This is an old-fashioned recipe for soft cookies I have been making forever. Almond butter has a more subtle flavor, but you can also use peanut butter. With chocolate chips or chunks, these are super traditional cookies that won't let you down. They freeze wonderfully and are great for picnics, brunch tables, or as a snack!
I can't believe I haven't shared this recipe with you.
We all love cookies and also nut butters with chocolate, right?
I used to make this cookie recipe with peanut butter, of course, who in their right mind wouldn't, but I tried them with almond butter and wow, a new favorite was born.
Soft and delicious eaten warm, they can be made with or without chocolate.
Ingredient list
- Almond butter: choose the thick commercial type for best results, like Barney smooth almond butter.
- Chocolate chips or chunks: use your favorite semisweet chip or bar. I love Ghirardelli premium baking chocolate chips and Callebaut 54% chocolate wafers for chips, and Ghirardelli semisweet chocolate bar and cut irregular chunks with a kitchen knife.
- Sugars: the white and brown sugar mix is essential for that irresistible caramel flavor.
- Unsalted butter.
- Egg: fresh, large
- Vanilla: I use pure vanilla extract or pure vanilla paste when available, but a good vanilla essence (artificially flavored) also works and is infinitely cheaper.
- Flour mixture: all-purpose flour works every time and is easily available.
- Salt: I like to use kosher salt when baking. But regular table salt works just fine.
- Baking powder and baking soda: make sure they're not expired.
Almond vs. Peanut butter
They are both nut butter made from one single ingredient: nuts.
Almonds or peanuts are processed until they release their natural oils and a paste forms.
Commercial ones have other ingredients and a firmer consistency than homemade ones.
For this recipe, we use store-bought nut butter. The consistency is perfect for cookies.
I love both types for this recipe but have slightly leaned towards almond butter lately.
Mixing the dough
This is a one-bowl recipe. So it only takes a bowl and a hand whisk to mix the cookie batter. You can use an electric mixer, and it's a good idea if making a large batch of cookies.
- Soft butter: both the unsalted butter and almond butter must be at room temperature to integrate well. You should be able to mix them easily with a whisk.
- Adding the sugars, egg, and flavoring: do it in the order mentioned in the recipe card (at the end of this post), mixing everything well.
- Adding flour mixture: this includes flour, salt, baking powder, and soda. Don't beat much, just incorporate well.
- Chocolate chunks or chips: both work well, and which one to use depends on how much chocolate you want with each bite. Chunks give you a more gooey experience.
- Cookie scoop: this is the easiest way to make similar-sized cookies (image below) that will bake evenly. First image below.
- Spoon: you can use two teaspoons and drop mounds of cookie dough. The shape will be irregular and you can't exactly make them the same size.
- Criss-cross pattern: you can use a fork to press down gently onto each cookie scoop. The cookies will be more compact and a little bit denser. Second image below.
- Smooth pattern: don't do anything to the scoops and they will expand on their own. The result will be a smoother top and less dense cookies.
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Variations
- Traditional cookies: use chocolate chips and the criss-cross pattern. The chocolate will be more distributed, and the cookie will be more compact (image above).
- Less traditional cookies: use chocolate chunks and use your finger to barely flatten the cookie portions before baking, and the cookies will have large chocolate puddles and a softer appearance (image below).
I tend to go with the chunk variation more often than not. But both have the same fantastic flavor.
Make ahead
It's very easy to make this recipe ahead and have freshly baked cookies every single time! How? By freezing the scooped portions.
- Freezing: scoop cookie portions on a baking pan that fits in your freezer. You can crowd them as you will not be baking them all at once. Transfer the raw cookie dough pieces to a plastic bag or container when they are rock solid.
- Baked to order: when ready to bake the cookies, put the frozen mounds on a baking sheet and bake directly, without thawing.
- Freeze them on the cookie sheet you're going to bake them. Leave a few inches between each cookie portion so they can expand while baking. When ready to bake, pop the sheet in the preheated oven.
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Almond Butter Chocolate Cookies
This is an old-fashioned recipe for soft cookies I have been making forever. Almond butter has a more subtle flavor, but you can also use peanut butter. With chocolate chips or chunks, these are super traditional cookies that won't let you down. They freeze wonderfully and are great for picnics, brunch tables, or as a snack!
- Total Time: 30 minutes
- Yield: 25 smallish cookies
Ingredients
- ½ cup (100g) white sugar
- ½ cup (100g) brown sugar
- ½ cup (125g) almond butter
- ½ cup (115g) unsalted butter, at room temperature
- 1 egg, at room tempearture
- ½ teaspoon vanilla extract
- 1 ½ cups (210g) all-purpose or cake flour
- ⅔ cup (100g) semi-sweet chocolate chunks or chips
- ½ teaspoon baking powder
- ½ teaspoon baking soda
- ¼ teaspoon salt
Instructions
- Turn on the oven at 350°F/180°C.
- Butter or spray cookie sheets and line them with parchment paper.
- In a large bowl mix butter, almond butter, and sugars until creamy. You can use an electric mixer or a hand whisk.
- Add the egg, vanilla and mix well.
- In 2 or 3 times add the dry ingredients (flour, baking powder, baking soda, and salt) and mix until well integrated. I also sift the baking soda so that there are no clumps.
- Add the chocolate chunks or chips and mix.
- At this point, I cover the bowl and take it to the fridge for 2 hours, but they can also be made directly, without the extra chill.
- Put spoonfuls of the cookie batter on the prepared baking sheets about 1-2 inches apart.
- Either make a criss-cross pattern with a fork or slightly flatten them with your fingers. See Notes, below
- Bake for about 12 minutes or until they are beginning to brown but slightly soft in the center.
- Let cool a little on a wire rack and carefully lift them with a spatula and let them continue to cool.
- They are amazing white still warm.
- Keep in cookie jars or metal tins.
Notes
- Almond butter: choose the thick commercial type for best results, like Barney smooth almond butter.
- Chocolate chips or chunks: use your favorite semisweet chip or bar. I love Ghirardelli premium baking chocolate chips and Callebaut 54% chocolate wafers for chips, and Ghirardelli semisweet chocolate bar and cut irregular chunks with a kitchen knife.
- Traditional cookie: use chocolate chips and the criss-cross pattern. The chocolate will be more distributed, and the cookie will be more compact.
- Less traditional cookie: use chocolate chunks and simply use your finger to barely flatten the cookie portions before baking, and the cookies will have large chocolate puddles and a softer appearance.
- Freezing: scoop cookie portions on a baking pan that fits in your freezer. You can crowd them as you will not be baking them all at once. Transfer the raw cookie dough pieces to a plastic bag or container when they are rock solid.
- Baked to order: when ready to bake the cookies, put the frozen mounds on a baking sheet and bake directly, without thawing.
- Freeze them on the cookie sheet you're going to bake them. Leave a few inches between each cookie portion so they can expand while baking. When ready to bake, pop the sheet in the preheated oven.
- Prep Time: 15 minutes
- Cook Time: 15 minutes
- Category: Cookies
- Method: Baking
- Cuisine: American
Nutrition
- Serving Size: 1/25
- Calories: 128
- Sugar: 11.3 g
- Sodium: 57 mg
- Fat: 5.7 g
- Carbohydrates: 18.3 g
- Fiber: 0.7 g
- Protein: 1.6 g
- Cholesterol: 17.2 mg
Keywords: almond butter cookies
Tiffany says
These look so yummy, love the almond butter! And lots of us ladies love the salty sweet combo! 🙂
Tiffany
Phlanx's Marketing Specialist
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