Almond Butter Cookies are a delicious alternative to peanut butter cookies. This version is made with no flour, so they are naturally gluten-free and couldn’t be easier to make!
Ingredients You’ll Need
Inspired by my flourless peanut butter cookies, this cookie recipe gets its structure from a combination of nut butter, granulated sugar, and egg. They have a rich almond flavor and are naturally dairy-free.
This recipe works best when you use an all-natural almond butter with a drippy consistency. (I like homemade almond butter or Trader Joe’s raw almond butter best!) The only ingredient on the label should be almonds, and you’ll need to stir the oil back into the jar when you first open it.
Add any extras you love, like a splash of vanilla extract or a handful of chocolate chips. If you don’t have coconut sugar in your pantry, brown sugar will also work for these gluten-free cookies.
How to Make Almond Butter Cookies
1. Mix.
Preheat the oven to 350ºF and line a large baking sheet with parchment paper. Combine the almond butter, coconut sugar, egg, baking soda, and salt in a large bowl.
Stir well until the cookie dough looks thick and uniform.
2. Flatten.
Use a tablespoon or 1-ounce cookie scoop to drop the dough onto the prepared baking sheet. This recipe makes 16 to 17 cookies, so you will need to bake these in 2 batches or use 2 baking sheets in the oven to bake the whole batch all at once.
Use a fork to flatten each mound, making a criss-cross pattern like you would for a peanut butter cookie. If you like a sweet & salty flavor, sprinkle a little coarse sea salt on top.
3. Bake.
Bake the almond butter cookies at 350ºF for 10 to 12 minutes, or until the tops have puffed up and the cookies have spread slightly. The edges of the cookie should look lightly golden brown.
For crispier cookies, you can bake them for up to 15 minutes but watch closely to make sure the edges don’t get too dark.
Let the cookies cool on the pan for 10 minutes to help them firm up. Then transfer them to a wire rack to cool completely. The cooled cookies will have a lightly crisp edge and chewy texture in the center.
These cookies will keep well at room temperature for up to 3 days, but for a longer shelf life store them in an airtight container in the fridge or freezer.
Frequently Asked Questions
Yes, you can replace the large egg in this recipe with a flax egg or powdered egg replacer. The result is slightly softer in the center, but still just as delicious! Serve them chilled for a firmer cookie.
You can replace the baking soda in this recipe with 1 teaspoon of baking powder, instead.
Almond butter has more iron, calcium, and vitamin E when compared to peanut butter, along with more fiber. But feel free to use peanut butter in this recipe if you prefer the flavor!
Looking for more healthy dessert ideas? Try Cashew Butter Cookies, Almond Flour Cookies, or the Healthiest Cookies Ever, which use fruit as the sweetener.
Flourless Almond Butter Cookies
Ingredients
- 1 cup all-natural almond butter (no salt or oil added)
- ¾ cup coconut sugar
- 1 egg (or flax egg)
- ¼ teaspoon baking soda
- ¼ teaspoon fine sea salt
- coarse sea salt (optional topping)
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 350ºF and line a large baking sheet with parchment paper. Prepare two pans if you want to bake all of the cookies at once, as this recipe will make 16 to 17 cookies.
- In a large bowl, combine the almond butter, coconut sugar, egg, baking soda, and salt. Stir well to create a thick cookie batter.
- Use a tablespoon to drop the dough onto the lined baking sheet, keeping the cookies about 2 inches apart. Use a fork to flatten each mound of dough, and sprinkle the tops with coarse sea salt, if desired.
- Bake the cookies until lightly golden, about 10 to 12 minutes. For a crispier cookie, you can bake them for up to 15 minutes, but watch closely to make sure the edges don't get too dark or burn.
- Allow the cookies to cool on the pan completely before serving. They are very fragile when warm, but will firm up when cool. You can store the cookies in an airtight container on the counter for a few days, but store them in the fridge or freezer for a longer shelf life. (They are extra-crunchy if you serve them frozen.)
Video
Notes
Nutrition
If you try this almond butter cookie recipe, please leave a comment and star rating below letting me know how you like it.
These are delicious! I can’t believe how good they turn out for how simple the ingredients are. Thank you for sharing!
Wow, these are good. My husband didn’t believe me when I told him there wasn’t flour in these. The salt on top really makes them pop!
Can pureed dates be used instead of coconut sugar?
Probably! I’d use this recipe as guidance: https://detoxinista.com/vegan-peanut-butter-date-cookies/
Delicious, you are a master.
Wonderful! Thank you !! 🙂
These were great, Thank you! I made these exactly to the t as you wrote it out, measured with a tablespoon yet I got only 15 cookies out of it? I was meticulous with my measuring so I’m not sure where I could be off.
I use one of those spring-loaded cookie scoops that says it’s a tablespoon. I scoop with it and press it against the side of the bowl, so it’s not a “rounded” tablespoon, but flat on one side so the cookie dough mounds will sit on the flat side when I drop them on the pan. Perhaps that might account for the size difference if your scoops were more rounded? I got 20 scoops on the pan in these photos, and then another 6 cookies on a separate pan.
These are AMAZING! I’ve had to hide them from my 2 year old- she will not stop eating them 🙂
They are easy & delicious EXCEPT I HAVE TO HIDE THEM from my 70 yr old diabetic HUSBAND LOL! Can I freeze the raw batter for later? If so, what shape do you think is best? Good luck with your 2 yr old. Mommy, they are smarter than you think 😉
Thank you so much for this amazingly delicious recipe. It came out great, so easy, we love them. I added chocolate chips to get the kids interested, and it worked! Just a couple cookies are so filling. Thank you thank you.
Thank you so much for this amazingly delicious recipe. It came out great, so easy. I added chocolate chips to get the kids interested, and it worked! Just a couple cookies are so filling. Thank you thank you.
I want to know the amount ingredients to grams
This is the 4th or 5th recipe of yours I’ve made since I’m trying to eat healthy during pregnancy and they’ve all been great! My kids and I loved these cookies!
Thank you so much for letting me know! I’m glad you’re enjoying them!
Oh WOW these are delicious! crispy on the outside and chewy in the middle. I followed the recipe exactly (using a chia egg), I got 13 cookies out of this. The video was really helpful was well, thanks for the great recipe!
Could you use sunbutter instead of almond?
Sure! The middles might turn green as a reaction with the baking soda + sunflower butter, but they are still safe to eat. 😉
This is absolutely delicious. So hard not to eat the whole thing😂 i just used 1/3rd a cup of powdered sugar instead of my 3/4 and added chocolate sauce on top! Yummyyyyy😍😍😍
Tried these today and they are delicious!! I highly recommend them
Big winner!! My husband is a peanut butter cookie aficionado, so I wasn’t sure he would like these, but he could not stop eating them!! Thank you for the great recipe! It’s a keeper. 🙂
OMG!!! I LOVE THEM! I JUST DID RIGHT NOW AND ALSO ADDED 1 ESPRESSO STRONG COLOMBIAN CAFFEE AND I CANT DESCRIBEEEEE LOVEITTTT
Tasted great – accidentally used 1 cup sugar instead but worked! And used cane sugar instead. Tasted great.
In lieu of almond butter, I ground up a mix of roasted cashews and almonds in my spice grinder because all my almond butters have added sugars ( and I’m not eating sugar at the moment). The grinder could only process them until they were a moist dough (not as smooth as I’d have liked), so I added a bit of warm coconut oil to achieve the desired consistency. Knowing this would make them more oily, I added in some cocoa powder to help absorb some of it.
Other things I tossed in: finely shredded coconut, cinnamon, vanilla extract. Also used simple swaps like Swerve instead of the sugar and a flax egg. Apparently I’m a more-is-more sort of gal??🤪
Dough tasted awesome before they went in the oven, was tempted to roll and freeze them a la protein balls.
Mmmm. Good thing there weren’t a lot of these, they were perfectly delectable. Tender, chewy, nice bit of nutty texture.Thanks for coming to the aid of the after-dinner-now-for-a-something-sweet conundrum:)
Made this vegan using a flax egg. I ate half the batch myself. This fulfills a craving for nut butter cookies and fast to make. Eating the vegan batter was yummy too.
Do you think you could use monk fruit in place of the coconut sugar?
I’ve never tried monk fruit, so I’m not sure how it works as a substitute. Please let me know if you try it!
Can I use baking powder instead of B soda?
I would think so! But make sure you Google the correct substitution ratio, because you’ll probably have to change the amount you use when making that swap.
Coconut sugar? Really? Can I just use regular sugar? I don’t like having to buy specialty ingredients that will sit on my shelf forever because I needed so little. What are the benefits of using coconut sugar? Why sub for cane sugar?
Feel free to use whatever you have on hand! I use coconut sugar because it has a lower glycemic impact, and it’s less sweet than white sugar. So, just keep in mind that these cookies might turn out sweeter when you use regular sugar. But that’s not necessarily a bad thing!
A lot of people (me) can not tolerate regular sugar. I appreciate Dextonista using coconut sugar in these! Making these tonight.
I used regular cane sugar and I was very happy with the results!
Thank you for this great recipe! I only used 1/2 cup of the coconut sugar and added some dark chocolate chips and they were a huge hit with my guys who usually prefer sweeter snacks!
What did you pour into the chia seed mix? Water? Corn syrup?
Can you freeze the dough? These are so delicious that I can’t make a batch at once. Also made this using cashew butter too. Both delicious! Sometime add dairy free dark chocolate chips. So addictive!
These were so simple to make and are a hit with my picky toddler! She has an egg allergy, but her allergist is guiding us in slowly reintroduciing baked egg into her diet, so these cookies were perfect for that!
These are so yummy and quick and easy to make!
This was delicious and so easy to make. My kids added some chocolate chips on the top, but I prefer it with a sprinkling of sea salt on the top. Thank you Megan for all your wonderful recipes!
I’m standing here eating cookies from the tray before they even cool off. So good!!! I never thought they would be this good with just these ingredients. Chewy, moist, just the right sweetness. Luckily I only made half a batch. Self preservation. Love every recipe of yours that I’ve tried. Thank you!
I made these last night and I was happy with them. They are very easy to prepare and they bake fast. And the final texture and taste are good.
First no flour cookie that tastes like a cookie. Nice and crunchy.