Easy Vegan Cardamom Cookies. These soft cookies are a cross between cardamom shortbread and Snickerdoodles. Vegan Soyfree Palm Oil free Recipe. Glutenfree option. Jump to Recipe
If you love cardamom, you will love these cookies! Soft, melt in your mouth cookies that remind you of shortbread, snickerdoodle, and Indian Desserts, all rolled into one.
I use seeds from whole green cardamom pods and ground cardamom for extra flavor punch. The nut butter and almond flour add the texture. The cookie is easily refined sugar free and is palm oil free. Change up the spices to cinnamon, chai, pumpkin pie spice for variation.
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Tips to make Cardamom Cookies with amazing texture and flavor
- Use a neutral flavor nut butter so that it doesn’t overshadow the cardamom flavor (or any other spice flavor you use). some peanut butters have a strong flavor. Almond or cashew butter works best.
- Use both ground cardamom and cardamom seeds
- The dough should be soft for the best crackling.
- Bake longer for crispier cookie and a min less for softer.
Step by Step Photos
Mix the wet ingredients. Fold in the dry to make a soft dough.
Chill, divide the dough into balls, roll in spice+ sugar, flatten on a parchment lined sheet and bake.
Vegan Cardamom Cookie - Cardamom Snickerdoodles
Ingredients
Wet
- 1/3 cup (86 g) smooth almond butter or peanut butter or cashew (some peanut butters have a very strong flavor, so choose a more neutral flavor nut butter)
- 1/4 cup (56 ml) oil
- 1/3 cup (0.02 ml) maple syrup
- 1 tbsp (14.79 g) applesauce or non dairy yogurt
Dry
- 3/4 cup (177.44 g) flour (I use a mix of whole wheat and all purpose), see gf option in notes
- 1/3 cup (37.33 g) almond flour
- 1/4 tsp (0.25 tsp) baking soda
- 1/4 tsp (0.25 tsp) cream of tartar (optional)
- 1/2 tsp (0.5 tsp) baking powder
- 1/4 tsp (0.25 tsp) salt
- seeds of two green cardamom pods, coarsely crushed (or use 1/4 tsp more ground cardamom)
- 1/4 - 1/2 tsp (1/4-1/2 tsp) ground cardamom powder (us full 1/2 tsp if omitting cardamom seeds)
Coating
- 2 tbsp coconut sugar
- 1 tbsp cane sugar or use more coconut sugar
- 1/4 tsp (0.25 tsp) ground cardamom
Instructions
- In a bowl combine peanut butter, oil, Maple syrup, Apple sauce/ yogurt. Mix until smooth.
- In another bowl combine the flours, baking powder, baking soda, cream of tartar, salt and cardamom. Mix well
- Add to the wet bowl and combine to form a sticky dough. Add a tablespoon or more flour if the dough is too sticky. You can also do this after chilling.
- Chill the dough for 20 mins
- Mix the coating ingredients in a shallow bowl.
- Take the dough out of the fridge. Divide it into equal size balls of inch or larger. Roll the balls into coating mixture and place them on a parchment lined baking sheet and flatten them.
- Bake at 350 F (176 C) for 11 to 12 minute
- Cool completely before storing
Video
Notes
Nutrition
Nicole says
September 4, 2018 at 5:11 pmThese look really good. Would there be a good substitute for the oil?
Thanks!
Richa says
September 4, 2018 at 6:23 pmmore nut butter
Sue says
September 4, 2018 at 6:16 pmRicha – is it a 1/4 Cup oil?
Richa says
September 4, 2018 at 6:23 pmyes. updated
Ellen says
September 5, 2018 at 11:39 amJust made these yesterday. I didn’t have almond flour so I used quinoa flour, my 2 year old daughter gobbles them up. I like that they are not too sweet.
Richa says
September 5, 2018 at 11:56 amawesome!!
Sue says
September 6, 2018 at 10:55 amRicha, these look soooo good. Will bake soon! Thanks for the recipe.
Ginnis says
September 7, 2018 at 2:55 amDo you think it would be okay to delete the oil? I am oil-free and this would be a lot of extra oil for me.
Richa says
September 7, 2018 at 10:08 amYes, they should be fine without. Just add more nut butter. You might need a bit less flour with nut butter
Emily says
September 19, 2018 at 6:56 pmMade these yesterday. They are so buttery and melt in your mouth. i couldnt believe it! and no butter! i used pumpkin pie spice + cardamom seeds, soo good.
Richa says
September 19, 2018 at 7:02 pmi know right! perfect shortbread crumb
Cassie Autumn Tran says
September 24, 2018 at 9:20 pmWow, these look so spicy yet sweet and crisp at the same time! Heck, I could eat the cookie dough on its own before baking! Anyways, would this recipe work with canned pumpkin or mashed banana instead of applesauce or yogurt?
Preeti says
September 26, 2018 at 2:59 amWhat’s a good substitute for maple syrup ?
Richa says
September 29, 2018 at 2:31 pmSugary or Jaggery syrup of half string consistency
Lucy says
September 26, 2018 at 5:29 pmI can’t wait to make these! Do you think I could use an equal amount of pumpkin purée in place of the apple sauce/yogurt? (I have some I need to use up.) Thanks!
Richa says
September 26, 2018 at 7:34 pmyup
Lucy says
October 2, 2018 at 5:21 pmThanks! We loved them.
I think this will also be a great template to veganize this saffron-vanilla snickerdoodle recipe that I used to make pre-veg days. 👍🏼👍🏼
Richa says
October 2, 2018 at 7:01 pmawesome! saffron vanilla is definitely a winner flavor!
Pia says
September 30, 2018 at 2:32 amHi Risha, do you think I can substitute the nut butter for tahini? If so, would there need to be any adjustments? Thanks.
Richa says
September 30, 2018 at 10:11 amYes you can. You might need a few tbsp more flour. Also tahini is a very acquired flavor. If you havent tried it in cookies before, you might find it too salty or bitter. Try the recipe with just 3 tbsp of tahini, that way you might not need extra flour and also the flavor will be milder
kari says
November 16, 2018 at 9:31 amCan I substitute regular flour or chickpea for almond flour?
Richa says
November 16, 2018 at 11:05 amyou can sub regular flour.you might need less of it.
Dawn says
November 28, 2018 at 12:47 pmWould these freeze okay? I’d like to make a couple of batches for a community group but need something that will last a few days in the fridge or freeze well. Thank you!
Richa says
November 28, 2018 at 2:49 pmthey’ll be fine either way. For longer than 3 days, freeze for fresher taste
Dawn says
November 28, 2018 at 2:51 pmThank you so much!
Alicia Ogard says
December 8, 2018 at 5:46 pmI liked these cookies! P.S. I am obsessed with your blog!
Keren says
May 15, 2020 at 5:16 amFantastic. Instead of almond flour I used ground sunflower seeds and used solely whole wheat flour. Reduced sweetness just a bit, too, as I’m used to minimally sweet cookies/cakes. This is so delicious! I’ll be making them again and again. It’s incredible how using ground seeds adds so much flavour. Cardamom might just be my favourite spice.
Kathryn says
December 9, 2018 at 4:16 pmThese are some of our favorite go-to cookies. They are my husband’s favorite. Very unique flavor—delicious!
Richa says
December 9, 2018 at 8:00 pmyay!
Jo says
February 11, 2019 at 2:10 pmWith the option you Give for making gluten free, does that mix directly replace the 3/4 cup flour in the listed recipe and if it is do I still add the 1/3 cup almond flour as per recipe ? Would I need to use any more liquid or to up the raising agents ?
They look great and wanted to give it a go , gluten free and vegan
Thank u !
Richa says
February 11, 2019 at 4:13 pmthat replaces just the regular flour.You still will add the other almond flour and other dry ingredients. You might need a bit more of the gf blend as it absorbs less moisture compared to wheat based flours.
Jo Parsons says
February 12, 2019 at 12:20 amThanks for prompt reply Richa
Looking forward to trying them out x
Jenny says
March 4, 2019 at 9:45 amYum! I have been wanting to make some cardamom cookies for a while. I don’t have apple sauce or vegan yogurt…are these vital? Can I sub with anything else? What do these add to the recipe? Thanks!
Richa says
March 4, 2019 at 11:43 amit added a bit of moisture as we are using lesser oil. You can add any other fruit puree, mashed pumpkin or banana, cashew cream
Jenny King says
March 4, 2019 at 11:54 amThanks!
Veronika says
March 22, 2019 at 9:00 amHey richa, can I just ground the almonds and Oats? I did not found the flours
Richa says
March 22, 2019 at 10:36 amyes put them together in a blender and blend in bursts of a 5-10 seconds until powdery. Theywont be a fine flour, but will work just fine. Just move them around and pulse till they are not too coarse
Vinny says
March 24, 2019 at 8:47 amSubtracted a star from my rating as even after adding additional cardamom, both ground and crushed seeds, the cardamom flavor is too subtle for the stronger flavored peanut butter.
That said, these are very delicious peanut butter cookies.
I doubled the recipe and refrigerated half the dough to bake the following day and they still came out great.
I used a drinking glass I placed in the freezer to flatten the doughballs which prevented sticking.
Richa says
March 24, 2019 at 9:00 amUse almond butter or cashew butter .Some peanut butter brands have a much stronger flavor.
Vinny says
March 24, 2019 at 9:23 amWill do.
Thanks, Richa❣️
Sarah says
August 12, 2019 at 2:41 pmDelicious and nicely spiced! I didn’t have a lot of peanut butter, so I added cooked white beans to the wet mixture (weird I know) and blended it all together before adding to the dry mixture. Oh, and also used banana instead of applesauce or non dairy yogurt. I also used all spelt flour.
These turned out wonderfully and I found that the pb did not overpower the cardamom taste. I love cardamom yet am disappointed when you can’t taste it in things that claim to have it in there. So these are perfect. Thank you!
Richa says
August 12, 2019 at 3:25 pmawesome!
Terri says
August 17, 2019 at 6:48 pmMy son took one to have with a glass of milking, came back for three more 😊
Alla says
September 20, 2019 at 12:30 pmI love the cookies! Soooooo delicious!!!
Richa says
September 20, 2019 at 4:58 pmthanks!
Aga says
May 1, 2020 at 9:57 amSuper delicious! I love cardamom so have used a bit more in the dough. Baked them for 7 minutes and they came out perfect! They are morish!
Monisha says
May 11, 2020 at 11:00 amThey were delicious ! The first bite had me remarking -This is the best thing I’ve ever made !!
Thank you !
Vegan Richa Support says
May 11, 2020 at 1:21 pmwow! great
Dee says
September 27, 2020 at 2:34 amSo easy, and fail proof. Turned out beautifully, and tasty!
I added half almond butter and half peanut butter, however, the peanut butter over powered the cardamom. I didn’t add oil (except from the almond and peanut butter). Next time I’ll add a tiny less maple syrup too as they are quiet sweet especially with the apple sauce. otherwise, YUM!
Vegan Richa Support says
September 27, 2020 at 7:59 pmAwesome ! thank you Dee
Esther Hausman says
November 21, 2020 at 3:14 pmdelicious and easy. Added crushed roasted salted pistachios and it was quite a yummy addition!
Thanks!
Richa says
November 21, 2020 at 4:48 pmAwesome