Almond butter chocolate chip cookies are simple, wholesome, and made with only 5 ingredients! You won’t miss the butter and flour in these naturally gluten-free cookies.
Almond butter. It’s a toasty, almond-y spread that’s a bit more grainy than peanut butter. Besides on a spoon straight out of the jar, I love it in quinoa snack bars, breakfast cookies, banana chocolate chip breakfast cookies, coconut granola bars, and in today’s flourless chocolate chip cookie recipe. We’re ditching the butter and flour for these easy gluten-free cookies!
While flourless cookies are certainly nothing new, I love these cookies so much that they deserve a place in my collection of beloved healthy dessert recipes and gluten free dessert recipes. This recipe came about when we had some friends over and I wanted to serve something a bit healthier. Did you know almonds have tremendous health benefits? No one had any idea that these cookies were flourless—the entire batch was gone in seconds!
Everything to Love About Almond Butter Chocolate Chip Cookies
- Only 5 ingredients
- Naturally gluten free
- No mixer required
- Easy, 1-bowl recipe
- No cookie dough chilling (just like shortbread cookies and snickerdoodles!)
- Only 30 minutes start to finish
- Lots of customization options
Ingredients in Almond Butter Chocolate Chip Cookies
With such few ingredients, the natural flavors truly shine. Use quality ingredients for best results!
- Egg: Binds everything together.
- Almond butter: Acts as both butter and flour in these flourless cookies. You can use homemade, natural, or commercial almond butter, however, the type you use slightly alters the texture. I find the best texture is with 1 cup of my homemade almond butter OR 1/2 cup Jif Creamy Almond Butter and 1/2 cup all-natural organic almond butter.
- Brown sugar: Sweetens the cookies. For an unrefined sugar alternative, use coconut sugar instead of brown sugar. So tasty!
- Baking soda: Helps the cookies rise while baking.
- Pure vanilla extract: Optional, but is it really a cookie without vanilla?
- Chocolate chips: An essential component to chocolate chip cookies! 😉
Need another reason to love these flourless chocolate chip cookies? They’re totally customizable! The cookie base is an awesome starting point to add whatever you’re craving. A few ideas: dark chocolate chips, mini chocolate chips, peanut butter chips, white chocolate chips, peanuts, sunflower seeds, sweetened shredded coconut, chopped almonds, dried cherries, dried cranberries, or raisins. Keep add-ins to about 1 cup total.
You can also leave the almond butter cookies plain with no add-ins! And, finally, you can use peanut butter instead of almond butter or try sunflower seed butter for a delicious nut-free option.
If you’re craving a gluten free cookie with even more texture, try these flourless peanut butter oatmeal cookies or flourless monster cookies next!
How to Make Almond Butter Chocolate Chip Cookies
These flourless chocolate chip cookies are incredibly simple and come together very quickly (in 1 bowl!). We’re only using a few ingredients, so the preparation is super quick.
Crack the egg into a medium bowl and whisk until beaten. Mix in the almond butter, brown sugar, baking soda, and vanilla. Stir until well combined. You want your cookie dough to be mixed together very well, so depending how thick and/or cold your almond butter is, you’ll have to use some arm muscles! Fold in the chocolate chips.
No cookie dough chilling! This cookie dough doesn’t require any chill time—the entire batch takes 30 minutes from start to finish! Use about 1.5 Tablespoons of dough per cookie and place each onto a prepared baking sheet. Slightly press down the cookie dough mounds before going into the oven (see photo above).
The cookies will look quite soft and under-baked when they’re done, but as they cool, they will set and firm up. By the way, you could use these easy gluten-free cookies to make cookie ice cream sandwiches. I love that you don’t need to chill the cookie dough!
What Almond Butter Should I Use?
Any almond butter works in this chocolate chip cookie recipe. Here are a few tips depending on which kind (homemade, natural, commercial) you use:
- Homemade almond butter: Making almond butter at home is simple. It takes just a few minutes and you only need 1 ingredient. I highly recommend it! You could also use the maple almond butter detailed in those recipe notes. 🙂 Ensure the homemade almond butter cools before using it in this cookie dough. After being freshly processed, the almond butter is slightly warm and will make your cookie dough warm. And we all know what warm cookie dough means, right? Colder cookie dough is the key to how to prevent cookies from spreading.
- Natural almond butter: Sometimes, natural almond butter (the kind you buy that has a layer of oil on top) can be pretty oily. Make sure you stir this very well. The more oil, the greasier your cookie. The more oil, the more your cookies will spread while baking. So stir, stir, stir and make sure it’s super thick! You can even refrigerate before using.
- Commercial almond butter: This kind of almond butter is typically pre-stirred and ready to use, but give it a good stir just in case before using.
I guarantee these almond butter chocolate chip cookies are full of flavor, totally chewy, and incredibly soft. Each bite melts in your mouth!
More Gluten Free Desserts
- Chocolate Coconut Almond Tart
- Flourless Chocolate Cake
- Pumpkin Chocolate Chip Oatmeal Bars
- Healthy Berry Streusel Bars
- Chocolate Soufflé
- Cranberry Frangipane Tart
Flourless Almond Butter Chocolate Chip Cookies
- Prep Time: 10 minutes
- Cook Time: 10 minutes
- Total Time: 30 minutes
- Yield: 12 cookies
- Category: Cookies
- Method: Baking
- Cuisine: American
Description
Almond butter chocolate chip cookies are simple, wholesome, satisfying, and made with only 5 ingredients! You won’t miss the butter and flour in these naturally gluten-free cookies.
Ingredients
- 1 large egg
- 1 cup (250g) almond butter or peanut butter, at room temperature or cold (not warm)*
- 1/2 cup (90g) light or dark brown sugar, lightly packed*
- 1 teaspoon baking soda
- optional and tasty: 1/2 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
- 1 cup (190g) semi-sweet or dark chocolate chips, peanuts, peanut butter chips, etc.
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 350°F (177°C) and line two large baking sheets with parchment paper or silicone baking mats.
- In a medium bowl, whisk the egg until beaten. Mix in the almond butter, then the brown sugar, baking soda, and vanilla (if using). Mix everything together very well. Depending how thick and/or cold your almond butter is, you’ll have to use some arm muscles. Fold in the chocolate chips until combined.
- Scoop the dough, about 1.5 Tablespoons each, onto prepared baking sheet. Gently press down on the dough mounds with the back of a spoon. If you find the cookie dough balls are a little oily from your almond butter—mine usually are—blot each with a paper towel. If desired, press a couple chocolate chips onto the tops of each cookie dough mound.
- Bake for 10 minutes. The cookies will look very soft—that’s ok! For crispier cookies, bake for up to 12 minutes. Sometimes I press a couple more chocolate chips into the tops of each cookie immediately after coming out of the oven. This is optional and only for looks.
- Allow the cookies to cool for 10 minutes on the baking sheet before transferring to a wire rack to cool completely. Cover leftover cookies tightly and store at room temperature for up to 7 days.
Notes
- Freezing Instructions: Cookies freeze well up to 3 months. Thaw overnight in the refrigerator.
- Special Tools (affiliate links): Baking Sheets | Silicone Baking Mats or Parchment Paper | Glass Mixing Bowls | Whisk | Cooling Rack
- Almond Butter: You can use homemade, natural, or commercial almond butter, however the type you use will alter their texture slightly. I found the best texture was with 1 cup of my homemade almond butter (the regular or maple version detailed in that post) or 1/2 cup Jif Creamy Almond Butter and 1/2 cup all-natural organic almond butter. Be sure to stir in any excess oil on top of the natural brands, and get it completely mixed in. An equal amount of peanut butter may be used instead of almond butter.
- Sugar: I’ve successfully made these cookies with coconut sugar instead of brown sugar. So tasty! I like Trader Joes brand organic coconut sugar.
- More no chill cookie recipes to try!
These were great! Not the consistency of a regular chocolate chip cookie, a bit crumbly when you bite into it, but the taste is perfect! Hit the spot!
Hi Sally,Â
Love this recipe made with both almond butter and peanut butter! Do you think hazelnut butter would work, as well? Thanks!Â
Do you mean Nutella? Or just pure hazelnut butter? Because hazelnut butter works! Nutella does not. (At least not in my experience.)
Hi Sally,Â
Wonderful; thank you! I am excited to give them a try with my pure hazelnut butter.Â
These were easy to make and really yummy. I left out the extra tuts and sprinkled with salt righ out if the over to help the flavored pop.Â
I am so grateful for such a wonderful recipe that I can share with friends with many different dietary restrictions. I swap out the egg for a flax egg when I make these. I love to bake, but I am awful at making chocolate chip cookies for some reason, and these are honestly the best chocolate chip cookies I have ever made. And the easiest! They are totally a go-to in my kitchen!
I can’t wait to try this recipe. It’s seems so delicious and simple. You mention the optional honey roasted peanuts in the ingredients but not in the instructions. How would you suggest using them?
With the chocolate chips. Enjoy!
So good and difficult to allow for the complete cooling time!  I used MaraNatha organic creamy roasted almond butter and left out the nuts, but will perhaps add in next time.  I made them as instructed and they were delicious.  My husband said “just one more” a few times 🙂
These were absolutely delicious! Thank you for sharing! I added walnuts and yum!Â
We used coconut sugar instead and the cookies turned out delicious! My boys devoured them, thank you!Â
I loved the cookies. Â I used almond hazelnut butter with a bit of peanut butter. Â I used an electric mixer to combine everything but the chips. The chocolate chips were hard to mix in. Â I think using 1/2 cup is enough. Perhaps the consistency depends on the texture of butter used. Â The chocolate chips were really melty so I put the cookies in the fridge after cooling but now it’s all spongy and rubbery.Â
Amazing! I couldn’t wait to try this out so I attempted these with homemade honey roasted peanut butter and I alternated with baking powder since that’s all I had. I added  2tbsp each of coconut flakes and raisins in the processor with the peanuts. I can not believe how easy this recipe is, i’m currently sending gooey cookie pics to family members lol. I can not wait to try this with almond butter. Thank you for sharing this!
Hello Sally,
Can the batter be prepared ahead and kept in the fridge for later use? Thanks so much 🙂
Absolutely, yes!
Just made these. Even made my own almond butter. They didn’t turn quite the same light color that they are in the photos but OHMYGOD are they good! Better than good. Divine!!! You don’t miss the flour or butter at all. Thank you for this recipe; they are absolutely fantastic!
OMG!! Delicious!! I just made them with Kirkland (costco) almond butter and they are just perfect!!
I’m addicted to these cookies! I recently started using date sugar instead of brown sugar and you can’t tell a difference! So now they’re delicious and and a little bit “cleaner”. I also double the eggs to keep them from being too thick and crumbly.
I can’t believe how good these are! They are so easy to make and taste so good!! Thank you for my new favorite cookie!
Hi,
I made these today using 2 tablespoons flax seed powder mixed with 1/4 cup pf water instead of using egg. I used half peanut and half almond butter and baked it for 10 mins and left it in the oven for an additional ten minutes. They are perfect. Thank you
thanks for posting about using a flax egg – wasn’t sure if that would work! Definitely have to try these this weekend.
Could I use white sugar instead of brown sugar, or would it change the flavor too much? I just ran out! I need to make these so bad, they look super yummy.
White sugar would be just fine. They won’t have that molasses undertone, though.
I made these and while they taste great, they were completely crumbly. The cookies didn’t stay together enough to even pick up a whole one to eat. This was my fear of having only a nut butter and no flour, and that’s what happened. How is it your cookies stayed together? Have any troubleshooting ideas.
Hey Jen! May I ask which brand almond butter you are using? I always make my own and don’t really have that issue! You could try reducing the AB by 1 Tbsp (doesn’t sound like much but it could help).
I MADE THESE!! thank you for the inspiration. I used cashews instead but they were incredible!! Would love you have a gander… I can’t bake but these were ace!!
Hi Sally!
Made these this morning. Had Sunday morning baking fever! (lol)! I made a batch exactly like yours; and then I was kinda feelin adventurous and happened to have pistachio nut butter and roasted pistachio nuts on hand in my pantry so I made a batch and I substituted those for the almond butter/peanuts; and then still threw in some chopped dark chocolate (60/70% I think), and the pistachio ones came out SO good too!!! Wow! You must try!! It was such a different and interesting flavor profile! I don’t think I have EVER tasted a cookie or treat like it before…..it was really good. Oh, and I doubled the recipe and before i put the second amount of ingredients in, I realized that I had used baking powder for the first amount; so I actually used half baking powder, half baking soda and those babies rose/puffed up like nobody’s business! I was pleasantly surprised! Thank you for this delicious recipe. You’re the bestest, as always!! ; )
P.S. congrats on the new house!! Yay for you guys!! ; )
Oxox. Dani
I was wondering whether it would be okay to use pistachio butter instead of almond butter. What do you think?
That should be fine.
Hi Sally,
I just found your recipe and made these last night and wow – they are definitely delicious!! Thank you so much for sharing! I have one question which I could not find an answer to after reviewing all of the previous comments… my dough turned out super crumbly (e.g. like pie crust before forming the ball) and would not hold together – even worse after adding the chocolate chips (Enjoy Life mini chips). The way I made the cookies is I hand-scooped the crumbly dough and formed tiny balls in my hand, and placed them individually onto the cookie sheet. Super greasy but at least they held together for baking. As you can imagine, this was very time-consuming. Wondering if you have any tips for my next attempt. I used Trader Joes Raw Creamy unsalted Almond Butter. I also noticed the baking soda was hard to incorporate into the dough but didn’t seem to affect the outcome. Thank you!
Oh my goodness Sally! I had extra almond butter that so knew not what to do with, so I made up a quick batch of your cookies. They were absolutely PHENOMENOL. They tasted like fudge with a little bit of texture from the homemade almond butter, which was fantastic. When the 8 minutes of baking were up, the cookies were still super soft and looked terribly underbaked, but then when I saw your instruction I decided to trust your advice and leave them to cool on the baking tray. And it worked! They turned out super chewy and firmed up during the cooling process! Now I’m making another batch with peanut butter – super excited for those. Thank you so much, Sally! 😀
Just ate my first one, warm and gooey, fresh out of the oven! Delicious!
Sally… These almond butter cookies were mind-blowing, along with their dark, chocolate-y cousins. I made half batch of each, seeing as I didn’t really have the time or patience to grind up almonds for 2 cups of almond butter in my tiny, pitiful magic bullet. There was a heart-stopping moment when it overheated and automatically shut itself down, but the cookies were worth every single bit of worry!
They were literally the most fudgy cookies I have ever made. I have to say both the original and chocolate version are made equal! Thanks so so so so (times infinity) much! 😀
These are so amazing!! I’ve made them before but forgot just how good they were! I think I like them more than regular chocolate chips cookies! I love all your recipes! Thanks for inspiring me to bake more!:)
Just made these for my 7 year old daughter who must eat gluten free. We used butterscotch chips and chopped pecans. She’s declared they’re her new favorites! 🙂
These were shockingly good!
I didn’t have almond butter, so I made these with peanut butter. My husband says they’re the best cookies he’s ever had. : ) My three little kids all love them, too.
Thanks so much for the easy, healthy-ish recipe.
Oh my, these cookies are phenomenal! I made my first (but certainly not last) batch this evening, and everyone loves them. I’ve had some sad experiences with gluten free recipes, but these cookies give me hope! Thank you for the recipe, Sally!