Cashew Butter Cookies with Chocolate Chips
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These easy gluten-free and flourless Cashew Butter Cookies are the perfect cookie texture, crisp at the edges with a delicious inner chew. They are super quick to make as well and if you don’t have any cashew butter to hand, don’t worry I show you how to begin the recipe with raw cashews if needed.
Crisp and chewy Cashew Butter Cookies with Chocolate Chips will become an absolute staple in your kitchen. If you are starting with a jar of cashew butter then this recipe is super quick and simple and you don’t really need any special equipment. You’ll be enjoying your first cheeky nibble on a sweet and salty molten chocolate cookie straight out of the oven in no time.
Using nut butters in lieu of flour and butter is a secret weapon in easy gluten-free cookies. In this recipe cashew butter replaces the flour and butter you would use in a standard chocolate chip cookie recipe without compromising taste or texture.
The video and step-by-step images show how to make this recipe from raw cashews so you don’t even need a specialist supermarket to buy your cashew butter.
Why You’ll Love These Cashew Butter Cookies
- Flourless. Perfect for newbie gluten-free bakers.
- Taste. Lovely undercurrent of sweet cashew which isn’t overpowering in the slightest.
- Texture. The cookies are slightly crispy at the edges but their real selling point is the gorgeous chewy middle.
- So quick and easy to make. No resting of the dough is needed for this recipe.
- Storecupboard staples. The only fresh ingredient this recipe needs is 1 egg, everything else you’ll find in your larder.
- Dairy-free. If you make sure the chocolate you use is plant-based then this recipe is dairy-free to boot.
Watch the Video
Sometimes it helps to see a visual of what I'm talking about. So watch the video to see what it looks like to make your Cashew Butter Cookies.
Ingredients Needed
Cashew Butter. You can use store-bought cashew butter but it can be pricey so I’ll show you how to make this recipe from raw cashews using a regular food processor. Homemade nut butters are cheaper, silky smooth and the easiest ingredient you will ever make for your larder. You can visit my full recipe for homemade cashew butter for the detailed method. You need the same weight of cashews or cashew butter. It’s 250g whichever you are using.
Sugar. We use both light brown sugar and caster sugar here for the perfect texture. Brown sugar aids in a lovely chew and flavour. Caster sugar (which you can substitute for white granulated sugar) helps crisp up those edges.
Egg. This recipe uses one medium sized egg, about 60g with shell (50g without shell). These are often classified as large eggs in the US. I recommend weighing your eggs to ensure the correct amount.
Vanilla extract. Use a good quality extract for the best flavour, I like Nielsen Massey.
Bicarbonate of soda. Also known as baking soda, this is a white crystalline powder that is commonly used as a leavening agent in baking.
Dark chocolate. This recipe uses 70% dark chocolate. However, you can use 50-60% chocolate for a softer creamier chocolate flavour. I like to use a good quality chocolate bar and dice into small pieces for uneven puddles of chocolate in every bite. Use plant-based chocolate if you want this recipe to be dairy-free.
Salt. Adding a small pinch of salt is not a new thing but it’s worth mentioning how that little pinch can really make a difference in a chocolate chip cookie. Sea salt is best to use here. I like to use flaky Maldon sea salt.
How To Make Cashew Butter Cookies
For full recipe instructions go to the recipe card at the end of this post
Cashew Butter: Prepare your cashew butter if you are making it from scratch.
Mix: Whisk the egg with the sugars and vanilla in a large bowl.
Combine: Add the cashew butter, bicarbonate of soda, and sea salt. Mix until smooth and thick.
Add chocolate: Stir in diced chocolate until evenly distributed.
Shape: Roll into 30g balls and place on large baking tray with baking parchment, spaced apart.
Bake: Bake for 12-14 minutes (in 2 batches) at 180°C / 160°C fan / gas mark 4 / 350°F.
Cool: Let cookies rest on the tray for 5 minutes before transferring to a wire rack.
Tips For Sucess
The thicker the cashew butter the trickier it is to mix by hand and you might need an electric hand mixer. However, if you are using really drippy cashew butter then you can use a mixing bowl and wooden spoon for the whole recipe.
You’ll need to bake these cookies in two batches. I recommend using two different baking trays as you want them to be cool when you add the cookie dough balls.
Bake one batch at a time so you can accurately measure the oven timings.
For softer cookies, bake them for around 10 minutes instead of 12-14.
These cookies are quite pale so don’t wait until they are golden before pulling them out of the oven.
They also flatten as they cool so don’t worry if they still look quite puffy before you bring them out.
FAQs
These cookies have the best texture within 24 hours of baking. I find they stale quite quickly. If you don’t think you are going to eat all 15 cookies within the first day I like to freeze half the rolled cookie dough balls for future use.
Keep the baked cookies in an airtight container in a cool dark place for up to 2 days.
Absolutely. I recommend rolling the cookie dough into balls before freezing and you can bake them directly from the freezer. To freeze cookie dough, roll it into balls and place them on a parchment-lined tray in the freezer for 1–2 hours until firm. Transfer the frozen balls to an airtight container or freezer bag, label with the cookie type and baking instructions, and freeze for up to 3 months.
To bake from frozen, preheat your oven as directed, arrange the frozen dough balls on a lined tray, and bake for 2–3 minutes longer than the original recipe time. Keep an eye on them, and enjoy fresh cookies straight from the freezer whenever you like!
Absolutely, you can use any you like. My favourites are peanut butter and almond butter. They will give different flavours but the texture will be the same.
More Gluten-Free Cookies You’ll Love
These Gluten-Free Chocolate Chip Cookies are irresistibly chewy with a crisp edge and a gooey centre filled with puddles of molten chocolate. Even if you are a novice baker, these are so easy to make using one bowl, all-purpose gluten-free flour and no xanthan gum.
These Gluten-Free Double Chocolate Chip Cookies are thick and fudgy and stuffed with milk and dark chocolate chips. They are a super quick and easy one-bowl recipe so you can be getting your chocolate fix in no time.
These Gluten-Free Peanut Butter Oatmeal Cookies dipped in chocolate are also completely flourless and one of the most satisfyingly chewy cookies you will have the pleasure to bake.
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Cashew Butter Cookies with Chocolate Chips
Ingredients
- 1 egg - medium*
- 50 g soft light brown sugar
- 50 g caster sugar
- 250 g cashew butter - https://fromthelarder.co.uk/cashew-butter/
- ½ teaspoon bicarbonate of soda
- 75 g 70% dark chocolate
- 1 teaspoon sea salt
Instructions
- Pre-heat oven to 180°C / 160°C fan assisted / gas mark 4 / 350°F and line a large baking tray with baking parchment.
- If you are making your own cashew butter then visit my Homemade Cashew Butter Recipe.
- Whisk the egg, sugars and vanilla together in a large mixing bowl until combined.
- Mix in the cashew butter, bicarbonate of soda and sea salt until the batter is smooth and thick.
- Finely dice the chocolate so it’s a mixture of small shards and mini chunks. Mix the chocolate chunks into the cookie dough until evenly dispersed.
- Leave for a couple of minutes for the dough to set then using the palms of your hands roll up the sticky dough into balls of about about 30g each and place on a baking sheet a couple of inches apart.
- Bake the cookies in two batches for 12-14 minutes.
- Remove from the oven and leave on the baking sheet for 5 minutes to firm up before moving them to a wire rack to finish cooling.
Unfortunately, I'm not tolerating cashews lately. Do you think almond butter would work?
Absolutely - almond butter is a great substitute.
I made these with 2 times less sugar, dark black chocolate that I cut up myself and 1/2 teaspoon of fine salt. The cashew paste was still hot so the chocolate melted partly into it. It was just delicious. Thankyou so much. They're the best cookies that I ever ate !!! Will try without egg next time.
Hi Maria - so happy you like the recipe! It's very easily adaptable to tastes. I have made this without the egg and used a flax egg instead and it worked very well. Good luck with it!!
We demolished these so quickly - just making 2nd batch now!
That's great! Happy you enjoyed them!
This recipe was so easy! Big hit with the family. I think your oat peanut butter cookies have the edge but these are pretty delicious!
Thank you! So happy you enjoyed them!
As easy peasy and delicious as you said. Have recently become intolerant to wheat and this is the second gluten free recipe of yours I have tried. The first was the cauliflower pizza base, and I am going to try the mini blueberry muffins next.
Keep them coming!
Hi Jo, thank you for your comment - I really love this recipe so I'm happy you had such success with it as well. Let me know how you get on with the blueberry muffins!