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 recipe archive. 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.
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- a little flat on top).
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!
Print
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 up to 11-12 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!
Keywords: almond butter chocolate chip cookies, flourless chocolate chip cookies
We used Barney Butter almond butter and I was less than impressed. We ended up with greasy puddles that weren’t awful but weren’t great. I knew that it was a risk making these with a different brand than she recommended, but I thought we would be okay because Barney Butter is a commercial almond butter.
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Easy and yummy! I will definitely make these again.
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Made this recipe exactly as written. My cookies all ran together and were thin but still chewy and tasted great. Wondering what I can do to make them a little prettier next time…?
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Oh I just made these. They are delicious. Thank you for sharing!
Easy and delicious, even my gluten lovers love these cookies
Thank you sooooooo much
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I can’t get over how much I love these cookies. I swear I make them every other week…AWESOMEE recipe!!
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Should I use salted or unsalted almond butter?
Hi Melissa, either works here. Enjoy!
This is the best chocolate chip cookie recipe ever! I have been using this recipe for years and always get compliments. I’ve had family members compare cookies from this recipe to a regular chocolate chip cookie and they always say this one is far superior (which is great because it’s so easy to make). The only thing I have changed is decreasing the chocolate chips to 1/2 cup and adding 1/2 cup chopped walnuts. I use almond butter, dark brown sugar and add vanilla extract. I also prefer using dark chocolate chunks, but when I’m out I use the semi-sweet mini chips. Thank you so much for sharing!
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HOOLY THESE ARE DELICIOUS, used crunchy almond butter bc thats all I had. definitely a staple! Still cannot believe I didn’t use any flour!!!! Definitely repeating <3
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I followed the homemade almond butter recipe, however, my butter did not turn out smooth, is it my blender? I used this butter for this cookie recipe anyways and my dough was liquidy and did not hold its shape on the tray, was it the butter? So my cookies turned out flat. But they were still super tasty!
Hi Natasha, I’m so glad you like the taste of these cookies. If your almond butter is still a little chunky and oily, that may be the cause of your problems. It sounds like you could blend it a little longer. This is the blender that we love!
Super yummy! I will definitely make these again:)
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Have these in the oven as we speak! Is there an egg free option? I usually use egg replacer but was scared to try it this time around
Hi Tia! We haven’t tested any egg substitutes in this recipe, but let us know if you do. Hope you love them!
tastiest recipe with almond butter. thank you Sally. Will the same recipe work for peanut butter and cashew butter?
Hi Priya, the same amount of peanut butter will work, and many readers have reported success using cashew butter as well. Let us know if you give either a try!
I just made these and so amazing but very easily crumbled, is that normal? I used Kirkland almond butter.
Hi Beth, they could be crumbly due to the type of almond butter you are using (we haven’t tested with Kirkland brand, so we can’t say for sure). You can try a different type or even try adding an extra egg for next time. Thanks so much for giving these cookies a try!
I accidentally misread the instructions and only used 1/2 cup of Base Culture’s Cinnamon Almond Butter (natural butter with the oil on top), and these still came out pretty tasty! I kept the rest of the ingredient measurements the same and added the option vanilla. If this is good I’m sure the correct method is even better! I want to try with monkfruit sweetner to make this a more “keto-friendly ” dessert.
These cookies are delicious! One would never know that they are flourless. Great flavor, texture and of course, taste. These are a keeper!
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I was nervous to try this because of the flourless aspect, but this is a great recipe! I used the Kirkland brand mixed nut butter and left out the chocolate chips. I was shocked at how easy these came
together and how nicely they baked up. Would definitely make again.
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I have made these a few times! Gobbled up by the family- so delicious! Now I add extra almond pieces, extra chips, and the latest is salted caramel chips AND chocolate chips! Sooooooo good!! I swear you could add anything, nuts, pretzel bits,skorr bits, get creative!
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Thank you for sharing the recipe! I’m thinking to replace almond butter with homemade pistachio butter – would you happen to have tried it before? wondering if there’s any adjustment I should make?:)
Hi, I’m interested in making these cookies but would like to use cashew butter instead. Do you think I would still be able to keep them flourless? Have you experimented with other nut butters? Thanks in advance for your help!
Hi Carly! We haven’t tested it, but other readers have reported success using cashew butter. Let us know if you give it a try!
The most delicious cookies I’ve ever try
Thank you so much
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Yum! I added 2 Tbsp of almond flour and subbed almond extract for the vanilla and baked them in an 8×8” pan for 15-18 minutes.
Just made these for the first time & will be making these again for sure! My husband has eaten 3 & has no idea they don’t have flour – amazingly flavorful (added vanilla and a bit of salt) and chewy! Perfection!
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“fold in chocolate chips”. Right, ever try to fold greased ball bearings into half hardened concrete? Not a bad cookie recipe but I doubt I will make it again, if I do it will be without the chips.
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LOVE these cookies. Sorry it took me so long to comment, I make about one batch per week. Personally I always add the vanilla and around a half cup of pecan pieces (I break up whole ones rather than buy pieces but I understand not all have easy access to cheap whole pecans). To compensate for volume I leave out 1/4 cup of the chocolate chips. So the swap is not one to one.
We loved these so much . So crispy. Still can’t believe there’s no flour in them. Added some candy pieces. My daughter loved them so much. Will be making them again.
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I made these with leftover nut butters – about a tablespoon of cashew butter, 1/2 cup of peanut butter and the rest almond butter. I added Spanish peanuts and chocolate chips – marvelous! I used coconut sugar and added the recommended vanilla, too. Will definitely make again! Love Sally’s Baking Addiction recipes!
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These are INCREDIBLE! As a non dairy non gluten (or most of the alternatives) eater I’ve not had cookies in many many years. These were SUCH a treat and so easy to make even for a novice baker like me. Thank you very much for sharing.
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Just made these. I didn’t have enough almond butter so made the difference up by adding desiccated coconut and a touch of oil to make a paste. They are unbelievably good.
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These are soooo delicious and so easy! I’ll be making these over and over again.
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These are sooo good! I will have to double the recipe next time.