These Vegan Almond Croissant Cookies seriously taste like an almond croissant in cookie form! The cookies are stuffed with a rich almond filling, topped with sliced almonds and then dusted with powdered sugar.
Want more melt-in-your-mouth vegan cookies? Try my Lemon Crinkle Cookies, Vegan Lofthouse Cookies, and Raspberry Almond Vegan Thumbprint Cookies.
When vegan almond croissants and buttery soft cookies get together, you end up with these decadent Vegan Almond Croissant Cookies.
These cookies have been going viral on social media thanks to creator, baker, and blogger, Ryan Nordheimer. To make them, a simple almond-flavored cookie dough is stuffed with a soft and buttery almond filling. The cookies are decorated with sliced almonds and a dusting of powdered sugar for that classic almond croissant look.
I created a recipe quite similar but without the use of dairy or eggs. The result? The most amazing cookies I’ve ever tasted.
Why I’m in love with these almond croissant cookies
- Rich and decadent – These are some truly fancy cookies that taste rich and decadent, even though they don’t have many complicated steps or ingredients.
- Easier to make than croissants – Craving a vegan croissant but not the work that comes with making them? These vegan almond croissant cookies are the perfect alternative!
How to make them
Find the complete recipe with measurements in the recipe card below.
Add the vegan almond frangipane ingredients to a food processor and process until it’s creamy and smooth. Place it in the fridge until it’s time to stuff the cookies.
The viral almond croissant cookie recipe uses rum in the frangipane to compliment the almond flavor. If that sounds good to you, make the almond filling with 1 1/2 teaspoons of dark rum and 1/2 teaspoon of almond extract instead.
Next, cream the softened vegan butter and sugar in the bowl of a stand mixer until smooth. Gently mix in the vegan yogurt and almond extract. To finish, mix in the flour, cornstarch, baking soda, and salt until just combined.
Scoop out about 3 tablespoons worth of cookie dough from the bowl and flatten it with your hands. Add a small scoop of the almond filling to the center of the flattened cookie dough, then fold the dough over top and form it into a ball. Repeat until you run out of cookie dough/almond filling.
Place the stuffed cookie dough balls onto a prepared baking sheet and push a few sliced almonds on top of each one.
Chill the cookie dough before baking: This will prevent the cookies from spreading too much in the oven! You can skip this skep if you’re in a rush, but I don’t recommend it. You might end up with flat cookies.
Bake the cookies until they’re just barely golden brown around the edges. Set them aside to cool before dusting them with powdered sugar. Enjoy!
Frequently asked questions
Frangipane, or almond cream, is a soft and sweet French baking staple. It’s traditionally made from almond flour or ground almonds, eggs, sugar, and butter and used as a filling for tarts, croissants, and other pastries.
Technically, chilling the cookie dough is optional. Popping the dough in the fridge for 30 minutes will cool the butter and prevent the dough from spreading in the oven; however, if you’re short on time, you can bake the cookies as soon as they’re assembled.
I haven’t tested it, but you should be okay to replace the all-purpose flour in the almond cookies with a quality gluten-free flour blend instead. I usually have great results with King Arthur Measure for Measure Flour.
The cooled cookies will last for about 4 or 5 days when stored in an airtight container at room temperature.
Yes, the baked cookies freeze well for about 3 months. Store them in an airtight container or ziplock bag to keep them fresh.
Vegan Almond Croissant Cookies
Ingredients
Almond Filling (Vegan Frangipane)
- 1 cup almond flour
- 1/2 cup granulated sugar
- 2 tablespoons vegan butter softened
- 1/4 cup unsweetened almond milk
- 3 tablespoons all purpose flour
- 1/8 teaspoon salt
- 2 teaspoons almond extract
Cookie Dough
- 1 cup vegan butter softened
- 1 1/2 cups granulated sugar
- 3 tablespoons dairy free yogurt*
- 1 teaspoon almond extract
- 2 3/4 cups all purpose flour
- 1 tablespoon cornstarch
- 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
- 1/2 teaspoon salt
The Rest
- 1 cup sliced almonds
- powdered sugar for dusting the cookies
Instructions
- Prepare: Line a large baking sheet with parchment paper, or lightly grease with nonstick spray. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F.
- Make the almond filling: Add all almond filling ingredients to a food processor and process on high until creamy and smooth, about 2 minutes. Scrape the sides as needed. Do not over process. Refrigerate until ready to use.
- Make the cookie dough: Add the softened vegan butter and sugar to a large bowl. With a stand mixer (paddle attachment) or handheld mixer, mix until creamy and smooth. Now add the yogurt and almond extract and mix until well combined. Add the flour, then sprinkle the cornstarch, baking soda and salt on top of the flour. Mix until just combined.
- Fill and roll the cookies: Using a large cookie scoop (about 3 tablespoons), scoop out a portion of cookie dough. Flatten the dough, then scoop about 1 tablespoon of the almond filling and place in the center of the flattened cookie dough. Bring the dough around the filling and form into a ball. Place on the prepared baking sheet (the cleanest side up) and push several sliced almonds on top of each cookie. Continue until you have formed all the cookies.
- Chill: If you can, chill the cookies on the baking sheet in the refrigerator for 30 minutes. This will prevent them from spreading too much in the oven. If you don't have time, it will still work to bake them immediately.
- Bake: Bake the cookies in the oven for 16-18 minutes, until they are just barely golden on the edges and you don't see any wet dough on top. Let them cool for about 10 minutes on the pan, then transfer to a cooling rack. Dust with powdered sugar and enjoy!
Notes
- Instead of yogurt, you can use applesauce or 1 flax egg (1 tbs ground flaxseeds mixed with 2.5 tablespoons water).
- For gluten free, you can try a quality gluten free flour mix. Don’t just use almond flour, it won’t work here.
- Instead of cornstarch, you can use tapioca starch or arrowroot.Â
- The cookies stay fresh for up to 4-5 days in a covered container, or a few more days in the refrigerator. You can also freeze the cookies.
So delicious! These were a huge hit with my family. I used a flax egg instead of the yogurt and had to add a few extra tablespoons of water to make the dough workable. I also made them smaller (1 tablespoon of dough to 1 tsp filling) and baked for 14 min. Definitely leave a lot of time to make these, they are easy but filling them takes a while, I wouldn’t want to do it in a rush. They are so packed with almond flavor and the texture is great. Will definitely make again.
Hi Kendall. Thank you for sharing your baking experience! I’m so glad the cookies are a hit! Thank you for sharing your wonderful review and feedback!
Made these this morning it did take me rather a long time (about 30minutes) to fill the cookies but definitely worth it. As a tip used a tablespoon and half measure made 2 bowls out of 2 of these, filled one and joined the 2 halves together. I could not get the almonds to stick to my mixture. Nora, for next time could I stick them with a dab of the frangipane? Anyway DH said they were amazing and didn’t need the extra almonds on top! Thank you Goddess Nora for another fabulous recipe
Yes, it’s a bit of work to fill the cookies but so worth it! I didn’t have issues with getting the almonds to stick, perhaps your cookie dough was just a bit drier than mine (measure everything very carefully), but yes you could use a bit of the frangipane to get them to stick. I’m so glad you enjoyed them, thank you! 🙂
I would guess there is no way to substitute for the butter? Maybe partially?
I’m not sure how to do that, but you could try playing with the recipe if you want. It’s hard to sub for vegan butter in cookie recipes.
Can you make these with almond flour?
No, almond flour will make the cookie dough much too wet and they won’t turn out well at all. Sorry!