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.
My first time baking these cookies and they were absolutely delicious, gooey, chocolatey, just perfect! Thank you so much!
I’m so glad you enjoyed these, I cannot be trusted around them!
I have been making these cookies for a couple of years now (once or twice a month) and apparently, I’ve been halving your recipe all this time but I get 12 cookies out of it! I also use crunchy raw almond butter. I don’t add the chips but today I added something that I had around and boy did they come out great! MARSHMALLOWS!
Thanks for the great recipe!
I’m so glad to hear you’ve been enjoying them! And thanks so much for the marshmallow tip, that sounds incredible, maybe I’ll have to do a s’mores cookie recipe here soon!
Is there any way I can use Stevia instead of any other sweetener in this recipes? Thanks
Coconut sugar is very important to the cookie texture in this recipe, you could try stevia but I have no idea what the result might be. Coconut sugar also acts as part of the moisture in this recipe, so the end result might be dry without it.
I used 4 tablespoons of Truvia in this instead of the coconut sugar. My cookies didn’t spread like in the pictures, but they were still really good! They tasted like brownie bites, and weren’t overly sweet. My poor hubby, who has a year and gluten sensitivity (and me with the dairy allergy), was ecstatic about them! 🙂
I’m so glad you both enjoyed them!
Can unbaked dough be refrigerated or frozen for later use (I’m only baking for two)? I used 3 tsp vanilla extract, 1 tsp almond extract, a pinch of salt since my almond butter was unsalted, 1 cup of Angel flake coconut, & omitted choc. chips.
The cookies puffed up into tasty little fudgy bites. I will add more sugar next time, just my preference.
I wouldn’t refrigerate the unbaked dough because it has baking soda in it which is a single acting leaving agent. This means it looses it potency over time once mixed with other ingredients. Also I haven’t tried it, but I do think you could freeze the dough, then thaw and bake it at a later date. Since I’m also baking for 2, I usually bake all the cookies, and freeze the cooked cookies for up to 2-3 weeks. I hope this helps, and be sure to let me know if you have anymore questions! 🙂
These were really good. I warmed the almond butter and used coconut oil to thin my almond butter as it was the dry ends of the jar. It worked perfectly
I’m so glad you enjoyed them, and that’s a good tip to add in some coconut oil if your nut butter is dry! 🙂
I made these today and they tasted kind of “chalky” and dry. Also,I used a teaspoon and a half of honey like someone suggested and it didn’t taste that great. What can u substitute the coconut palm sugar with?
Thanks!
I wouldn’t sub honey in for any type of sugar because it’s very difficult to sub in. Honey doesn’t work well in cookies, so I’m not surprised it didn’t turn out. I don’t know what type of sweeteners you can have, but the only sweetener I know that subs perfectly for coconut sugar is cane sugar. These cookies are definitely fudgy, but the amount of sweetener is critical to keeping them moist and chewy. Another thing to check before making them again, is to make sure your almond butter is fully mixed together. If the oil separates and comes to the top, the hard almond butter left behind doesn’t have enough fat in it to make proper baked goods, and they will turn out dry. I hope some of this helps, and be sure to let me know if you have anymore questions that I could help you with! 🙂
These are the BEST! My boyfriend says they are the most delicious cookies he has ever had and he has a sweet tooth .
This was the first time I visited your website. Will be looking all over. The images are wonderful and I love the healthy twist to the recipes
I’m so glad you both enjoyed them, that really makes my day! I love making these for people because they never know they’re healthier and gluten free. 🙂
So much better than I would have ever imagined! I have always broken the nutrition rules by baking for my family…my guilty pleasure until now. I haven’t made anything else in at least a year since finding this recipe. I love it so much that I’m making my son’s birthday cake with this recipe!
I’m so glad to hear you’re loving one of my favorites! I have several cakes that use nut butters as well that you might like, just type cake into the search bar and see if anything appeals to you. Also another favorite around our house for birthdays is my make over recipe of Death By Chocolate which always gets rave reviews when I make it for family gatherings.
Has anyone tried this recipe using Swerve and/or Stevie to sweeten?
Oh! These turned out beautiful! Taste amazing. My mixture did not turn into a stiff dough, by any means. More like a shiny brownie batter. I took a chance and added 1/2 cup of coconut flour and they are perfect! Thanks for this quick and delicious recipe.
I’m so glad it worked out! I think it must be a difference in almond butters, I use the Once Again nut butter brand, it’s been very consistent and has worked really well in baking for me.