Sparkling Sandwich Cookies (Vegan, Gluten-free, Paleo)

The other exciting thing about this post is that these are the first photos I’ve ever taken with a DSLR camera!  Ben got me Plate to Pixel for Christmas, and let me do this photo shoot with his camera.  I was so excited to be able to make the camera focus on any particular cookie, while blurring out the others.  Depth of field is so fun!  I’m looking forward to experimenting more with the DSLR as I learn about the different settings & modes.

 

Ingredients (adapted from Elana’s Pantry and inspired by Gourmet):

2 cups almond flour, lightly packed
Pinch of sea salt
1/4 teaspoon baking soda
1/4 cup coconut oil, melted
2 tablespoons honey or maple syrup
1 teaspoon lemon zest
1/2 teaspoon vanilla

Turbinado, regular, coconut, or sanding sugar, for rolling
Raspberry jam and/or caramel sauce, for filling*

*I used St. Dalfour All-fruit jam, which contains only fruit and fruit juice, so it’s vegan and paleo.  I also used Stonewall Kitchen’s Dulce de Leche sauce.  For a vegan caramel, try making this salted caramel with coconut milk and omitting the butter.  For a paleo version, try this honey caramel (you may need to warm it up to a spreadable consistency if you make it ahead of time).

Preheat the oven to 350 and line two baking sheets with parchment paper.

In a large bowl, mix together the almond flour, salt, and baking soda, using a fork to break up any lumps.  Place the sugar(s) of your choice onto small plate(s).  You will need about 1/2 a cup total–I used turbinado sugar for half the cookies and regular granulated sugar for the other half.  Try to get sanding sugar if you want them super sparkly!

In a measuring cup, whisk together the melted coconut oil, honey, and lemon zest.  Add to the dry ingredients and mix by hand until the dough comes together and can be formed into a ball.  Use a measuring spoon to scoop out a teaspoon of dough at a time, press it into a ball, roll it in the sugar of your choice, and place it on the prepared baking sheet.  Repeat with the remaining dough.  Before baking, use a teaspoon measure to mold each ball of dough into a half-sphere, like in the photo below.

Bake for 5-6 minutes, until lightly golden on top and browned but not burnt on the bottom.  Cool for a few minutes on the baking sheet, then transfer to a rack to cool completely.  Once cookies are cool, pair them up by size.  Place a small amount of jam or caramel sauce (less than 1/4 teaspoon) on one cookie in each pair, and stick the other cookie on to form a cookie sandwich ball.

Cookies will keep in a container at room temperature for several days.

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