Almond Butter Chocolate Chip Cookies {Gluten-Free}

Everyone, it seems, is on an endless search to find the perfect chocolate chip cookie. Crunchy or soft, chewy or melt-in-your-mouth, each person has a personal preference with a set of criteria to match. There is a reason why there are twelve million hits when you search for the "best chocolate chip cookies"—like a soul mate, we all want to find "the one." While the back of the Nestlé Tollhouse chocolate chip package and the New York Times' cookie recipe are among the top, most popular contenders, my cookie preferences fall into a much different camp.

Have you found your perfect chocolate chip cookie recipe?

My mother's homemade cookies consisted of store-bought frozen cookie dough, already packaged to go from bag to baking sheet without needing a single utensil. To be fair, she did make her daughters cookies from scratch occasionally, but the frozen cookies are the ones we remember and hold in our hearts. When my sister and I head home over long weekends or holidays, she always has a package in the freezer waiting for us. It does not matter that I am a proficient baker and could make a batch of cookies with my eyes closed, these are the cookies I look forward to most. Nostalgia has a sneaky way of suppressing any qualms I may have about store-bought baked goods.

Truthfully, I believe the qualities of the cookies we grow up with are the same as the cookies we prefer once when we grow older. My grandmother makes delightfully crunchy cookies that baptize the kitchen table with cookie crumbs each time a bite is taken. My dad loves these cookies, calling them "milk dunkers." My sister and I make help to make a further case for this claim.

When I set out to make a batch of cookies last weekend, I did not intend to create my boyfriend's perfect chocolate chip cookie, but somehow it happened. I had almond butter in the cupboard and, inspired by these flourless peanut butter cookies, I played around with a few ingredients. The batter is a bit oily from the almond butter, but the nut oil crafts the most delightfully chewy cookie once it bakes. After stealing two straight from the oven, my boyfriend asked me what was in them, astonished at how unexpectedly perfect he found them. When I told them they were gluten-free, he refused to believe me, claiming the texture was too similar to a traditional chocolate chip cookie.

He ate six more before the day came to an end. I have already purposely filed this recipe away for the future.

Almond Butter Chocolate Chip Cookies are fantastically chewy and, shockingly, gluten-free. Almond butter forms the base of the cookies, though it adds only a subtle flavor (if any) to the final product. While sugar sweetens the cookies, a pinch of salt really helps to bring out a contrast of flavors. I prefer to use miniature chocolate chips because they provide a little chocolate to every bite, but larger chocolate chips will work just as well. These cookies are something special, trust me.

Two Years Ago: Lemon Thins

Almond Butter Chocolate Chip Cookies {Gluten-Free}

Yields about 16 cookies

1 cup (250 grams) creamy almond butter
2/3 cup (150 grams) sugar
1 large egg
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/4 cup (60 grams) miniature chocolate chips

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (180 degrees C).

In a medium mixing bowl, mix together the almond butter and sugar. Mix in the egg, vanilla, baking soda, and salt until evenly combined. Stir in the chocolate chips.

Drop cookies by the tablespoon onto a baking sheet and bake for 10-12 minutes. Cool on the baking sheet for at least 5-10 minutes before moving to a cooling rack to cool completely (the cookies will be very fragile and need to set-up before they can be moved).

Comments

[Belinda @themoonblushbaker]

I do not eat cookies often but the addition of almond butter has me swooning. They look so darkly delicious and perfect timing as my sister has just been diagnosed with gluten problem. Thank you very much.

[Kathryn]

I've made similar cookies with almond butter before and my brother proclaimed them to be the best cookie that he'd ever had. It's amazing what you can do with such relatively simple ingredients. Love the light/dark contrast in these pictures too.

[Jen @ Savory Simple]

Your shots have such beautiful lighting! These cookies sound divine.

[Katrina @ Warm Vanilla Sugar]

These sound soooo good!! Yum!

[thelittleloaf]

I think your boyfriend has extremely good taste, these look wonderful!

[Kiran @ KiranTarun.com]

Love almond butter and your photography is stunning! Love the moody shot :)

[Myriam]

Can I replace the almond butter by regular butter? We don't have almond butter over here in Belgium... :-(
Beautiful recipes and beautiful pictures. Congrats!

[Kristin Rosenau]

Myriam-- No, using actual butter as a substitution would result in something really horrible that would not resemble a cookie at all. A good substitution would be peanut butter, but I'd be wary to try other nut butters because I cannot guarantee the results. Using peanut butter, however, will turn great as I have tried it before.

[Becca from Cookie Jar Treats]

This looks very interesting. I've only tried almond butter a few times, but I've never tried it in a cookie. And as always, your pictures are stunning :)

[Colleen]

I just made these with brown sugar and they are DELICIOUS! I have another batch in the oven made with peanut butter. Thanks got the great gluten free cookie recipe.

[Caitlin]

I am absolutely in love with the look of these cookies, but I'm even more in love with your style of photography! The image of the unbaked cookies on the baking sheet is just so satisfying to me!

[Sarisha]

This looks lovely! Is it possible to substitute the sugar for raw (turbinado) sugar?

[Kristin Rosenau]

Sarisha-- Absolutely! Brown sugar would work as well. :)

[madhulika]

Hi, Just wanted to know if I could sub the egg with something else as my son is allergic to eggs ?

[Kristin Rosenau]

Madhulika-- I did some prowling around on the internet and came up with a couple suggestions. I have not personally tried them so I cannot guarantee that they will work, but other people seem to use them just fine. Substituted 1 egg for: 1/4 cup applesauce or 1 tablespoon cornstarch + 2 tablespoons water. Feel free to give either a try (I would personally try the cornstarch egg first) and let us know how they turned out!

[jennifer]

omg! good things come out of your kitchen. i JUST finished making the dough for these cookies and IT. IS. DELICIOUS. i can't wait to bake them! after licking the spoon clean, i had to stop what i was doing and jump on the computer to add my comment to your recipe.

my brother (who also shares a love affair with new food discoveries - this is my first flourless cookie) is already planning to drop by to sample these wonderful cookies. . .

he's also eager to try the homemade almond joys i made last night (from your recipe). so simple. so delicious. what could be better? :)

[Diane]

My dad cannot have gluten, so I was excited when I stumbled across this recipe. I made the cookies and they were delicious! My dad really enjoyed them, but he is more of an oatmeal-raisin cookie lover. I used 1/3 cup sugar and 1/3 cup brown sugar and to the original recipe added an 1/8 tsp. nutmeg, 1 1/4 cups oats and 1/2 cup raisins instead of the chocolate chips to make an oatmeal-raisin cookie that is delicious and gluten free. Thank you for this recipe!

[Jenny]

I baked these last night... had four then and two today. Thanks for sharing such a delicious recipe!

[Whitney]

Darn! I used baking powder instead of baking soda (dunce hat please)...BUT....they were still delicious -- New ice cream topping?? Thanks for the inspiration!

[Sara]

I tried these with homemade sunflower seed butter and they worked really well! Also cut down the sugar to 1/2 cup, as I don't like my cookies too sweet, and added a touch of cinnamon.

[Jenna]

Wow, I can't wait to make these for my fiance who is GF. I love that the main ingredient is almond butter- no flours necessary! Thank you.

[Audrey w]

These are amazing! my advice--you can make them vegan AND even yummier by substituting the egg for half a banana (mashed). DELICIOUS

[Francoise]

These cookies are DELICIOUS - I've made them 5 times now!!!! I use almond extract instead of vanilla to bump up the flavor. I turn off the oven and leave them an extra couple of minutes so they are hard and crunchy. I love how my house smells like almonds, even the next day when I open the cookie bag. Thanks for sharing this recipe!

[Alex]

Did you use raw or roasted almond butter, or does it matter?

[Kristin Rosenau]

Alex-- Both work equally well. I used a roasted because I prefer that flavor, but raw would taste nicely as well.

[Deborah]

These are among the best cookies I've ever made. I used 1/3 cup brown sugar and 1/3 cup white. The oil in the batter began to separate in the bowl before I spooned them out, but it didn't affect the outcome at all. Thanks so much for this!

[Lynn Angulo]

I love almond butter however my room-mate bought me as a late birthday present almond butter with flax-seeds. Could I still use this almond butter with flax-seeds instead of creamy almond butter or is it strictly creamy?

[Kristin Rosenau]

Lynn-- Almond butter with flaxseeds should be just fine. You shouldn't have any problems using it instead.

[emiliac]

My husband (who ONLY likes chocolat chip cookies) anihalated these little treats. i will make them again and again

[janet]

my husband just proclaimed these the best chocolate chip cookies I have ever made. they ARE delicious!

[Deborah]

Can give the 21 months baby to cookie?

[Kristin Rosenau]

Deborah-- It is really personal preference whether or not you would like to feed your baby one of these cookies. If you are concerned about possible allergy triggers with the almond butter, I would ask your child's physician before feeding them this particular cookie.

[Jill Sites]

Hey, I just posted to you in my blog! Loved these--I adapted a little, but they're amazing! Thank you so much for the inspiration!!!

http://eatit-drinkit.com/eat-it/you-want-recipes-finally-right/

[An Quach]

Hi, my name is An, i like cookies, It seems to me that cookies are fairly easy to make but we are still buying them either at stores or says Starbuck. In my case, I don't know how to make them. Recently, have more time at hands and wonder what it like to bake my kind of cookies and eventually, helping other people with their special needs of special kind of cookies; nut free, egg free etc., have been looking
for recipes and landed at this amazingly beautiful web site of yours. Appreciated very much if you could let me know if i might use your
recipe to try it out and share with my friends or whoever needed to enjoy a cookie without a trip to the ER. Looking forward to hearing from you, with many thanks, @n_quach

[Sheila Lammers]

Since almond butter at our local grocery stores costs $6-8 for a small jar, I thought I'd make my own almond butter with whole almonds I had on hand. While my almond butter turned out fine, I think there are some extra ingredients added to commercial almond butter that probably helps this cookie recipe turn out correctly... My batch turned into flat, pancake-style cookies that have a gummy, too-sweet texture. It's all going into the compost bin.

[Sonya]

Hello! These don't seem to set after cooling - do they need more time in the oven?

[Ellen]

How long will these last in a sealed container? Do you have any suggestions for freezing them (post baking) to preserve them longer?

[Kristin Rosenau]

Ellen-- Using an airtight container and layering the cookies should keep them well insulated. They should keep up to 3 months!

[Kim]

They smell great....trying them for the first time...vegan...substituting 1/2 mashed bannana for the eggs. I never follow a recipe exactly...so I added just a little unsweetend shredded cocconut to the mix. Will let you know how they come out! Thanks so much for sharing this!

[Samina]

These look great! I recently tried an almond flour chocolate chip cookie recipe that was very similar.

[Nam]

By far the best cookies I've ever made!

[Michaela]

These look unbelievable. Just wondering, did you use unsweetened/unsalted almond butter? Thanks!

[Kristin Rosenau]

Michaela-- I used an almond butter that was salted and sweetened. However, you could use unsalted and unsweetened and just add more sugar and salt to taste.

[Maggie H]

This recipe was a disaster for me! I bake frequently and can't figure out what I did wrong, but the oil separated in the almond butter and made such a mess that it was almost impossible to put onto the baking sheet. Now they are crumbley and totally weird in texture. I ended up throwing 1/2 the dough out. What a waste of expensive almond butter :(

[Vittoria]

Do you think I could make this in a cast iron skillet as one big cookie, and then cut it into slices?

[Andrea]

I usually never leave comments, BUT, I just made these and they are INCREDIBLE!!! I used coconut sugar and 55% dark chocolate chips and they are probably the best cookies I have ever made. They beat all of the GF cookies available on the market by taste and nutrition. Thank you so much for posting this recipe!

[Bethany]

It says to use a medium mixing bowl but I only have a large one if I were to use a large bowl would it result in the same cookies or shoul I buy a smaller bowl.

Thanks

Bethany

[Erin]

I recently made this cookies with a combination of half peanut butter and half almond butter. They were AMAZING. Thanks for this recipe, it has become my new peanut butter cookie go-to recipe!

[Mary]

Wow - these are excellent! I added dehydrated, unsweetened blueberries instead of chocolate and it was perfect for me. I also found that they are better after resting in a tin on paper towels for a couple of days -- the towels wick away a lot of the oil, and they still have a nice crunch. Thanks for the recipe!

[Caitlin]

Just made these today and they are DELICIOUS! And my husband loves them (he complains I make too many healthy treats, and he's happy that this actually tastes like a treat! LOL). I've already eaten 2 and want another one, but nope...i'll save myself for tomorrow!