These double Chocolate Almond Butter Cookies are easy to stir together and perfectly fudgy. These flourless cookies are naturally gluten-free, dairy-free, and paleo as well. They’re a huge hit with everyone, and make a perfect homemade gift! Almond butter makes up the base of these cookies, but peanut butter, cashew butter, and seed butter all work in this recipe.
We’ve been making these chocolate cookies for over 9 years now. And I have to say they’re still just as big of a hit in our house as they were the first time I made them.
They’ve been my go-to when I need a super easy cookie in a hurry because you can mix them up in minutes! This recipe is my #1 go-to when I have a cookie craving, or whenever I need cookies to give away.
It’s also fairly predictable that everyone loves them… after all, they’re a double chocolate situation. We both love them fresh out of the oven, with gooey centers and crispy edges.
Ingredients & Substitutions
- Almond Butter – this makes up the base of the cookies. It provides structure and allows these to be flourless as well. I’ve also made these with cashew butter and it works well. Peanut butter and seed butter are options, but they have a slightly more crumbly texture. Make sure your nut butter of choice is unsweetened and unsalted.
- Coconut Sugar – makes the perfect natural sweetener for cookies. It has similar properties to regular cane sugar and produces the right texture. I have had different people write to say they successfully decreased the sugar in this recipe. But just know that the amount called for is what will give you the texture you see in these photos. You can also use brown sugar or cane sugar as well. The texture will be slightly different with cane sugar, but still very good.
- Cocoa Powder – works like flour together with almond butter to make the perfect flourless cookie.
- Eggs – bring the almond butter and cocoa powder together and they help to make that chewy texture.
- Vanilla Extract – I love adding just a touch because it enhances the chocolate flavor.
- Chocolate Chips – this is what makes these cookies ‘double chocolate’ and I like to use the Enjoy Life brand because they’re free of many common allergens. Use semi-sweet or dark chocolate chips for the deepest chocolate flavor. You can also use chocolate chunks in these cookies, but I recommend roughly chopping them first.
How to make this recipe step by step
Step 1: Start by preheating the oven and line a cookie sheet with parchment paper.
Then add all the ingredients except the chocolate chips to a medium bowl and mix until smooth.
Step 2: Add the chocolate chips and mix to combine.
Step 3: Next portion the cookie dough out onto a parchment-lined baking sheet, or use a silicone baking mat.
You can use a cookie scoop or a pair of spoons for this. I like to keep mine around 2 tablespoons which yields a 3-4″ sized cookie. For a fun variation, sprinkle the tops of each cookie with flaked sea salt.
These cookies don’t spread much, so you can lightly flatten them with your hand if desired.
Step 4: Bake until puffed in the center, crispy on the edges, and soft and fudgy in the center.
Cool slightly on the cookie sheet until you can transfer the cookies to a wire rack to cool completely.
Ways to serve this
- Serve these cookies warm out of the oven while the edges are crispy with a cold glass of milk.
- These cookies are also great with my Coconut Ice Cream or Vanilla Ice Cream. You can also use them to make ice cream sandwiches.
- Crumble up leftover cookies and mix them into ice cream for a ‘cookies and cream’ ice cream.
FAQ’s
You can use cashew butter, peanut butter, and seed butter. I’ve tried each one myself and they all work. However, each one has a slightly different texture.
There are 2 reasons this can happen. The first and most common reason an almond butter cookie can be crumbly is because the almond butter wasn’t properly mixed when the jar was opened. It is crucial to thoroughly mix the nut butter when you open the jar otherwise some of the nut butter won’t have enough fat which makes for drier crumbly cookies. The second reason this can happen is if you use small eggs, 2 large eggs are very important to the texture of these cookies.
Storing leftovers
- To store – place the leftover cookies into an airtight container and store them at room temperature for up to 3 days. These cookies will get drier as they sit at room temperature. So we freeze our leftovers right away for the best freshness.
- Make ahead – these cookies are best eaten right away, but they will keep for up to 3 days. Or you can freeze them for optimal freshness. The edges will lose their crispy texture within half a day or so.
- To freeze – place any leftover chocolate cookies into an airtight sealed container and store them in the freezer for up to 1 month. Defrost on the counter and remember the cookies will be soft, not crispy after freezing.
Tips & Tricks
- Make sure to thoroughly stir your almond butter for this recipe. Any oil that would separate must be well mixed in. The texture of the cookies won’t be right if the jar of nut butter isn’t properly mixed when you open it up.
- For allergy-friendly chocolate chips, try Enjoy Life. They’re our favorite chocolate chips because they taste so good!
- Be careful not to overbake these cookies. They should be nice and fudgy in the middle, not dry. Be sure to take them out when they’re still soft and a bit fudgy in the middle!
- Important baking note! As with all cookie recipes (and baking recipes for that matter) start checking them before the baking time is up. Not everyone’s oven is the same or perfectly calibrated, and you don’t want overdone cookies.
- As mentioned above, we’ve made countless batches of these cookies over the last 9 years, and we both have come to prefer them with 1/4 tsp salt in the cookie dough. Omit this if you decide to sprinkle them with flaked sea salt.
I hope you enjoy these Chocolate Almond Butter Cookies! If you do get a chance to make this recipe, I’d love to hear from you in the comments.
Chocolate Almond Butter Cookies
INGREDIENTS
- 1 cup blonde coconut sugar
- 1/2 cup cocoa powder
- 1 tsp baking soda
- 1/4 tsp sea salt
- 1 cup almond butter - room temperature & well mixed, no salt or sugar added
- 2 large eggs
- 2 tsp vanilla extract
- 1/3 cup chocolate chips - I like the Enjoy Life brand
INSTRUCTIONS
- Preheat the oven to 350ºF and line a baking sheet with parchment paper.
- In a medium-sized bowl, whisk together the coconut sugar, cocoa powder, baking soda, and sea salt until no more cocoa powder lumps remain.
- Stir in the almond butter, eggs, vanilla extract, and chocolate chips until a stiff dough forms.
- Using a spoon, scoop out a bit of cookie dough (2 Tablespoons) and roll it into a ball. Place the formed cookies on the prepared baking sheet. You can fit 12 cookies on a regular-sized cookie sheet.
- These cookies don't spread much, so you can lightly flatten them with your hand if desired.
- Bake for 8-10 minutes or until crunchy on the edges, but still soft and fudgy in the middle. Cool for 1-2 minutes on the cookie sheet before transferring them to a cooling rack.
- Bake the remaining cookie dough, and cool the cookies to room temperature before storing.
- Enjoy immediately and freeze any leftover cookies for another day!
NOTES
nutrition facts
This recipe was originally published in 2014 and updated in 2020 & 2023 with new photos, more tips, and information.
Had to make a couple modifications, but wow, great cookies! Did not use the coconut sugar but had about a teaspoon and a half of raw honey left in the cabinet so folded that in. Also skipped the chocolate chips and just put a piece from an 85% dark chocolate bar on each cookie while baking. Just a tiny hint of sweetness but that is all my taste buds can handle these days (quit sugar 3 months ago)… My new go-to dessert 🙂
I’m glad you found the perfect way to make them for you, I’ve been noticing the longer I go with less sugar the more my tastebuds are changing! 🙂
I have made these several times and they are amazing! Thank you for the recipe 🙂
These are my favorite, and I’m so glad you enjoyed them!
I made these and the dough was really wet so I added about a cup of GF oatmeal, a few tablespoons of shredded coconut and some currants. (I didn’t have choc chips) They puffed up beautifully! I put some on parchment paper and some directly on the cookie sheet and the parchment paper ones stuck to the paper and lost part of their bottoms. The cookies placed directly on the cookie sheet did not stick at all. Next time I would use quick oats and the full 1 cup of coconut sugar ( I cut it back to around 3/4 cup) and a dash of salt. Pretty darn good!
I’m glad they turned out for you!
Update: the store I went to to get more almond butter didn’t have any left… But I was desperate to make these again so I bought cashew butter. They tasted great! More fragile and moist… Not my first choice but a great alternative. Also, I noticed something strange when I tried to mix this batter the first couple of times I made it (with the almond butter). I used a large fork to mix the batter the first time I made the cookies, it really required some muscle because the batter is very sick. Cookies came out great. The second time I made it, I decided to really get in there and use my hands to mix the batter together. Some sort of strange reaction happened with the ingredients, and all of the oil from the almond butter actually extracted out of the entire batch of cookie batter, and would not blend back in the matter how many times I tried to get it to absorb. Something about my hands squeezing the batter to mix it made it change completely, and the cookies weren’t as moist because all the oil was out and even leaked out while it baked!
I’m definitely trying these with cashew butter sometime because I love the buttery flavor of it! That’s really strange that it didn’t mix well with your hands, but good to know so that I don’t end up doing that sometime. 🙂
BEST. COOKIES. EVER. I can’t even believe how good. Just looking at the ingredients alone, with no flour of any kind (almond, coconut, any), I passed it by. Something brought me back to look at the reviews. After I saw how much everyone else love these, I had to try. I didn’t have any eggs, so I made Chia egg for the first time. I didn’t even grind them because my coffee grinder was broken. I followed someone else’s tip and used only 1/2cup of coconut sugar & some sea salt. I can’t believe how amazing these taste! And the chewy texture! My husband loves them too. Today, I made them again, but added 1 teaspoon of peppermint extract, amazing! Thank u so much for posting, I almost want to keep it to myself (I know that’s so wrong, lol)!
I’m so glad you enjoyed these! It does seem improbable that nut butter could turn into cookies, but somehow it magically makes the chewiest cookies, (they’re my favorite – can you tell)!?!
Oh. My. Goodness! I just made these for a meeting I have tomorrow…two ladies are allergic to flour and one won’t do white sugar, and I am lactose intolerant so trying to find a yummy treat to please us all was so hard! I just “sampled” one out of the oven and it is Heaven! Thank you!
I’m so glad you enjoyed these, they’re my favorite cookie, and something about the super chocolately-ness always hits the spot!
These turned out perfectly! I used 70% dark chocolate chips and it was the perfect amount of sweet. Thanks for another winner Kari!
These are still my favorite cookie on the site, I guess I never get enough of chocolate!
I add toasted slivered almonds with the chocolate chips…….everybody loves them! Me included…….Thanks.
Toasted almonds sounds like a great addition, I can’t wait to try it on my next batch! So glad you enjoyed the recipe! 🙂
These cookies are incredibly easy and delicious. I’m going through these recipes one at a time, so far, not a clunker but we just love these!
These are a favorite of mine as well! If you’re looking for your next recipe, you might like the Chocolate Chunk Salted Caramel No-Bake Cookies – they’re my husband’s favorite!
Seriously the best cookies I have ever made, paleo or not. My kids even loved them, when they usually roll their eyes at my crazy cooking. Thanks for sharing!!! Delicious!
Thanks Alison, it totally made my day that your kids like them too!