3-Ingredient Fresh Apple Almond Flour Cookies {vegan, grain-free, oil-free, Paleo}

3 ingredient cookies for fall and winter, made with almond flour, a fresh apple, and cinnamon. Crisp at the edges with soft, cake-like middles, they are vegan, Paleo, grain-free, oil-free, and have no added sugar.

Fall is finally (mercifully!) here! We are still a long way from crisp and cool, but a drop into the 80s is inspiring me to get moving with some seasonal baking.

Today’s recipe will surely bring some joy. It is inspired by a comment from a reader (Susan). She wrote to ask if she could use something other than banana in my Almond Flour Banana Cookies, as her son cannot eat bananas. I was not sure, so I set about testing some options.

Here is the result: 3-Ingredient Fresh Apple Almond Flour Cookies!

I ate half a dozen of them yesterday, post-run. I am proud to say it! 

These old-fashioned, homey, cake-like cookies are seriously good, and good for you, too. They are:

*Vegan
*Paleo
*Grain-free
*Oil-free
*Added sugar-free
*Gluten-free

The key to making these cookies is to forgo applesauce. I tried, and they were booooring. Flat-ish, cracker-like, zilch apple flavor, and not sweet, unless I added sugar.

Instead of applesauce, these apple cookies are made with a fresh, sweet apple.

Just like baked apples, the apple flavor and sweetness intensify as the cookies bake–without the need for any additional sweeteners! 

I prefer to leave the peel on for these cookies. It is packed with extra fiber (about half the fiber content of the apple is in the peel), vitamins, and the antioxidant quercitin.

If you choose to follow my lead, I recommend using an organic apple. Non-organic apples are often waxed, plus pesticides can be more concentrated in the peel. Further, organic apples tend to be more flavorful, IMHO. If using a regular apple, be sure to peel it.

To prep the apple, cut the flesh away from the core and cut into chunks (discard the core).

Process the apple in a food processor until it is very fine, stopping to scrape down the bowl several times. The end result should be a mash/puree that looks like apple sauce in raw form.

Measure out 1/2 cup of the pureed apple. Do not pack the measuring cup. If there is more puree, save it for something else (e.g., just eat it–my solution–or add to a smoothie, oatmeal, etc.). Measurements matter with these cookies.

To make the cookie dough, stir together the apple puree, 1 cup almond flour and 1/4 teaspoon ground cinnamon. I strongly recommend adding the optional 1/8 teaspoon salt; it enhances both the apple flavor and the sweetness of the cookies once baked. 

Mix until a soft dough comes together. If you taste the dough at this point, it will not be very sweet. This will change as the cookies bake. Nevertheless, feel free to add a smidge of sweetener. It will not take more than 1 to 3 teaspoons (e.g., coconut sugar, brown sugar or maple syrup) to create a much sweeter cookie. It just depends on your particular apple.

Scoop the dough onto a parchment paper-lined cookie sheet and bake for 15 to 18 minutes in a preheated 350F oven. The cookies need a longer bake than other kinds of cookies in order to brown and bake through the middles.

These are the sweet results of your efforts:

The cookies have some crispness at the bottom edges, but are soft and cake-like otherwise. Yes, please!

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