Getting back to "Can you be aware without thought?"

Yes, and I would say a careful examination of experience indicates we're always Aware regardless of mind state (waking, dreaming & deep sleep).

I notice it with particularly deep sittings in choiceless awareness. That's what Jiddu Krishnamurti called it but it's basically Shikantaza (just sitting), resting in awareness, do-nothing, effortless, etc... when the timer goes off seemingly just after starting. It's almost as if it was a blink of the eyes yet 30, 45 or more minutes transpired and there is a "knowing" of continuity of awareness, even when the mind was (mostly?) offline. Call it an experience of absence (of mind).