Cashew Butter Cookies are one of the best cookies you’ll ever taste. And you don’t even need flour to make them! They are naturally gluten-free, and you can make them with or without eggs, if you need a vegan recipe.
These cookies have been a fan favorite for years! Using cashew butter as the base gives these cookies a lightly sweet and nutty flavor, without using flour or additional oil. (The cashew butter already has oil in it, so no need for extra!)
I almost always use Trader Joe’s cashew butter for this recipe, because it has a consistently runny texture and delicious flavor. You can also make your own homemade cashew butter, if you prefer.
Ingredients You’ll Need
What’s in cashew butter cookies?
- Cashew butter
- Coconut sugar
- Eggs (or flax eggs!)
- Baking soda
- Vanilla
- Salt
They’re so simple, yet so delicious. When you use flax eggs for a vegan version, they turn out a little extra gooey on the inside… which I personally love!
If you love Almond Butter Blondies or Flourless Peanut Butter Cookies, I know you’ll love these, too.
How to Make Cashew Butter Cookies
1. Mix. In a large bowl, stir together the cashew butter, coconut sugar, eggs (or flax eggs), baking soda, vanilla, and salt. The batter will look a little more wet and sticky than a traditional cookie dough.
2. Scoop. Use a tablespoon or cookie scoop to drop the dough onto a parchment lined baking sheet. You can make these with or without chocolate chips! For a cookie that looks like a classic peanut butter cookie, use a wet fork to flatten the top, into a criss-cross shape.
For a chocolate chip cookie, you can fold the chocolate chips into the batter, and then flatten the dough with wet hands to make sure the cookies will spread and bake evenly.
I like to add a few extra chocolate chips on top, to make sure they look nicely studded.
3. Bake. The cookies need to bake for 10 to 12 minutes at 350ºF, or until they are lightly golden around the edges.
If you prefer under-baked cookies (which I sometimes do) you can experiment with pulling these out of the oven at the 8-minute mark. Be sure to let them cool completely on the pan, as they are very fragile when they are warm.
Storage Tips
Cashew butter cookies can be stored at room temperature for up to 3 days, but I don’t recommend storing them in an airtight container in that case, because they tend to soften when sealed at room temperature.
They remain sturdier when you leave them out on the counter, but they will start to dry out over time.
For the best shelf life, I recommend storing these in an airtight container in the freezer. We actually prefer eating these straight from frozen! They become quite crunchy that way. You can also store these in an airtight container in the fridge for up to 1 week.
Expert Tips & Common Questions
Can I use another nut butter? Of course! You can use almond butter or peanut butter for this recipe, or try sunflower seed butter for a nut-free option.
Will honey work? I’ve tested this recipe with honey, and the cookies do hold together if you use a 1/2 cup of honey instead of the coconut sugar. However, my taste testers didn’t prefer the honey version, so make the substitution at your own risk!
Are these vegan? If you use 2 flax eggs (which is 2 tablespoons of ground flax seeds mixed with 6 tablespoons of water) then this recipe is vegan. The vegan version is actually my preferred method, because I love gooey, slightly under-baked textured cookies. If you like cookies like that, too, the vegan version is for you.
Are these cookies Paleo? These cookies are grain-free and naturally sweetened when you omit the chocolate chips. For a totally refined-sugar-free cookie, try adding crunchy cacao nibs instead of the chocolate chips, or use a naturally sweetened chocolate, like Hu brand.
Will any other sugar work? If you keep another granulated sugar on hand, like brown sugar or white sugar, that should work in this recipe texture-wise, too. Just keep in mind that these sweeteners are slightly sweeter than coconut sugar, so the final cookies will be, too!
I can’t wait to hear how you like these cashew butter cookies. Be sure to tag @detoxinista on Instagram or Facebook if you try them!
Cashew Butter Cookies
Ingredients
- 1 (16 oz.) jar creamy cashew butter
- 3/4 cup coconut sugar
- 2 large eggs (or flax eggs; see notes)
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
- 1/4 teaspoon sea salt
- 1 cup dark chocolate chips (optional)
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 350ºF and line a large baking sheet with parchment paper. In a large bowl, combine the cashew butter, coconut sugar, eggs (or flax eggs), vanilla, baking soda, and salt. Stir well, until a sticky dough is formed.
- Fold in the chocolate chips, if using them, and then drop the dough by rounded tablespoons onto the prepared baking sheet.
- Use your fingers (getting them wet helps prevent sticking) to gently press the dough down into a cookie-shape, as these cookies only spread slightly. If you omit the chocolate chips, use a wet fork to flatten the dough, into a criss-cross pattern. (Similar to a peanut butter cookie.)
- Bake at 350ºF for 10-12 minutes, until the cookies are lightly golden around the edges. Cool on the pan completely, as these cookies are very fragile when they are warm. Serve at room temperature, or chilled. I like to store these cookies in an airtight container from the fridge or freezer for the best shelf life. They last in the fridge up to 1 week, or in the freezer for up to 3 months. They are crispy if you serve them frozen!
Video
Notes
Nutrition
If you try these Cashew Butter Cookies, please leave a comment and star rating below letting me know how you like them!
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Reader Feedback: Do you have a favorite type of cookie? I feel like I’ve covered a lot of cookie recipes over the years, but let me know if I’m missing any. I’m always willing to experiment with cookies for you!
Oh this remind me that i need to make some cashew butter – not done that for ages! This looks fabulous too:)
I think it says a lot that your husband likes these better than the peanut butter version. Because my experience is that men absolutely love peanut butter. They are addicts! My dad eats it by the jar!!! (and then he’s like, hmmmm, why am I not loosing weight?!) Anyhow, I think you’d be hard pressed to find one man who doesn’t like peanut butter or likes coconut for that matter. I’m never met one man who said that he LOVED coconut. Anyhow, when the picture of these cookies popped up I was just thrilled, we are craving cookies here too, but I just can’t go the over processed route. But I will have to get some cashew butter as I don’t have any.
These look great! Unfortunately I’m on an anti-candida diet right now so I’ve bookmarked these for later.
This may seem like a tall order but maybe you could develop a paleo cookie recipe that’s sweetened with stevia? If there’s anyone who can do it, it’s you! 🙂
I wish I could! Unfortunately my body doesn’t tolerate stevia, so I had to stop using it. There are a few old recipes on my site that are exclusively sweetened with stevia, like my Sugar-Free Macaroons and Choco-cado milkshake. Just use the search bar on my site to find them!
I tweaked the recipe just a bit and turned out great. I used actual raw cashews that I roasted (1 c), unsweetened coconut chips (1/2 C) and stevia (1/4 C). Blended dry ingredients in food processor and then added wet. Chocolate chips last. They turned out great! Also I used a dairy free soy free mini chocolate chip.
Tried it with xylitol?
Can you make this with almond butter? I’ve got a jar in the fridge begging to get used up.
Sure, I don’t see why not! It will just taste slightly different, but still good!
These look great. After seeing the price for cashew butter I opted to pick up a bag of pieces and make it myself. Yum! Have you made an Oreo type recipe? We love all your recipes, thank you for the hard work!
Just got your book in the mail today! So excited! Do you think I could sub maple syrup for the honey?
Hi Kristin, I just made a batch with maple syrup. I used 1/2C of it, flax instead of eggs, about 11 oz almond butter + 5 oz “Power Fuel” Nuttzo (those are the nut butters I had on-hand) and ended up shaking in about 1/3C (?) super-fine almond flour to get the batter to look like Megan’s picture. After baking them for 12 minutes on parchment paper they came out very well! They rose nicely and taste great.
I have made the peanut butter chocolate chip version of these cookies with coconut sugar and loved them. I haven’t found cashew butter yet in Mexico, but this is a great reminder to make these again with peanut butter! Yum
Hey Josie, have you checked out whether iHerb.com ships to Mexico? I’ve been in South Korea for almost two years and I use iherb all the time for nut butters,,specialty flours, seasonings and spices.
Cheers,
Lauren (a.k.a. The Golden Graham Girl
THis cookies is very good and very hungry.
Hi, Megan! This recipe looks good and I can’t wait to try them myself once I make a batch of cashew butter! 🙂 Just a question though, when you refer to the egg-free cookies as fragile, do you mean that they’ll immediately crumble when you pick them up from the tray? Have you tried baking these with a flax/chia egg and chicken eggs?
Thank you so much for your time and effort in making these recipes! I’ve been enjoying your salad recipes lately. Even my family, who usually doesn’t care about raw veggie salad, loved it, especially the Chinese Cabbage Salad from your cookbook! 😀
No, the egg-free cookies are THAT fragile! I’ve made these with both the chia eggs and chicken eggs, and I just noticed that the chia egg version felt a little softer. However, that issue totally goes away when you freeze them. My friends actually preferred the chia egg batch, and they all disappeared in one night!!
And I’m glad your family loved the Chinese Cabbage Salad! That’s one of our favorites, too.
What about gelatin eggs?
I’ve never tried them! Let us know if you do!
Could I sub the coconut sugar for rice malt syrup??
Just made these and they are AMAZING. I’d take these any day over traditional peanut butter chocolate chip cookies. As usual, another fantastic recipe, Megan!
I just found your site trying to improve my health was glad to find your recipes but the biggest surprise is that the are printer friendly I love a site that help you all the way from recipe to printer will tell my friends thank keep up the good work looking into your cookbooks
These look delicious! Do you think yhe results would be the same with a flax egg?
Yes, I think so. I just prefer chia eggs because I can’t taste them as much. 🙂
This looks so tasty, cant wait to try it. Just wanted to know though, where can i buy coconut sugar in the UK from? Thanks.
My kids (and myself!) LOVE these cookies! We put them in the freezer too and they taste amazing. I think we’ve made three batches! Thank You
I made these with cashew butter from Trader Joes. The dough was VERY oily! Was any one else’s oily or did I do something wrong? It was so oily it wouldn’t even mix in all of the way and I had to sop it up with paper towels!
My cashew butter was oily. I just added additional almond flour and a little arrowroot flour until it was the right dough texture in the photo.
Hi there. I love the minimum amount of ingredients and these look awesome! Cookies are my weakness! I do have a question. I’m trying to keep my calories low right now, is there something I can replace 1/2 the cashew butter with? Perhaps, applesauce, cream cheese or banana? I’m not too experienced in baking so please forgive my ignorance. Thank you! 🙂
Just made these and they are delicious! However, they were pretty runny and came out very very thin. Taste great but don’t look as nice as yours! Tips on what to add or subtract? Used everything in your recipe.
Perhaps your cashew butter was more oily than mine? I used Trader Joe’s brand, and it consistently gives me the results shown in the picture. Flat cookies are usually a sign of too much oil or your butter being too soft, but since there’s no added oil in this recipe you could try chilling the dough before baking it for a thicker result.
My family was intrigued as I baked these. They are not complete paleo converts as of yet. I am sold on this recipe as my new go to for a nut butter sweet fix! I couldn’t keep my husband and kids away from the bowl of dough. We LOVE these!
My youngest wanted to press pecans into the tops of these as I scooped them with the small melon ballerina. Super duper flavor combo!
Thank you!
Oh yummm, can’t wait to make these. I’ve tried making my own cashew butter using the same method as you suggest in your cookbook , but it turned out a lot harder than the almond butter, which turned out fantastic! Any suggestions on what I can do to make it soft like the almond butter? Buying cashew butter is sooooo expensive!
I’d try toasting the cashews in the oven first– the warmer they are, the easier they are to process into nut butter. Or if you have a Vitamix, I’ve made raw cashew butter in that using the tamper.
I’d try toasting the cashews in the oven first– the warmer they are, the easier they are to process into nut butter. Or if you have a vitamix, I’ve made raw cashew butter in that using the tamper.
I just made these Saturday night and they are quite possibly the greatest cookie I have ever tried. That goes for ALL cookies. Not just under the grain free category.
I’m so glad you think so! They are my favorite cookie EVER, as well. 🙂
I have a vegan family member and wanted to make some cookies for him. These are absolutely amazing! Thank you for creating another great cookie…your lactation cookies are much loved in our home as well. Thank you, thank you!
Hi,
I’m wondering if you have had different results using different brands of Cashew butter, or different nut butters.
I made the cookies using Cashew butter and they were very dry, but oh so tasty. Next I made them using half Pecan butter and half Almond butter and they were very oily, but still so tasty. I have now bought a different brand of Cashew butter and will give that a try. In your experience are some nut butters more oily than others?
I absolutely love your website and I appreciate all your time and effort in making all of the recipes! My family enjoys all your recipes that I have made! Thanks!
I use Trader Joe’s cashew butter most often, because it’s the most convenient brand for me to get, but I’ve also made it with the cashew butter from Whole Foods, which has a very similar consistency. (I don’t use raw cashew butter in this recipe, because it seems like a waste to bake the raw cashew butter at 350 degrees in the oven.) If it helps, the cashew butter I find usually has oil on the top that I have to stir back into the butter before using it in this recipe.
I finally got around to making these and loved them. I made them with half of the amount of coconut sugar and they still were sweet enough. My cashew butter is an organic store brand (Roundy’s) and they turned out perfectly at 12 minutes. Will definitely make these again!
I just made these, and they taste delicious!! I can’t believe that they are flourless and are better for you than traditional cookies. I used Maranatha’s Roasted Cashew Butter, which was very oily. But, the batter came out normally despite that, and the cookies almost look like yours in the picture. Keep up the great recipes 🙂
It was a pleasant surprise how delicious these were. I did make a few modifications based on what I had. I was trying to use up some homemade unroasted cashew butter (only ingredient was cashews) which is how I found this recipe. The cashew butter was somewhat dry and unspreadable so I added coconut oil to it.. I also added a scoop of canned pumpkin (something else needing to be used up) and some pumpkin spice. Didn’t use choc chips. Love the recipe,,, toddler liked it too.
Loved these! So good! I did add some unsweetened shredded coconut. Even both of my picky kids liked them! Thank you!
Hi Megan,
I hope this message finds you well.
Could I bake these cookies at 325 and increase the time?. I found the bottom burned on my first attempt. I am not an avid baker.
I also found the chocolate I used burned. The chocolate is raw cocoa, honey and cocoa butter. Perhaps it should be hidden inside the cookies?
Thank You for taking the time to share your life experiences and recipes.
Hi Kelly, I have been making my own chocolate pieces for a while using the same ingredients. I think I finally found a ratio that makes them not melt all over the place (I don’t think they will burn either… they didn’t when in for 20 minutes with another recipe.) I used 1/3 c. melted cocoa butter, 2/3 c. cocoa, and 1/4 c. honey.
hi – i love your recipes and wondered what if i can substitute the almond butter with sunbutter? my son is allergic to all nuts….
thanks!
Thanks for sharing! Do you think I could substitute applesauce for the Chia eggs? I’ve done it for baking muffins but not sure if it would work in cookies.
These are soooo good, at least the ones I accidentally made. I used cashew butter that I made with soaked cashews and freshly squeezed orange juice but it made the batter too runny so I added whole wheat flour and my cookies came out so moist and delicious! So here’s what I did in case anyone wants to try it: soak 1 cup raw cashews in purified water for 2 hours, drain and rinse, then blend with juice from 2 medium oranges until smooth. Then make the recipe above but cut everything in half. Add about 1/2 cup whole wheat flour or enough to make the dough sticky. I also used 1 regular egg so I’m not sure how a chia egg would turn out. I should try it sometime. Anyway, you may need to bake the cookies a minute or two longer – I used a toothpick to determine doneness. This is definitely my favorite chocolate chip cookie recipe now and I will make them again and again!
Thank you so much
These were amazing❤️🙏🏻
These cookies are delicious.The recipe was a life saver since I made way too much cashew butter. My cookies DID spread however and kind of grew into one another.
Of course it was easy to separate them with a spatula.
My husband’s favorite cookie, healthy or otherwise!
Made these today and they were great! (I made my own cashew butter, weighed the cashews and then the butter, to which I added a little avocado oil because I thought it might be dryer than the TJ’s version — which I wanted to avoid because it also has almonds.). Great recipe – thanks!
These turned out wonderfully! Loved them!
I substituted monk fruit sweetener for the coconut sugar (just because I can’t have coconut) and used regular eggs instead or chia eggs. The only is issue I have with this recipe is that it’s so good that I can’t stop eating them. Fantastic!!!
Are you meaning 1 cup of cashew butter? Because 16oz would be two cups?
I did one cup and halved the rest of ingredients and loved them 🙂
I love these cookies, I’ve made them several times with a couple different nut butters and they always turn out awesome! I’m just wondering where I’m going wrong in calculating the calories. Your nutrition facts say they contain 62 calories per cookie at 24 cookies in a batch. The cashew butter alone accounts for 115 calories per cookie according to my calculations. Please let me know how I’m so miscalculated!!
I made these last night with a couple of modifications, based on what I had on hand. I didn’t have enough cashew butter, so I made it with half cashew butter and half almond butter. And since I didn’t have chocolate chips, I added cacao nibs instead. They came out so fantastic. Thank you for another wonderful recipe and for helping us get through a challenging year. I hope you and your family have a wonderful 2021.
These cookies are so yummy!!! I made omitted the chocolate chips. Will be giving to friends for Christmas gifts.
Best cookie I’ve had in a long time.
They did spread a lot so make them small.
Sooooo delicious and soooooo easy!!!!! My new favorite!!!! Thank you for sharing!!
I LOVE this!! *Chef’s Kiss* It was super quick and easy, which was perfect for my family and for everyone’s family really! I only had one egg and all the stores were closed, but it still turned out great and they say they were the second best (after my mom’s, ofc) they had ever had! The texture is super light and fluffy!
Oops, I forgot to give the star rating!
This has been a great recipe option, I love alternative cookie options!
I found this recipe to “get rid of” the cashew butter my family didn’t like. Although the recipe has great ratings, I expected it to be a bust, and at least a fun experiment with the kids.
When we tried the cookies, we fell in love! These might be my favorite cookies now, and my family put cashew butter back on the grocery list just to make this recipe again!
I make these ALL THE TIME! So good!