making sure to let the excess chocolate drip off before transferring back to the baking sheet lined with parchment.
- Place chocolate covered cookies in the fridge or freezer for about 15-20 minutes to let chocolate set. Enjoy right away and store any leftovers in the fridge until ready to eat.
Notes
Almond butter: Feel free to use a different nut or seed butter instead.