These nutty and rich cashew butter cookies are soft, salty, lightly sweet, and ready in 20 minutes. Perfect when you want just a few bites of something decadent! Vegan and free from gluten, oil, and refined sugar.
We vegans love our cashews, right? But usually the delicious nut is being blended into mac and cheese sauce, dairy-free nacho cheese, or other creamy sauces. So when I spotted a jar of cashew butter on the "last chance" shelf at the grocery store last week, I figured why not snatch it up and turn it into the star of a recipe.
Though I always have raw cashews on hand, for some reason I never make cashew butter. In baked goods I usually go for peanut butter, almond butter, tahini, or sunbutter to add richness and replace oil. But cashew butter has its own beautifully unique flavor, and these quick and easy cookies highlight it nicely.
What we love about these
Quick and Easy
When you find yourself craving just a few bites of something rich and nutty but aren't in the mood to bake a complicated dessert, cookies to the rescue! These golden cashew cookies call for just 10 minutes of prep and 10 minutes of bake time.
Rich Flavor
Do you remember Pecan Sandies? Maybe they're still available, I'm not sure. Anyway, I loved them when I was a kid, with their sandy, sweet, almost shortbread-like-but-not-quite texture. In a way, these cashew butter cookies remind me of Pecan Sandies. The texture is different, so I can't quite put my finger on the similarity. I suppose it's just the intensity of the nuttiness!
These are essentially a lightly sweetened bite of cashew butter in cookie form, in other words, very satisfying. These aren't a cookie you'll want to eat 3 or 4 of! Nope, a little goes a long way with these, and sometimes that's exactly what you want!
Simple, No-Fuss Recipe
To make these cookies all you need is one bowl, a cookie sheet, and about 20 to 30 minutes.
Options and Substitutions
I tested these with a gluten-free 1:1 baking blend because I wanted to share a cookie specifically for the gluten-free folks out there. If you prefer to use oat flour or another whole-grain flour, I suspect they'll turn out just fine. I find most cookies to be fairly forgiving in that way.
If you don't have coconut sugar feel free to substitute another granulated sweetener like organic cane sugar or light brown sugar.
While the chopped cashews aren't necessary, I do think the added texture is really nice. If you don't have cashews feel free to substitute another nut or seed.
You can also add raisins, currants, dried cherries, or cranberries to these cookies. Little bursts of tart fruit tastes great with the cashew butter!
I love hearing from you! If you try the recipe be sure to leave a comment and a star rating below to let us know how it turned out.
More vegan cookie recipes:
Easy Peanut Butter Cookies
1-Bowl Sunbutter Cookies
Cookie Nice Cream Sandwiches
Gluten-Free Thumbprint Cookies
Double Chocolate Chip Cookies
Vegan Protein Cookies
Orange-Tahini Cookies
Banana Oatmeal Breakfast Cookies
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Cashew Butter Cookies (Vegan, Gluten-Free)
Ingredients
- ½ cup unsalted cashew butter
- ⅓ cup coconut sugar Sub other granulated sweetener, if desired.
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- ⅛ teaspoon fine sea salt
- ¼ cup chopped raw cashews, optional
- ⅓ cup 1:1 gluten-free flour blend I used Bob's Red Mill. Sub oat or wheat flour, if desired.
- ½ teaspoon baking powder
- 1 tablespoon non-dairy milk
- pinch of flaked sea salt, optional
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 325 degrees F, and line a cookie sheet with parchment paper or a silicone mat.
- In a mixing bowl, stir together the cashew butter, sugar, vanilla, salt, and cashews until thoroughly combined. Add the flour and baking powder, and mix well until no visible flour remains. The dough will be very dry and thick. Add the milk, and mix again until it has been fully absorbed.
- Using a tablespoon or a 1.5 Tbsp cookie scoop, scoop up dough and place on baking sheet. Use a fork to create a criss-cross pattern on the top of each cookie, gently pressing down to flatten into shape.
- Bake 10 to 12 minutes, keeping a close eye on the cookies near the end. Cashew butter tends to burn quickly/easily, so a bit less done is better than overdone in this case. The cookies will be soft straight out of the oven. Immediately sprinkle with flaked sea salt, if using. Allow cookies to cool on the baking sheet for about 5 minutes, then slide the entire sheet onto a cooling rack.
- Allow to cool completely before storing in an airtight container.
Notes
Estimated Nutrition (per serving)
Nutrition information is an estimate and will vary depending on the exact amounts and specific products and ingredients used. We calculate this information using the online calculator cronometer.com. For the most accurate nutrition information we recommend calculating it yourself to reflect the specific ingredients used in your dish.
Pam Ravizee
Can you add dark chocolate chips to this recipe?
Lori
Sure, that sounds great to me!
Leah
Wow these are sooo yummy!!!! I baked mine for 9-10mins and they were just perfect! Slightly crunchy around the outside and beautifully soft and fluffy on the inside. So more ish! I used cashew milk in mine too. Next batch may drizzle dairy free chocolate ontop!
Karen Ricketts
"Delicious" just isn't a strong enough word for these cookies. They're similar to shortbread cookies, except much, much better. I made my own cashew butter for these (ground cashews in our high-speed blender). These melt in your mouth - our new favorite cookie.
Lori
Wow, such awesome feedback, Karen. Thank you!!
Khalidah
May I know the purpose of adding vegan milk in the recipe? What will happen if I omit the milk? Thanks...
Lori
Hi, yes you can omit the milk. It just makes the dough a little bit softer and easier to mix, but omitting it won't cause a problem. 🙂