Our creamy cashew butter cookies were inspired by a recipe from Justin’s mom. She is famous for her peanut butter cookies, and I know Justin misses them from time to time, so I set out to make a paleo friendly version. Our paleo friendly version has all the thick, velvety goodness of peanut butter, but without the refined sugar and legumes.

With only 3 ingredients (plus one optional ingredient), these cookies are quick to mix up and require minimal effort and clean up. If you haven’t familiarized yourself with cashew butter yet, we highly recommend it! I asked Justin for what words he’d use to describe peanut butter, so I could describe the similarities between peanut butter and cashew butter. His response was, “Other than the favorite snack for a fat kid?!” I laughed, out loud. Justin might have been a fat kid once, and peanut butter was his favorite, so when I made these while he was away working on our remodel project in Bend, he was a little eager to get home and taste test. We LOVE cashew butter and find it is the most like peanut butter in flavor and texture. It is creamy, nutty, salty and heavenly. It is great for dipping vegetables in, especially carrots and celery. We might even dip plantain chips in it from time to time as well, and more recently I decided to try them as the base for these creamy cashew butter cookies. It was a good move.

You have the option to use honey, coconut sugar or maple sugar. The cookies come out slightly different with the various sweeteners. With the honey, they have a lighter consistency and texture and come out of the oven more golden looking. The honey definitely shines through in appearance and flavor.

Creamy Cashew Butter Cookies two

You can see the the cookie above on the left is lighter and made with honey, while the one on the right was made with coconut sugar. The cookie with the coconut sugar is a little more dense and crumbly; it is also a little less sweet than the honey sweetened cookie. The cashew butter flavor comes through more definitively when paired with the coconut sugar.

Cream cashew butter cookies three

Get your cashew butter out of the pantry, or head on over to Trader Joe’s or Whole Foods to pick some up. Then, make a batch of these creamy cashew butter cookies and let us know what you think by leaving a comment below. Take a picture and tag it on Instagram @realsimplegood so we can check it out!

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Creamy Cashew Butter Cookies (Paleo + Vegan)

Our creamy cashew butter cookies have all the thick, velvety goodness of peanut butter, but without the refined sugar and legumes. Only 3 ingredients make this the easiest and most tasty cookie you'll ever make!

Ingredients

  • 1 cup cashew butter
  • 1 cup coconut or maple sugar, (OR 1/4 cup raw local honey not vegan though)
  • 1 tsp vanilla
  • Optional: If you're a fan of chunky peanut butter cookies add a 1/2 cup of roughly chopped roasted cashews (you can pulse them in a food processor until they are roughly chopped if you have one)

Equipment

Instructions
 

  • Preheat your oven to 350 degrees fahrenheit, and line a baking sheet with a silicone liner or parchment paper.
  • In a medium mixing bowl, add all of the ingredients to your bowl and mix with a spoon until all of the ingredients are mixed together and smooth in texture (except for the chopped cashews if you used them).
  • Next, scoop out tablespoon sized balls and place them on the silicone or parchment lined baking sheet. You'll want to give them al little space between cookies, but they won't expand a ton while they bake. You should be able to fit all of the cookies on one sheet.
  • Place the sheet in the oven and bake for 10-12 minutes, until the edges start to brown and the center firms up. It will continue to solidify as it cools on the rack. 
  • Remove from the oven and let your cookies cool for 2-3 minutes. Then, use a fork to make indentions on the cookies. Do the first marking and then make the next set perpendicular to the first one...like you've done with peanut butter cookies in the past.
  • Once the cookies have cooled all the way, eat these creamy cashew butter cookies up! Enjoy!

Last Step:

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