Almond Butter Sugar Cookies

These almond butter sugar cookies are soft, perfectly chewy thanks to the addition of almond butter and just the right amount of sweet. They are vegan, oil free, and less sugar than your standard cookie without losing flavor. Includes a gluten free alternative.

Multiple stacks of sugar cookies along with cut outs of Christmas tress cut out cookies on either side of the stack.

Why you’ll love these almond butter sugar cookies

  • These are oil free and actually use much less sugar than typical recipes.
  • They are soft on the inside with a slight crisp on the outside.
  • Add an extra bit of flour to the dough and you can turn these into cutout cookies.

Top down shot of the sugar cookie stack and a clearer shot of the powder sugar dusted cookie cutouts.

Key Ingredients

  • All Purpose Flour: to help preserve the color of our sugar cookies as best as possible, I recommend using all purpose flour or oat flour
  • Almond Butter: use a runny almond butter, I prefer using the Trader Joe’s Raw Almond Butter, but you can also use cashew butter for this too
  • Apple Sauce: a binder and another layer of sweetness
  • Organic White Sugar: vegan and will help preserve the color of our cookies
  • Cornstarch: an additional binder, but helps to keep your cookie from falling completely flat
  • Vanilla Extract: will help to amplify the flavor of our cookies

Combining wet and dry cookie ingredients in a bowl and working to form it into a smooth dough ball.

How to Make these holiday cookies

  1. Set your oven to 350F. In a mixing bowl, combine your dry ingredients together and mix well.
  2. Follow by adding in your almond butter, apple sauce, and vanilla extract into the same bowl and mixing together well with a fork and if needed work into a dough with clean hands.
  3. Stir to combine into a sticky dough and then place in the fridge to sit for about 15 minutes.
  4. Prepare a lined baking sheet, and with a cookie scoop or spoon portion out dough across your baking sheet making sure to leave enough space in between.
  5. With clean hands, roll portioned out dough into balls and gently press down on the dough to flatten to about 1 inch thickness, then place your baking sheet into the oven for 9-11 minutes.
  6. Remove from oven and allow to slightly cool undisturbed for 5-10 minutes.

Stack of sugar cookies sitting on some parchment paper.

Tips for making the best sugar cookies

  • To keep the color preserved, make sure to opt for light colored ingredients, this is why it’s important to choose white flour and white sugar as your base since we are using other beige colors in this recipe.
  • To make these cookies gluten free, replace the all purpose flour with equal amounts all purpose gluten free flour. Please note that if using oat flour or almond flour, the dough may spread out more, so make sure you give them a little room.
  • You can sub out your almond butter for cashew butter for a paler cookie. I opted for almond butter as it’s more accessible and tends to be cheaper than the cashew butter.
  • Chill your dough. This will help keep the inside of your cookies chewy and will especially help the gluten free cookies to help keep their shape better.
  • You can use this recipe to also make cut out cookies. To do this, you will need to make sure your dough isn’t sticky. Sprinkle some flour over a working surface as well as on your dough and use a floured rolling pin to roll your dough flat and then proceed to use cookie cutter to cut out cookie shapes. Place these cookies in the oven to bake for 8-9 minutes.

Freshly baked cut out cookies in the shape of Christmas trees, lightly dusted with powdered sugar to look like a little dusting of snow.

More cookie recipes

A clear look at the insider of these cookies after being broken in half revealing a soft and chewy center.

Print
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A stack of almond butter sugar cookies along with some cut out Christmas tree cookies on either side of the stack.

Almond Butter Sugar Cookies

5 Stars 4 Stars 3 Stars 2 Stars 1 Star 5 from 1 review
  • Prep Time: 15 minutes
  • Cook Time: 9 minutes
  • Total Time: 24 minutes
  • Yield: 12 cookies 1x
  • Category: Dessert
  • Cuisine: American

Description

These almond butter sugar cookies are soft, perfectly chewy thanks to the addition of almond butter and just the right amount of sweet.


Ingredients

Scale
  • 1 cup all purpose flour
  • 1/3 cup organic white sugar
  • 2 tsp cornstarch
  • 1 tsp baking powder
  • 1/4 tsp baking soda
  • 1/4 tsp salt
  • 1/4 cup almond butter
  • 4 tbsp apple sauce
  • 1 tsp vanilla extract

Instructions

  1. Set your oven to 350F.
  2. In a mixing bowl, combine flour, sugar, cornstarch, baking powder, baking soda and salt together and mix well.
  3. Follow by adding in your almond butter, apple sauce, and vanilla and mix well first using a fork and then if needed using your hands until a smooth and lightly sticky dough starts to form.
  4. Place bowl with dough in the fridge and let set for about 15 minutes.
  5. Prepare a lined baking sheet, and with a cookie scoop or spoon portion out dough across your baking sheet making sure to leave enough space in between.
  6. With clean hands, gently press down on each dough ball to slightly flatten it, then place your baking sheet into the oven for 9-11 minutes.
  7. Remove cookies from the oven and allow to slightly cool undisturbed for 5-10 minutes.

Notes

To make cookie cutouts

  • If you would like to make cut out cookies using this dough, place a sheet of parchment paper on a flat working surface and flour it.
  • Take your dough from out of the freezer and place on the floured surface. Sprinkle top of dough with flour and  gently press the dough down slightly to flatten.
  • Flour a rolling pin and begin to roll out your dough to about 1/4 inch thickness. Using a floured cookie cutter, cut out shapes as desired, peeling excess dough away and placing cut shapes on a lined baking sheet.
  • Rework and re-flour extra dough as needed until all cookies are cut and ready to bake. Bake for 8-9 minutes. Allow to completely cool before adding any icing or designing. 

Did You Try This Recipe?
Then let me know what you thought! Share your creations by tagging me on Instagram with the hashtag #plantbasedrdeats

 Catherine

One Comment

  1. Made a double batch with cashew instead of almond butter into cut shapes and they are phenomenal- very light and tasty with the shapes staying solid (some chilled in the fridge, others in the freezer with no discernible difference in spread). Excited to make more because the recipe was easy and these are going to go fast.






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