Vegan Almond "Cream Cheese" Cookies

The classic cream cheese cookies are not vegan. Our recipe above is, though. You can find all the info you need to cook these cookies by following our steps above. Alternatively, keep reading to learn about different ways to make vegan cream cheese cookies.

The traditional recipe uses butter and cream cheese. We have replaced the dairy ingredients with our homemade cashew nuts cream, almond milk and almond butter. These ingredients are a great combo of nutrients and flavour, but there are other options you can use to make vegan cream cheese. We will suggest some below.

If you fancy the refreshing taste of coconut, then you can replace the cashew cream with coconut cream, the fatty and dense part at the top of a can of coconut milk. We already use coconut flour in our recipe, so this option will work out great.

Instead of almond milk, you could use coconut milk, soy milk, or hazelnut milk. For this recipe, we vouch for the latter option. Hazelnut milk is one of the tastiest plant-based kinds of milk out there, and its rich nutty flavour is perfect for these vegan biscuits. Get the unsweetened hazelnut milk to keep the recipe keto.

Finally, there are so many ways to replace butter in a vegan cookie recipe: from the typical margarine to coconut or avocado oils, or even nut spreads. We have used almond spread here, but why not trying peanut butter? It's easy to find everywhere and provides all the creaminess you need for chewy cookies.

Another option we love to use as a vegan butter replacement is applesauce. We have a full recipe where we use it and talk more about it.

Like most cookies, the traditional cream cheese cookies use wheat flour, making them not gluten-free. But it's so easy to make almond cream cheese cookies gluten-free, with the right mix of flours. We have done so in our recipe above, using coconut and almond flour.

There are other gluten-free flours you can use, but not all of them will give the same results. Let us tell you which ones are perfect for baking chewy cookies.

The best thing about wheat flour is gluten, which is what celiac people are allergic to. When kneading cookie dough, it is the gluten that makes it stretchy and compact and ultimately keeps the cookies from crumbling apart. In a vegan recipe made without eggs and butter, the effect of gluten becomes even more critical.

The lack of gluten is the reason traditional gluten-free flours, like rice or buckwheat, produce crispier and "dry" bakes. Although this is quite acceptable and even desirable for crunchy biscuits, we are better off using more suitable gluten-free flours to make chewy cookies.

Say hi to nuts-flours. These flours are made from ground nuts, rich in healthy fats. They are also a perfect choice for a keto diet, by the way. Nutty flours bring softness to the dough, without the need of using added fats, which are often unhealthy. Moreover, they burst with flavour and retain all the nourishments of nuts.

Let's take a look gluten-free fatty flours that are perfect for these keto cream cheese cookies:

• Almond flour (we used this).

• Coconut flour (yes, coconut is a nut! We have also used this in our recipe).

• Hazelnut flour. If you like Nutella, then try this one out!

• Macadamia flour. Macadamia nuts are an excellent source of proteins, fibres and copper. You should try them if you haven't already!

But of course, you can also use other gluten-free flours, like rice flour. Just know that the cookies will crumble more easily. Don't overthink it though. They will crumble anyway once they are in your belly ;)

We have used zero added sugars in our almond cookies recipe above, so our biscuits are perfect for you if you have diabetes.

Our recipe is not only vegan, gluten-free and keto, but also sugar-free! We have picked so many natural and flavourful ingredients that there is little need for sugar at all. But for the sake of our sweet-tooth, we have resorted to a zero-carb sweetener that is perfect for people with diabetes: erythritol.

Erythritol is a sugar alcohol that occurs naturally in fruit but has no sugar and no calories. It makes the perfect alternative to regular granulated sugar if you have diabetes as it won't raise your glucose levels.

If you don't have access to this ingredient, we have another low GI option for you. We are talking about applesauce! We love using applesauce in our bakes whenever we make low-carb or no added-sugars recipes. Check out this recipe here to see it in action!

We designed this recipe with the keto diet in mind. Then we took the next step and made it vegan and gluten-free as well. But yes, our almond "cream cheese" cookies are keto.

There are two requirements to satisfy to achieve ketosis. Eat super-low-carbs foods that are rich in fats for long enough. For a healthy and more sustainable keto diet, choose healthy fats over bad saturated ones.

So we have made this recipe without using any sugars or high-carbs flours, and carefully selecting ingredients filled with healthy fats, proteins and vitamins.

The sweetness comes from erythritol, which has zero carbs, while the healthy fats come from almond and coconut.

The result? Chewy cookies with only 3 grams of carbs, 1.3 of sugars, and 120 calories per serving.

Eating homemade cookies is always a better choice over store-bought ones, which are often heavily processed and contain harmful additives.

These almond cookies are prepared with whole foods and thus are incredibly healthy. Raw ingredients are not as fattening as processed ones, as the body takes longer to digest them. They are also loaded with many precious nutrients, like vitamins and minerals.

As these almond cookies are eggless and prepared without butter, they have very low saturated fats. A healthy diet focuses on replacing these bad fats with unsaturated ones, which are found in nuts, including almonds. Also, fats make you feel full for longer, and they are very satisfying. This way, you are less likely to experience cravings and then overeat.

Moreover, as these almond meal cookies are suitable for ketogenic diets, they are very low in carbs. Eating fewer carbohydrates means reducing your calorie intake and keeping glucose and insulin levels in check, which are essential to promote weight loss.

Go ahead and enjoy one or two of these almond cream cheese cookies, they're so easy-to-make and good for you.

If you can choose between freezing the cookies or the cookie dough, go for the latter. You can then defrost the excess dough and still make delicious vegan cream cheese cookies when you feel like having them.

But we ran an experiment and tried to freeze the cooked biscuits. Because they are quite chewy, we thought freezing them would turn them into some kind of "ice cream cookie". After a few hours, we pulled them out of the freezer and took a bite.

Although most of the chewiness was gone, the result wasn't half bad! We reckon two frozen biscuits with some vanilla ice cream in between (vegan or otherwise) would make a great ice cream sandwich. We have done it in the past with other cookies, and it was so tasty. If you are craving some ice cream and have some excess cookies, give this a go!