Life-Changing Vegan Thumbprint Cookies

Makes about 4 dozen 2 inch cookies

2 cups whole almonds or other nut like walnuts, pecans, or pistachios
4 cups old-fashioned oats
1/4 teaspoon salt
1 1/2 cups flour (a mix of coconut and whole wheat flour). More coconut than whole wheat.
1 cup canola oil or melted coconut oil
1 cup maple syrup
Assorted jams of your choice

Preheat oven to 350°F. Line two baking sheets with parchment paper.

In a food processor, pulse the nuts until they are chopped into smallish pieces. It's OK if you have a variety of sizes, just don't grind them to a flour. I tend to leave them chunkier than most people because I like to bite into a decent piece of nut when eating these cookies. BTransfer the chopped nuts into a large bowl.

Using the same food processor bowl, grind the oats with the salt into a coarse meal. Again, I like to leave a little texture in the oats. Transfer the oats to the bowl with the nuts, then add 1 -1/4 cup of flour, reserving the remaining 1/4 cup (don't need that last 1/4 cup).

Pour the oil into the bowl, followed by the maple syrup. (Doing it in this order, and using the same measuring cup, means that all the maple syrup will glide out effortlessly.)

Mix with a wooden spoon until combined. If the dough seem runny, add the additional flour but don't worry if it is too soft, as it will stiffen up a bit as it sits. I usually let it sit for about 15 minutes.

Form the dough into rough balls about the size of a whole walnut. The dough will be slightly wet but surprisingly not too sticky. Ice cream scoopers are good here. The cookies can be fairly close together as they don't spread much.

Using the back of a round 1/2 teaspoon measure, make an indentation in the top of each cookie. Use it to fill the indentation with your jam of choice.

Bake for about 15 minutes, or until the cookies begin to brown slightly. Remove from oven and let cool for about 15 minutes before moving to a rack to cool further (they're a bit fragile when they first come out of the oven).

Notes

Try a variety of jams for taste and color: red raspberry, apricot or orange marmalade.

 Inspired by: https://www.thekitchn.com/cookie-recipe-lifechanging-veg-134691