These easy Salted Caramel Thumbprint Cookies are the perfect little sugar-free treat! Made with almond flour, they're also grain-free and low-carb!
These Salted Caramel Thumbprint Cookies are sponsored by our friends at Bob's Red Mill.
There aren't a lot of cookie recipes on Cast Iron Keto, actually, this is the only cookie recipe on CIK and we're not mad about it. In the past, we've mainly stuck to recipes using cast iron skillets or Dutch ovens but as we expand, our cast iron sheet pan is coming in handy! We used it in our recipe for Keto Biscuits and now we see all sorts of cookie recipes in our future!
First up in the cookie department are these delicious Keto Salted Caramel Thumbprint Cookies! They are SO easy to make and have just a few ingredients including the star, Bob's Red Mill's Super-Fine Almond Flour!
You'll first want to make a batch of our Sugar Free Caramel Syrup / Sauce to tuck into the middle of the thumbprint cookies but there are a few ways to make the caramel your own too!
Read on below for the recipe details, tips and tricks, and fun customizations.
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🍪 Ingredients
- Bob's Red Mill Super-Fine Almond Flour - we absolutely adore the buttery deliciousness of Bob's Red Mill Super-Fine Almond Flour! Even though this post is sponsored, we use this almond flour in every single recipe that calls for almond flour on CIK, sponsored or not. It's our fave!
- Unsalted butter - you can use regular butter or plant-based to keep these thumbprint cookies dairy-free!
- Sugar-free maple syrup
- Pure vanilla extract - bourbon vanilla extract is delicious here!
- Sea salt - pink Himalayan salt or Kosher salt also works great
- Salted caramel - make a batch of our caramel and let it cool to room temperature before making the cookies.
See recipe card for quantities.
🔪 Instructions
Make the caramel sauce according to its recipe (linked above + in the recipe card) and let it cool while you make the cookies.
Place all of the cookie ingredients in a large mixing bowl and mix well to combine.
Roll the dough into 18 balls, place on a plate and refrigerate for at least 20 minutes.
Transfer the sheet pan into the oven set at 350°. Bake for 12 minutes, remove from the oven and use the end of a spatula or your finger to open up the center just a bit more.
Place the cookies on a parchment-lined baking sheet and use your thumb to make an indent in each cookie.
Fill each cavity with about a teaspoon of caramel and sprinkle with flaky sea salt. Store at room temperature for up to 3 days or in the refrigerator for up to one week.
Hint: The cookies will harden as they cool, we suggest leaving them on the sheet pan for at least an hour before eating although a nice gooey caramel cookie is pretty great too 😉
🧈 Substitutions
As written these cookies are grain-free, egg-free, sugar-free, soy-free, and gluten-free. They're also keto-friendly, low-carb, and easily made dairy-free or 100% vegan 🌱
- Dairy-free - instead of butter in the caramel and the cookies, use a plant-based substitute. This will make the cookies vegan as well.
- Nut-free - unfortunately, we haven't tested this Salted Caramel Thumbprint Cookie recipe with any other flour than almond flour. Coconut flour may work here but we haven't tried it. If you do, please leave a comment below letting us know how they turned out!
🎃 Variations
There are so many ways to make these thumbprint cookies your own but we'll give you a few of our favorite ideas!
- Add pumpkin - we've made the caramel as written and added 2 tablespoons of the puree to the cooled caramel and it's DELICIOUS, seriously SO good! You can also add a teaspoon or two of pumpkin pie spice into the caramel if you go this route!
- Use jam - a sugar-free jam is delicious in these thumbprint cookies in place of the salted caramel! Raspberry is our current favorite.
- Use chocolate - use a sugar-free chocolate kiss or a few chocolate chips in the center. You could also fill them with a chocolate ganache, OMG, that's a fantastic idea, we can't wait to try it!
We can think of a million other ideas, share yours below so we can be inspired 😉
🥄 Equipment
Equipment can have a big impact on how a recipe turns out. We used the following:
- Mixing bowl
- Mixing spoon/spatula
- Cast-iron sheet pan - we use this one
- Cast-iron sauce pot - we use this one
- Whisk
🥶 Storage
Store the cookies in a single layer in an airtight container on the countertop for up to 3 days or in the refrigerator for up to one week.
💭 Top tip
Be sure to cook your caramel according to the "very thick caramel" (method #3 in the recipe card) instructions. This will give you a thick caramel that will keep its shape and not spill out of the cookies.
📖 Recipe
Salted Caramel Thumbprint Cookies
Ingredients
- 1 batch of our sugar-free caramel sauce
- 2 cups Bob's Red Mill Super-Fine Almond Flour
- ⅓ cup unsalted butter softened plant-based for dairy-free
- ⅓ cup sugar-free maple syrup
- 1 tablespoon pure vanilla extract
- ½ teaspoon sea salt
- Flaky sea salt for topping
Instructions
For the caramel
- Make the sugar-free caramel sauce according to its recipe and the method for making "very thick caramel", method #3 in the recipe. Let cool while you make the cookies.
For the cookies
- Preheat the oven to 350° F.
- In a large mixing bowl, combine the ingredients and mix until smooth.
- Roll the dough into 18 balls and place them on a plate. Refrigerate for 20 minutes.
- Line a cast-iron baking sheet (or regular baking sheet) with parchment paper. Place the cookies about 1-2" apart then use your thumb or the end of a spoon/spatula to make an indent in the center of each cookie.
- Transfer to the oven and bake for 12-14 minutes until just barely starting to turn golden, they should still be fairly pale. Remove from the own and let cool for 5 minutes. If the centers are puffed up, simply use your thumb or the end of the spoon to remake the dent in the center.
- Place about a teaspoon of the caramel into the center of each cookie and sprinkle with flaky sea salt. Let cool before storing.
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