Until baking this recipe I had never seen so many tiny cookies in my entire life. I lost count after awhile, but I think it may have been close to 10 dozen batches that came out of this recipe. I think when I make it again, I’ll try to scoop larger pieces of dough at a time onto the baking sheet. Normally when baking cookies I tend to get a little over-zealous, scooping too much dough at a time onto the sheet and placing it too close together. The result is often several unattractive rows of blob-like cookies stuck together. Thankfully, these cookies don’t spread very much during baking, so it’s a safer bet to place them fairly close together. I’ve also seen variations of this cookie, such as with chocolate chips or peanut butter, that I’d definitely like to try when I bake this recipe again. This time around, however, I wasn’t feeling adventurous at all. Going out and buying apricot jam so as to give the cookies some color variety felt adventurous to me, so adding something like chocolate chips was out of the question. Some days you just want to keep it real simple. These cookies are perfect for days like that.

Vegan Thumbprint Cookies
Recipe from the Kitchn

(Makes about 4-8 dozen tiny cookies, depending on how big you make them)

2 cups whole almonds
4 cups quick-cooking oats
1/4 teaspoon salt
1 1/2 cups flour, divided (all-purpose or whole wheat pastry flour)
1 cup canola 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 almonds until they are chopped into smallish pieces. It’s okay if you have a variety of sizes, just be careful not to totally grind them into almond flour. If there are particularly large chunks that aren’t getting broken down, you can chop them into pieces. Dump the almonds into a large bowl.

Using the same food processor bowl, grind the oats with the salt into a meal (like the almonds, some texture is good) and add to the almonds. Add 1 1/4 cup of the all-purpose or whole wheat flour, reserving the remaining 1/4 cup.

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

Mix with a wooden spoon until combined. If the dough seems runny, add the additional flour. Let it sit for about 15 minutes to stiffen.

Form into rough balls about the size of a whole walnut. The dough will be slightly wet but not too sticky. The cookies can be fairly close together as they don’t spread much.

Using the back of a round quarter-teaspoon measuring spoon, make an indentation in the top of each cookie, flattening the cookie slightly in doing so. Scoop the your jam of choice into the indentation.

Bake for about 13-15 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.