Almond Butter Cookies
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These almond butter cookies are soft and chewy and need just three ingredients to make. They bake in just 12 minutes.
Table of Contents
Why I love this recipe
My almond butter cookie recipe is a weekly staple in my household, mostly because my sister has a peanut allergy and we just love cookies. It’s also why I whip up a batch of homemade almond butter so quickly.
I took my tried-and-true peanut butter cookie recipe and swapped out the nut butter while keeping the other ingredients the same. I found that the smoother the almond butter, the softer and more tender the cookies would turn out. Here’s why I make them most weeks:
- 3 ingredients. All you need is almond butter, eggs, and brown sugar.
- No flour is needed. Traditional cookies call for flour, but these are completely flourless. It’s perfect if you follow a gluten-free diet.
- Ready in 12 minutes. From prep to plate, these cookies take no time at all, and there’s zero chilling required.
- Perfect texture and flavor. Soft, chewy, and crisp around the edges. The cookies themselves are sweet and taste even better with some chocolate chips mixed through and a sprinkle of salt on top (as told by my toughest critic- my partner).
★★★★★ REVIEW
“Wow, these are delicious and SO easy! I may double the batch next time. I used coconut sugar and thought they were amazing!”– Sherri
Key Ingredients
Here’s what goes into almond butter cookies, along with my kitchen notes. Full measurements are in the recipe card below.
- Almond butter. Smooth almond butter, not the crunchy type. If I’m not making my own, I like to use Kirkland almond butter (from Costco). It’s affordable, drippy, and tastes delicious. Not a fan of almond butter? Other nut butters, like smooth peanut butter and cashew butter, work, as do nut-free subs like sunflower seed butter and tahini.
- Eggs. Room temperature eggs, please. Cold eggs firm up the almond butter, making the dough difficult to mix evenly.
- Brown sugar. Keeps the cookies soft in the middle but crisp around the edges. You can also use coconut sugar.
- Chocolate chips. Optional, but I love folding in about 1/2 a cup of dark chocolate chips or a chopped-up chocolate bar.
- Flavor boosters. I always add a sprinkling of flaky salt on top for a sweet-and-salty flavor.
How to make almond butter cookies
Step 1- Make the cookie dough. Add the almond butter, eggs, and sugar to a mixing bowl and stir until combined. Fold through the chocolate chips if using them.
Step 2- Shape. Roll the cookie dough into balls and place them on a prepared baking sheet. Lightly press down each ball of cookie dough into a thick cookie shape.
Step 3- Bake the cookies for 10-12 minutes until the edges are firm to the touch. Remove the cookies from the oven and let them cool completely.
Arman’s recipe tips
- Always use smooth almond butter. This mixes easily and yields smooth, even cookies. Crunchy or natural almond butter is too stiff and inconsistent. The oils can separate during mixing, leaving you with uneven dough.
- Room-temperature eggs are a must. Refrigerated eggs firm up the almond butter, making it difficult to mix.
- Lightly wet hands before rolling into balls. This prevents bits of cookie dough from sticking to your fingers and helps you create a more uniform dough.
- Add baking soda. While unnecessary, this helps produce thicker cookies. Just 1/4 teaspoon is enough. I skip it when I want thinner, slightly crisp cookies.
- For crispier cookies, swap out half the brown sugar (1/3 cup) with white sugar.
Dietary swaps and substitutions
Almond butter cookies are super forgiving and are easy to customize for various diets or eating styles. You can also try out some tested substitutions:
- Make them without eggs by trying out an egg substitute. I’ve had the best results by using ground chia or flax seeds.
- Low carb. Aimee in the comments made these with keto brown sugar and called them divine- that’s the version I’d recommend for low carb.
- Substitute the almond butter for cashew butter, peanut butter, or tahini. Janet, in the comments, used crunchy peanut butter with cinnamon and vanilla. She loved it, though smooth is still my preference.
- Add mix-ins like raisins, dried fruit, vanilla extract, nuts, or seeds.
Storage instructions
To store: Leftover cookies can be stored at room temperature, covered, for up to one week. If you’d like the cookies to be kept longer, store them in the refrigerator.
To freeze: Place the cooled cookies in a ziplock bag and store them in the freezer for up to 6 months.
Frequently Asked Questions
Almond butter isn’t a good substitute for butter in cookies or other dessert recipes. It’d be best to use a butter substitute instead.
Flat cookies almost always come down to the almond butter being too runny or the dough being too warm. Make sure your almond butter is thick and drippy and not separated- I would give it a good mix first. If it’s been sitting and the oil has pooled on top, stir it well before measuring. If your kitchen is warm, refrigerate the shaped dough balls for 10 minutes before baking.
You can pre-make the cookie dough up to 5 days in advance and refrigerate it. Let the dough sit at room temperature for 30 minutes before baking.
Almond Butter Cookies
Video
Ingredients
- 1 cup almond butter
- 2/3 cup brown sugar * See notes
- 1 large egg
- 1/2 cup chocolate chips optional
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 180C/350F. Line a large baking tray with parchment paper.
- In a large mixing bowl, combine the almond butter, brown sugar, and egg until completely mixed. If using chocolate chips, fold through at the end.
- Form 12 balls of cookie dough and place them on the lined tray/cookie sheet. Place balls of dough 2 inches apart. Press down on each ball into a cookie shape. Bake for 10-12 minutes or until just golden on the edges.
- Remove from the oven and let cool completely on the cookie sheet.
Notes
Nutrition
More recipes using almond butter
- Almond butter brownies
- Almond butter smoothie
- Almond butter cups
- Almond butter bars
- Almond butter balls
Originally published November 2019
Do not have quantities and degrees to bake
Hi Pablo- there is a full recipe card with both of them. There is also a jump to recipe button at the top which can take you directly there too.
Made these with coconut sugar and added Lilys milk chocolate chips. They are a great treat!
Sounds INCREDIBLE Laleh! So glad you liked the recipe.
Delicious! Used homemade almonds butter and added a bit of cracked pink sea salt just before baking. I did end up needing to bake an additional 5 minutes to get a firmer cookie.
The kids love them!!
Hi Stephanie, that’s so nice to hear! Thanks for sharing and so glad the kids enjoyed them! And making your own nut butters is an excellent idea.
If I make these with keto sweetener, and sugar free chocolate chips, what would the carb count be?
Hi Dottie- it would really depend on the brands that you use! I suggest plugging your specific ingredients into myfitnesspal and see what it will be. They have a super handy tool that breaks it all down.
Great recipe! No Messi, quick & essy
Hi Alicia, thanks so much for the kind words. Quick and easy is what we strive for! Even better if there’s no mess 🙂
The almond butter cookies was made with Tahini en it was so wattery, I had to add almond flour, why is this, isnt there something missing ?
Hi Wilma- was it 100% tahini? This shouldn’t happen- I’ve often made it with tahini (soom brand) and nearly every nut or seed butter, and that doesn’t happen. If you let me know the brand I can troubleshoot for you!
Easy to make and don’t need a lot of ingredients. Yet chewy and tasty.
Thanks for the feedback, Catherina- when testing this recipe, that was super important- minimal ingredients but tasting delicious. Cheers!
I made the keto version of these using your keto brown sugar recipe. They were super easy to make and absolutely divine. Thank you so much for your amazing recipes!!
Thank you! It’s such a keto treat when done like that, isn’t it?
I just make them and it’s was delicious- I didn’t have almond butter I only had crunchy peanut butter so I used that – I also put a bit of cinnamon and vanilla- it’s was lovely. Thanks for the recipe.
Can you use 1/2 allulose and 1/2 brown sugar to cut down some?
Absolutely Margot! That is a perfect way to cut down on some refined sugar. Let us know how you go!
So due to having cancer for 3rd time and leukemia, I am trying to stay away from too much sugar. I make my own nut butters so I had a combo ready made of hazelnut, walnut and almonds. I did not add any sugar, my chocolate chips are dark. This recepy worked really great. Thank you so much🤗
Britta, I’m so happy to hear that. Wishing you the absolute best health ever 🙂
BTW I just posted a review of this delicious cookie recipe, but did not mention that i had used natural almond butter which was not completely smooth and they were DELICIOUS.
Delicious. As suggested I added a bit of pure vanilla extract & a pinch of salt. I made exactly 12 balls & cooked them for 13 minutes ( think they would have been just fine at 12 minutes). They have a DELICIOUS flavour & lovely texture. Added to my list od favourite cookies/dessert & sent the recipe to my niece who has celiac. Thank you!
Cookies turned out very soft and very delicious. Thank you for the recipe.
AMAZING
These cookies are so delicious!!!
I want to try this. But I would put some forrest fruits instead of choco chips.
What if I change sugar with some protein powder with flavour. I really eat only healthy and dont eat sugar never. You think it would be bad?
I always buy peanut butter instead of almond as its cheaper. But will make cokkjes using this recipe but with peanut butter. Will it be good?
This is one of the best keto cookies ever! I have made them 5 times now. I experimented with different sugars and the Swerve Brown sugar is the best for Keto. The coconut Palm sugar is best for Paleo. I also agree that Costco’s Almond butter works the best!
Thank you for this great recipes and your other ones as well.
Could I use a flax egg?
Yes you can, Lianna. Although my trick is a little different- blend down the flax into a powder and mix it through the almond butter and sugar. The cookies won’t be as sturdy, but they are very delicious.
For this need to buy almond butter. It is more expensive than peanut butter.
This will make for Christmas! Wow!
This will make for Christmas!
Excellent 👍🏻
These cookies are so easy to make and delicious!
Thanks, Krista!
This man is an absolute GENIUS! He truly has unlocked the secret of flavorful keto recipes! Keep it up my good Sir, you are appreciated!
Thank you, Kalyn!
Wow these are delicious and SO easy! I may double the batch next time. I used coconut sugar and thought they were amazing!
Absolutely delicious. Thank you for sharing the recipe. Do you think I could replace almond butter with other types of butter? Ex. Organic peanut butter, biscoff cookie spread
Any raw nut or seed butter is fine- Biscoff is a little different because it is made up of crushed up cookies.
Easy and great recipe. The cookies taste great. Question…
What brand(s) of almond butter do you use? My cookies came out a bit stiff, did not flatten and oil excess came out a bit during baking. I used natural almond butter.
Note… high altitude baking…
Thanks
Hi! I love the kirkland brand which is available from Costco- it’s also the most afforedable 🙂
I used coconut sugar, and cut the sugar in half, and they were absolutely delicious!
What Brand of Almond butter do you use?
Store bought ones, I love kirkland signature from costco. Affordable and tasty.
Hi Arman,
Is there a substitute for egg? I am allergic to eggs.
Thank you.
You could try ground chia seeds
I’m excited to try these!
Can I use regular baking white sweetner instead of the brown ?
Yes you can!
hi! loved the recipe but pls add baking soda to the recipe card :’) thank you i love your recipes!
Love how easy this is to make. I added some cream cheese to thicken my Cashew butter and it was great. Ty for the recipe!
This is a great recipe by far for simple almond butter chocolate chip cookies 😋🍪🍪 My 2nd batch I added 1/2 tsp baking powder, made sure my egg was room temp (forgot to take it out of the fridge so put it in a cup of hot water😁) beat my egg & added extra chips on top before baking, 12-13 minutes at 350° & VOILA!! THE BEST!!!🍪🍪 Thanks for sharing 😊
No measurements?
Did you skip over the recipe card?
Sugar is in the recipe but not in the nutritional part at the end
yummy without or with chocolate chips. Tried with equal amounts of cashew almond and peanut butter with and without the chocolate chips. So quick easy and delicious
How good is it!
These cookies are my go-to for grain free goodness. I use nestle allergen friendly chocolate chips and they are perfect. I use Kroger “simple truth” smooth almond butter and give it a really good stir before I add it to the recipe. Other almond butters so not turn out as well in my opinion.
Ohh I’ll need to try that!
These were amazing!!
This was one of the best cookies I’ve ever made / had. I did add half tsp of baking powder and refrigerated it for a bit too. Thank you for sharing your recipe.
Bringing these to Super Bowl party. Added chocolate chips, a dash of almond extract and about a Tablespoon of honey. Otherwise I followed the recipe. Tested the recipe by eating a few once totally cooled. Delicious!
Yummy!!!
I made these with monk fruit brown sugar which made them darker. I followed the recipe as is and we loved them. I’ll experiment with baking soda, a little less sugar because of how sweet monkfruit is, and other suggestions in the notes and comments. However, my daughter just wanted something at the end of the day, and these were just what we needed, quick, easy, and delicious. Thank you!
These were outstanding! We used a whole 27 oz jar of Kirkland (Costco) almond butter, 4 eggs, 2 cups brown sugar allulose and 1.5 tsp baking soda. Chilled the dough for 30 minutes then made 36 cookies. Thank you, Arman!
I have a seven nut butter at home which includes chia seeds. Does that mean I shouldn’t use the egg?
Still use the egg 🙂
How much allulose did you use?
The same amount!
I was skeptical of the recipe because of so few ingredients, but didn’t read the comments and forged ahead with trust and followed the recipe exactly. 😊 These did not disappoint. We added chocolate chips and the whole family loved them! I will say that the texture was slightly different from the more traditional cookie I had in mind, but were nonetheless delicious and were pleasantly firm once cooled!
Can I use regular peanut butter and microwave it to get it drippy? or would I just be better off using a naturally drippy peanut butter my household can’t eat almonds
sooo good!! Have tried se of your other recipes
and always on Point, Thank you
Making today
I made these with the baking soda and chips. Delicious. Only difference is I wound up with 24 cookies not 12. Does that mean I get to eat two as a serving :).
I made these with Allulose. Absolutely perfect. Wven my nonketo hubby likes them.
Hi Arman, going to try these. Have the ingredients so can’t wait. LOVE your site and FB too. Thanks for all you do.
Hi Arman, I’m going to try these. Have the ingredients so can’t wait. LOVE your site and on your FB too. Thanks for what you do.
Going to try the cookies tonight 🤞 I’m usually not that good about these kinds of recipes because it always turns out disastrous
If they hold I will continue to make them.
Thank you in advance
Made these today. Doubled the recipe. Added 1t of almond flavoring. Used a fork to slightly flatten. They are vey good. Even my husband loved them. Will definitely be a family keto favorite.
Awesome always looking for a great low carb/keto treats. Husband loved and so did my son who are both on Keto too.
I made these cookies last night and they were a huge hit with my family! I love these few ingredient recipes. I’m hoping to make a double batch and freeze half. Would that effect the outcome of the recipe? Thanks!
Nope, not at all.
The recipe made 17 cookies for me using my cookie scoop. Baked 12 minutes. Turned oven off and left in 1 more minute.
28 grams of Lily’s chips added to recipe. I also added 1/2 t baking soda.
Not sure where to post photo of them.
Don’t forget: Do not remove from sheet until cooled as very mushy and soft.
Thanks!
Hi, I see only 3 ingredients. Is that correct?
That is correct.
Can I use tahini instead ? I’m allergic to nuts unfort
Absolutely, be sure that it is smooth and drippy 🙂
Arman~ seriously, your recipes are some of the absolute best I’ve ever tried! I think maybe we tend to overcomplicate things sometimes, when the simplest of ingredients & techniques will do- and do much better, often =) Very grateful to have found your website, & am in process of working my way through your recipes. this is definitely your calling, & the way you explain- w/a little humor at times- perfect! Thank you Arman, & may all your efforts be blessed ~Samantha in AZ
You are too sweet! 🙂
I followed the recipe as written, using 1 tsp of baking soda to help rise – but my cookies just crumbled! 😭 What could I have done wrong?!
Probably used too thick of an almond butter- this is a very simple recipe so it shouldn’t crumble, so it comes down to an ingredient used 🙂
These turned out really well, in spite of the changes I made. I used peanut butter, extra chia seed (because my estimate at 3 TBS produced too much), and baked them about 14 minutes (because they still looked so wet at 12 minutes). I also added the baking soda, but I don’t really know if it made any difference or not.
They DID set up perfectly as they cooled! So, next time I will only cook them a max of 12 minutes. Also, I will only use 3 TBS of ground chia, and will add about 1/4 tsp of salt and a scoop of pure monk fruit to make them sweeter. Mine were not sweet at all.
Thanks for a really great recipe!! I should have stuck closer to it as written!
Can you just replace the almond butter with peanut butter or would that change the recipe?
That works perfectly fine.
Hi, can dates be substituted for the sweetener? If so how many?
Not that I’ve tried.
How many chocolate chips should I fold in?
Hi Maggie! Start with 1/2 cup but add more as desired 🙂
How much baking soda did you add?
Hi add 1/2 teaspoon 🙂
Great recipe. Made these and love them. Used 1/2 Cup granulated Stevia for sweetener instead of 2/3 C because Stevia is so sweet, and added the baking soda. Made them nice and fluffy. Next time I’ll use a little less soda. I also use a silpat, which made it as easy as could be.
Amazing, only 4 ingredients and no mixer! These are a “do again”.
Fabulous- Thank you for the feedback, Kathleen!
Hello Arman, this recipe seems wonderful. I have a suggestion however, you should totally write to ads baking soda+ refrigerate in the directions as well: most of us want thick cookies especially when the cookies in your pictures are those you made and love: thick and big. Thanks!