You know how you have an indulgent chocolate chip cookie recipe you make for parties, special occasions, and those just because moments?
What about those everyday life moments? Those times when you want a little something sweet at 3pm, or when you’re craving chocolate after dinner but don’t want to go all out with a triple-decker chocolate cheesecake for dessert.
Most nights after dinner, I’m looking for a sweet treat with more nourishing ingredients that I can feel good about. When I first baked these flourless chocolate almond butter cookies years ago, I was astounded by how delicious they were. They legit taste like a fudge brownie, and quickly became one of my go-to after dinner treats.
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Ingredients in chocolate almond butter cookies
I call these almond butter cookies every day cookies because they only take 15 minutes to make and taste like they came straight from the bakery. They’re also paleo, gluten-free, and dairy-free! Here are the ingredients you need:
- Almond butter: I highly recommend using an almond butter that contains just almonds (or almonds & salt!) It’s subtle in flavor, so the cookies get that maximum fudge taste.
- Coconut sugar: you can use either coconut sugar or brown sugar. Brown sugar will make these slightly more fudgy.
- Eggs: you’ll need two eggs to bake the cookies up.
- Coconut oil: just a teaspoon of coconut oil gives them extra fudge factor.
- Baking staples: touch of vanilla extract for flavor, baking soda, and a pinch of salt (unless your almond butter is salted).
- Unsweetened cocoa powder: I love to use unsweetened cocoa powder in this recipe, but you can also use cacao powder.
- Chocolate chips: you can use whatever chocolate chips you’d like. I love to use dark chocolate chips, but you can also use a dark chocolate bar chopped up, or even dairy-free chocolate chips.
Can I make them vegan?
I haven’t tried it using flax eggs in these cookies, but I think they should work just fine!
A note on nut butter options
Feel free to swap the almond butter for cashew butter if you’d like, but note that I do not recommend using peanut butter in this recipe as it could dry the cookies out.
To keep them nut-free: use sunflower sweet butter.
Have fun with different mix-ins
You can easily make these healthy chocolate almond butter cookies your own with fun add-ins! Here are some suggestions to use:
- 1/4 cup chopped walnuts + 1/3 cup chopped dark chocolate chunks from a dark chocolate bar
- 1/3 cup white chocolate chips + 1/4 cup chopped macadamia nuts
- 1/3 cup butterscotch chips
- 1 teaspoon espresso powder + 1/3 cup dark chocolate chips
- 1/3 cup dried cherries + 1/3 cup dark chocolate chips
Storing & freezing tips
- To store: feel free to keep these cookies in an airtight container at room temperature for up to 5 days. They’ll get softer and fudgier each day due to the almond butter.
- To freeze: make sure the cookies are completely cooled, and then transfer them to an airtight container lined with wax or parchment paper or freezer-safe bag before storing them in the freezer for up to 2 months. I like to place them in a single layer to avoid any cookies breaking. Once ready to eat, simply thaw out at room temperature and enjoy!
Tools you’ll need
Check out all of our fav kitchen essentials here.
More cookie recipes to try
- Grain Free Peanut Butter Chocolate Chunk Cookies
- Chickpea Flour Chocolate Chip Cookies (vegan-friendly!)
- Paleo Lemon Poppy Seed Cookies
- Healthy Soft Banana Bread Cookies
- Flourless Monster Cookies
Get all of my cookie recipes here!
I know you guys are going to LOVE these! They are especially good with a cup of coffee in the afternoon, or a glass of vanilla almond milk to dunk them in. Enjoy! xo.
Ambitious Kitchen
Cookbook
125 Ridiculously Good For You, Sometimes Indulgent, and Absolutely Never Boring Recipes for Every Meal of the Day
Flourless Chocolate Almond Butter Cookies
Ingredients
- 1 cup (256 grams) creamy natural almond butter (use the runny kind with only almonds as an ingredient)
- 1 teaspoon melted coconut oil
- ½ cup (77 grams) coconut sugar (or brown sugar)
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- 2 eggs, slightly beaten
- ⅓ cup (27 grams) unsweetened cocoa powder (pick a good-quality cocoa powder)
- ½ teaspoon baking soda
- ¼ teaspoon salt
- ⅓ cup (60 grams) dark chocolate chips (dairy-free or vegan, if desired)
- Maldon sea salt, for sprinkling on top
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper.
- In a medium bowl, combine almond butter, coconut oil, coconut sugar, vanilla and eggs until smooth. Add in cocoa powder, baking soda and salt; mix until smooth and well combined. Fold in chocolate chips.
- Roll dough into large balls (about 2 tablespoons) and place on baking sheet. Flatten each dough ball with the palm of your hand so they're about 1/4th inch thick. Bake for 8-10 minutes or until edges are set. Do not overbake or they will dry out.
- Once done baking, remove baking sheet from oven and allow cookies to cool on the sheet for 5-10 minutes before transferring to a wire rack to finish cooling. Sprinkle each cookie with a little sea salt. Makes 12 cookies.
Recipe Notes
Nutrition
Recipe by: Monique Volz // Ambitious Kitchen | Photography by: Eat Love Eats
This post was originally published on March 9th, 2020, and republished on April 15th, 2026.
Superb post. Adding your blog to my regular reads.
Hello there! Came for the title, staying for the craft. Stay awesome.
You made a complex topic feel simple. Let me know if you ever do a podcast on this.
This was a wonderful read. It’s clear a lot of thought went into this. I’ll be recommending this to others.
Loved reading this. Couple of these ideas I’ll be testing next week. Keep it up!
Amazing article. Would love to hear your take on related topics. https://tuncelirehber.com/
The examples really drove the point home. Appreciate you putting the time into this. Much appreciated.
Top-notch content. The perspective shift I needed today. Take care.
do you have a recommendation on how I could add brewers yeast to these?
I don’t without fully testing them to be certain especially because they are flourless it’s hard for me to suggest a swap! I’m sorry. Try my lactation cookies HERE!
Made this cookie last night and hands down, one of your best recipes..thank YOU
My husband ate 5 all at once, then he told me “Now i know why our 2 year old ate 2 of them and asked for more”
PS: I forgot to add the espresso powder, will def add them on the next batch i bake. I think it will make it even more bomb.com
Haha I’m so glad they were a hit! Let me know how you like the espresso powder next time 🙂
I just made these, followed all the directions, and they were very sticky. I couldn’t really roll them into balls, so i scooped the 2 tbsp of dough onto the cookie sheet and smoothed the cookie out with a frosting spatula.
My nut butter was Costco’s organic almond butter, and it was runny, about like the other nut butters/tahini I have used in recipes of yours calling for “runny” nutbutter.
I did use Trader Joe’s cocoa, but that is what I usually use and haven’t had any trouble with other recipes.
I put the rest of the dough in the fridge for a bit to see if that will help with the rolling.
Any ideas why my dough is so wet?
They are supposed to be fairly sticky, so I wouldn’t worry too much. Did they turn out for you after baking?
All your recipes sound wonderful and I want to try them all. These flourless Chocolate Almond Butter Recipe was amazing. Thank you for sharing.
So glad you loved them!
These cookies are delicious and delightfully fudgy One of our favorite low carb cookie recipes. We prefer them baked for 8 min, as they are most fudgy that way. When we really want to splurge we have them with vanilla ice cream and it is divine.
Perfect! Glad these are a fav!
I know you said not to, but I made these with a runny crunchy peanut butter (natural – just peanuts) because I ran out of almond butter and it tasted great!! I think it worked because it was runny? My kids – 8 and 11 – and their friends loved them – husband too!! Used a mix of chopped 70% chocolate and mini semi sweet chocolate chips.
Perfect! I’m glad that worked out well!
Hiya Monique,
These look YUMMO-licious!
I am assuming if I use b-sugar instead of coconut sugar I can leave out the teaspoon of coconut oil?
Deb
Hi Deb! You would still use the teaspoon of coconut oil 🙂
Hi,
I recently tried out both your almond butter brownies and this chocolate almond butter cookie recipe, it was good, but I like the almond butter brownies better as it had more sweetness due to combination of sugar and maple syrup,
How can I increase sweetness in this chocolate almond butter cookies similarly?
Feel free to increase the sweetener by 3 to 4 tablespoons!
We make these as brownies! We double the recipe and use half of the sugar. So tasty! Grain free chocolate goodness.
Love that idea!!
This was a trust the process kinda project. Followed the recipe to a T. Blended my almond butter before using. Had my doubts when I started “rolling” them into balls as they created a sticky gooey mess and I thought maybe I should have added a flour substitute somewhere along the line. Used a silicone spatula to flatten them to 1/4 inch. 8 minutes in the oven. They turned out delicious. Right out of the oven slightly fluffy and rich with flavor. As they cooled they became melt in your mouth chewy. Wow!
Amazing! So glad you tried these!
These are sooo good..
There is a brownie recipe of yours that is the brownie version of this cookie and I find to be less work and less risk of crumbles. I decided to try the cookie since I didn’t have my 8×8 available for my usual brownies that are like it, but I found the cookies to be temperamental and needing just the right almond butter liquid etc and the brownies are never that way.
Thank you for the delicious cookies!!
I’m glad you loved them!
These are incredible! My 3 year old wants to bake with me almost every day, especially desserts. This was a super easy and quick recipe with healthy ingredients which felt like a win for baking with a toddler! She loved them and so did I. We followed the recipe as is, but she wanted to add some walnuts. It was a great addition!
Amazing! Such a fun project!
These were so delicious. I made them using two add ins. I added espresso powder and chopped walnuts. These are definitely going to be in my cookie rotation.
Love that! Glad you enjoyed!
These are so easy to make and UNREAL. No one believes they’re paleo.
I really loved this recipe. It was so easy. I swapped the coconut oil for olive oil because it was what I had (extra virgin) and also swapped the almond butter for creamy cashew butter, which was also lovely. I added a few extra chocolate chips as well. I also chilled the dough for a bit in the oven to give it a bit more form when I rolled them into balls. This recipe is a hit. Everyone loved them.
I used sunbutter that had sugar in it, so I reduced the coconut sugar to 1/3 cup. I baked for 8 minutes and cooled on the tray for 10 minutes—yummy!
Glad that worked well! 🙂
These cookies are wonderful. For the sweetener, I used brown sugar. They are very tender and melt in your mouth so good. Also, I added raisins and butterscotch morsels. So so yummy. Nice treat. Thank you!!
Happy to hear they came out amazing! Thanks so much for the review 🙂
This recipe is perfect. The end result is a delicious cookie that you would never know does not have flour.
I’m so happy that you’re loving them, Rebekah!! 🙂
Yum! These are so easy and so delish- used brown sugar (bit less than half a cup) and 1/4 cup chocolate chips, and 1 regular egg + 1 flax egg. They turned out great – made about 20 medium sized cookies- not too sweet, but super satisfying. Highly recommend!
Delicious flour-less cookies! I used cashew butter and two flax eggs since I’m allergic to eggs and was very pleased with the taste and texture. Baked for 10 mins and let them rest for 5 mins before putting on the cooling rack. I always use the Good Life Dark Chocolate Chunks in these recipes. Yum yum!
Wow! Wow! And again, WOW! This recipe is so bomb!! It’s amazing and I can’t wait to try your other recipes now! I never used almond butter in baking and was shocked how it all came together so beautifully. Thank you so much!! Adding this to my book of favorite recipes now! 🤤 ❤️
So happy to hear you loved these cookies! Yay!!