Chocolate Orange Marmalade Thumbprint Cookies

• servings: 30 servings

Ingredients

5 tablespoons (48 g) melted refined coconut oil

1/4 cup (20 g) cocoa powder

2 tablespoons (30 ml) maple syrup

1 cup (226 g) vegan butter

1 cup (235 g) sugar

3 tablespoons (45 ml) warm water

1 tablespoon (7 g) ground flaxseed

2 teaspoons vanilla extract

1/4 teaspoon almond extract (optional)

2 3/4 cups (380 g) unbleached all-purpose flour

1/4 teaspoon baking powder

1/4 teaspoon sea salt

1/2-2/3 cup (143 g) orange marmalade

2 cups peeled and seeded orange slices

1/4 cup sugar

1 tablespoon arrowroot powder or cornstarch

Directions

For the marmalade: Take the orange slices and place them into a blender or a food processor and blend until slightly chunky. Pour the contents of the blender into a small sauce pan, over medium heat. Add in sugar and arrowroot powder and stir together.

Simmer orange mixture, stirring occasionally, for roughly 25 minutes or until the mixture has the same consistency as jam. Take the pan off of the heat, and let cool. (Make the cookies while you are waiting for the marmalade to be done) This recipe makes more than you'll need for the cookies, so save the rest in an air tight jar in the refrigerator for up to 1 month.

For the cookies: In a small bowl, combine hot water and flaxseed, whisk to combine and set aside to gel for 3 minutes to form an "egg". Using a stand or hand mixer, cream butter and sugar together until fluffy. Mix in flaxseed egg, vanilla and almond extracts. In a medium-sized bowl combine salt and flour, then slowly add to the butter mixture until evenly distributed and very slightly crumbly (not too wet).

Pre-heat oven to 400°F. Line a baking pan with parchment paper or silicone baking liner and start forming the dough into 2-tablespoon sized spheres, roughly 2 inches apart. Press down in the center of the dough balls to create a teaspoon sized indent for the orange marmalade filling.

Spoon a heaping 1/2 teaspoon of marmalade into each cookie, then bake cookies for 11-13 minutes and place on cooling rack until they reach room temperature. (Make chocolate drizzle while the cookies are cooling)

For the drizzle: Melt coconut oil, stir in cocoa powder and maple syrup. Wait for the mixture to cool slightly, then pour into a sandwich bag and cut a very small hole into the corner of the bag. Now, you have a makeshift icing bag that you can use to decorate your cookies however you choose to. I recommend chilling the cookies to completely set the chocolate drizzle, but it is not necessary.