Flourless Almond Butter Cookies

Perfect in the holiday cookie tin or anytime, these super simple, super delicious gluten-free almond butter cookies are made with minimal ingredients and no flour at all! I included a version of this recipe in my gluten-free cookbook, Flourless, and it has withstood the test of time.

Just seven basics are needed here, and you can quickly stir together the dough in one bowl. Bake the cookies a little longer for crisp cookies, or lightly bake for softer cookies. Add chocolate, try them with peanut butter - you do you!

Why I Love This Easy Cookie Recipe

Unlike my gluten free peanut butter cookies recipe, these flourless cookies need no flour substitute. During baking, the egg and almond butter combine to create a beautifully structured cookie that is both tender and chewy. I love adding a bit of maple syrup for flavor along with the duo of brown and granulated sugar. More highlights include:

• A true flourless cookie. The gist of my cookbook is recipes that never needed flour to begin with. While I do love experimenting with gluten-free single-origin flours, there's something so freeing about bringing it back to basics and skipping the flour entirely.
• Lovely on the holiday cookie plate. These cookies always make an appearance on my yearly gluten free Christmas cookies plate. They are such a nice complement to oat flour sugar cookies and gluten free maple shortbread.
• Or anytime! But of course, you don't need to save these for the holidays. I love baking up a batch when we need a little after-school treat. They're also wonderful made into ice cream sandwiches (perhaps with no churn pumpkin ice cream during fall).

Ingredients Needed

Here's a look at the ingredients you need for these almond butter cookies. Make sure to scroll down to my recipe card at the bottom of this post for the full ingredient amounts and instructions.

• Almond butter - Any type of almond butter works. I used the Whole Foods brand of creamy almond butter.
• Egg - A large or medium egg is best.
• Sugars - A combination of granulated and light or dark brown sugar.
• Maple syrup - This is optional, for a little bit of extra sweetness and flavor. You can also use pure vanilla extract.
• Baking soda
• Salt - Fine sea salt or table salt.

Make Them Your Own

• Try peanut butter - Use this method to make peanut butter cookies! Substitute 1 cup of smooth peanut butter for the almond butter.
• Use crunchy almond butter - I like smooth almond butter here, but for more texture, choose a crunchy almond butter variety.
• Add nuts - Or, just add ½ cup of slivered almonds to the dough.
• Honey - Instead of maple syrup, stir in 1 teaspoon of honey, or swap vanilla extract.
• Flaky salt - For that lovely sweet-salty vibe, sprinkle a lit bit of regular or flaky salt over the cookies before baking.
• Chocolate - Make these into flourless almond butter chocolate chip cookies by adding ½ cup of semisweet chocolate chips.

Tips & Recipe Notes

• What size cookie? In the process shots above, you can see that I made larger cookies, which does tend to allow them to run into each other a bit. This doesn't bother me, but you may wish to spread them out further or to make slightly smaller cookies. It's up to you. Larger cookies will take a tad longer to bake.
• How long to bake? Again, this is personal preference. For crunchier cookies, bake for about 15 minutes. For softer, more chewy cookies, bake for less time.
• The dough will be wet. Note that the dough will be quite loose and wet, but you will still be able to form the cookies. If you want, pop the bowl in the fridge for 10 minutes or so to help it firm up.
• Sprinkle with sugar. For a little extra sweetness, dust the tops of the cookies with coarse or granulated sugar before baking.
• Make vegan. This is a dairy-free recipe that's easy to convert to being vegan. Swap the egg for 1 teaspoon of cornstarch.

Proper Storage

• Counter - Transfer cookies to an airtight container and store them on the counter for up to 5 days.
• Freezer - Place cookies in a freezer-safe bag with a small piece of parchment in between each one to prevent sticking and store in the freezer for up to 3 months. Thaw cookies in the fridge before eating. (Or, eat them slightly frozen - so good!)