Do you remember those delicious Keebler Fudge Stripes cookies from your childhood? They were sweet, irresistible and perfect dunked in milk. We always had them in our pantry and can even remember sneaking a few extra when Mom wasn’t looking.
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Well you see, the Keebler elf has officially inspired Day 4 of #AKCookieWeek and I couldn’t be more excited to share the recipe because these cookies are TRULY delightful in every single way.
I had been wanting to recreate some of my childhood favorite cookies into healthier versions and this was the perfect start. So dreamy, so easy, SO TANTALIZING.
Potentially the wrong adjective, but who really cares. You’re just here for the recipe anyway.
Reasons to fall in love with fudge striped cookies
If you don’t already love the Keebler elf and his cookies, then it’s about time someone introduced you to the weird wide world of a little elf who lives in a hollow tree and gets his bake on. Is he stoned? No one knows, we just appreciate his cookies.
Here are a few reasons to love this homemade version even more:
- they’re easy to make! You only need one bowl for this recipe which means you can get your bake on without all the extra equipment.
- these cookies are made with almond flour which helps to keep them both lower in carbs and gluten free — but trust me when I say that no one will be able to tell the difference. They’re buttery and have the perfect shortbread consistency.
- They’re naturally sweetened with just a few tablespoons of pure maple syrup. Yum.
- You can really make them your own by choosing a fun chocolate bar for dipping, using orange zest in the dough, or even covering the bottoms of them in chopped nuts or toasted coconut. The options are endless!
Ingredients in fudge striped cookies
I’m not sure what’s more excited about these fudge striped cookies: the fact that they’re vegan and gluten free OR the fact that you only need 6 ingredients that you likely might already have in your pantry:
- Almond flour: it’s important to use fine blanched almond flour in this recipe so that the cookies maintain their perfect consistency.
- Butter: I like to use butter in the recipe because it creates a nice shortbread consistency and flavor. However, you are more than welcome to use melted coconut oil or vegan butter for a vegan and dairy free version.
- Pure maple syrup: one of my favorite natural sweeteners to use and you only need a few tablespoons!
- Vanilla + almond extract: both of these help to flavor the cookie. Don’t skip!
- Salt: not absolutely necessary, but I do recommend using! Even better if you sprinkle the cookies with sea salt at the end aka my fav thing to do.
- Chocolate: What I love about this recipe is that you can use any kind of chocolate bar you’d like, or chocolate chips if you prefer. I recommend a 60-70% chocolate bar, as anything darker may not provide enough sweetness. Personally I love using a salted dark chocolate or a mint dark chocolate bar for dipping and drizzling. Next level delicious and essentially you can make a new flavor with every single batch!
How to make fudge striped cookies
This recipe takes a few steps, but is really quite simple once you do it for the first time (plus there’s a video tutorial below!)
- First make your cookie dough and place in the fridge to chill for 1 hour.
- Next, roll your dough between two sheets of parchment paper to prevent dough from sticking to the surface or your rolling pin.
- Use a 2-inch cookie dough cutter, or the top of a wide non-stick cooking spray cap and cut out circles from the dough. Re-roll the cookie dough scraps so you use all of the dough.
- Use the large piping/pastry tip, cut out the center of each circle, or you can use a large stainless steel straw to poke a hole in the middle and remove the dough. Place cut outs on baking sheet and bake.
- Allow cookies to cool completely before dipping bottoms in chocolate. Chill for 5 minutes, then drizzle tops of cookies with remaining chocolate. Chill again and then enjoy!
Fun, creative flavor variations to try
Here are a few tips to make this cookie recipe your own!
- Add zest from 1 orange to dough for an orange flavored cookie. YUM.
- Use a flavored chocolate bar to make these your own: mint, peppermint, brown butter, toffee, orange, etc. Theo, Alter Eco and Divine chocolate have fun flavors — I would not recommend anything with nuts, quinoa or chunks already in it. Same goes with bars that are stuffed.
- If you want to make these vegan, be sure to use a vegan dark chocolate bar. Alter Eco has a few vegan options available as does Hu Chocolate.
- After dipping the chocolate on the bottom of the cookies, feel free to sprinkle them or even dip into toasted coconut, toasted chopped pecans or anything crunchy you love. I love to sprinkle the chocolate dip with a bit of sea salt. YUM.
I hope you love these homemade fudge striped shortbread cookies! If you make them, I’d love to hear from you — feel free to leave a comment below and rate the recipe. I appreciate it! xo.
Healthy Homemade Fudge Striped Shortbread Cookies
Homemade fudge striped shortbread cookies just like the fudge stripes cookies you grew up on! This healthy version has a gluten free almond flour shortbread cookie base with a delicious chocolate dip and drizzle. Easily vegan and made with only 6 simple ingredients!
Ingredients
- 1 ½ cups packed fine blanched almond flour
- 3 tablespoons butter, melted (can also use vegan butter or melted coconut oil)
- 3 tablespoons pure maple syrup
- 1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
- 1/2 teaspoon almond extract
- 1/4 teaspoon salt
- 3 ounce dark chocolate bar (60-70%), vegan/dairy free if desired*
Instructions
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Add almond flour, butter, pure maple syrup, vanilla extract, almond extract and salt to a large bowl. Mix together until a dough forms. Form dough into a disc shape and wrap tightly with plastic wrap or place in a stasher bag. Chill dough in the fridge for 1 hour.
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Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Line a large baking sheet with parchment paper.
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Place dough on a large sheet of parchment paper or wax paper and add another large sheet of parchment or wax paper on top. Roll out the dough into a large rectangle until the dough is 1/4th inch thick. Use a 2-inch cookie dough cutter to cut rounds out, or you can use the top of a wide cooking spray cap (it works very well!). Re-roll the cookie dough scraps so you use all of the dough. You should get about 14 cookies. Use the large piping/pastry tip, cut out the center of each circle, or you can use a large stainless steel straw (plastic works too) to poke a hole in the middle and remove the dough. Place cookies on prepared baking sheet.
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Bake for 11-14 minutes or until edges begin to turn golden brown. Allow cookies to sit on baking sheet for 5 minutes, then transfer to wire cooling rack to finish cooling completely.
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Once cookies are cooled, it’s time for dipping. Break apart chocolate bar and add to a medium bowl. Microwave in 30 second increments until chocolate is melted and smooth. You can also do this in a small pot if you prefer.
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Dip the bottom of the cookies in the chocolate, then place cookies upside down (so the chocolate-dipped side is up) on a baking sheet lined with parchment paper. Place baking sheet in the fridge for 10 minutes to harden the chocolate.
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Once chocolate has hardened, remove the baking sheet from the fridge. Turn cookies upside down and drizzle the tops of the cookies with the remaining chocolate. (You may need to remelt the chocolate by putting it in the microwave for 10-15 seconds.) Place baking sheet with cookies back in the fridge for 10-15 minutes until chocolate sets up. Store cookies in an airtight container for up to 5 days.
Recipe Notes
To make vegan: use melted coconut oil or vegan butter. Also be sure to use a vegan chocolate bar.
Optional add-ins: Add zest from 1 orange to dough for an orange flavored cookie.
*Chocolate bar flavors: Use a flavored chocolate bar to make these your own: salted, mint, brown butter, toffee, cherry, orange, etc. Theo, Alter Eco and Divine chocolate have fun flavors -- I would not recommend anything with nuts, quinoa or chunks already in it. Same goes with bars that are stuffed.
Nutrition
Recipe by: Monique Volz // Ambitious Kitchen | Photography by:Â Eat Love Eats
26 comments
I was obsessed with these as a kid. These look gorgeous!
The best! These ones are just as delicious 🙂
What do you do with the little cut outs? I don’t like wasting food 🙂
If there’s enough you can re-roll it out and cut out more! 🙂
yes do i need to post a picture of my cookies to enter
Yes you can post on Instagram or in our Facebook group!
These cookies are amazing! I was testing them today to make for a baby shower and I will defiantly be making them. Thank you for this delicious recipe! You are amazing Monique 💕
So happy you loved these! I hope everyone at the baby shower does too 🙂 Thanks for your sweet note!
Hallo, do you think i could use another flour? Thank you, i lo e you recepies
Hi! I have only tested these as written so I can’t recommend another flour, sorry!
Came out perfect! Easy to follow and delicious!
So happy to hear that!
Could you use whole wheat flour or sorghum flour in place of the almond flour if there is a tree nut allergy?
I wouldn’t recommend it – sorry!
Everything was easy to follow, but after 9-10 minutes in the oven my cookies came out burnt. Don’t know what happened
Uh oh! It’s possible your oven runs hot (temperature accuracy can really differ oven to oven; you might get an oven thermometer to check that!) so next time you could keep a closer eye on them. Sorry to hear that, though!
Seriously taste like Keebler Elf cookies!! I don’t know how you did it!! Thanks for another great recipe!
Absolutely! Glad you loved them!
These cookies are delicious. Not only are they amazing, but so easy to make. These will be on a regular rotation in our house. Very high praise from my picky non healthy eating husband. I melted dark vegan GF chocolate chips for the coating because that’s what I had in the house. Thank you very much for this recipe.
Amazing! So glad they were a hit!
While these are a bit more labor intensive than typical cookies, the extra effort is WELL worth it! I made these as part of our holiday cookies and they were some of the first cookies to go!
Absolutely! Perfect for the holidays 🙂
Hmm, did the vegan version with almond plant butter found the almond extract to actually detract from the cookies. Overpowering and doesn’t give it the fudge shoppe cookie taste I came looking for. Shortbread cookie is good in texture, lacks a little more sweetness. I’ll try again with some adjustments but overall a nice recipe thank you for sharing
Sorry you didn’t love that flavor! Appreciate the feedback 🙂
These cookies were amazing!! After dipping in chocolate, I sprinkled them with toasted chopped hazelnuts, they were delicious! Thanx for the great recipe, they will sure be my go- to cookie recipe!
Oooh love the addition of hazelnuts! So glad they came out perfect 🙂