I first bought almond butter for my sugar-free chocolate ball experiments, but I figured there was no reason why I should earmark it for “healthy” stuff only – surely it would do wonders in something pretty decadent, too? Like soft chocolate chip cookies. It would. It did. Now I can eat chocolate chip cookies and convince myself that I’m getting all the health benefits of eating almonds at the same time. Yay!

 

Note that the dough is not too sweet – you can add a little more sugar if you like, and using milk chocolate rather than dark chocolate also sweetens things. I really enjoy the almond & chocolate combo, and love the way almond butter gives the cookies a more rustic texture and flavour.

 

Almond Butter Chocolate Chip Cookies (20 cookies)

 

1/4 cup butter, softened

1/4 cup almond butter

1/2 cup firmly packed light brown sugar

1 egg

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

1 teaspoon almond extract

1 cup all-purpose flour

1 teaspoon baking soda

1/4 teaspoon salt

100 g chocolate (milk or dark, your choice), chopped

 

Preheat oven to 190 C. Line two cookie sheets with parchment paper.

In a bowl, beat butter, almond butter and light brown sugar until light and fluffy.

Add the egg, vanilla and almond extract, beat well.

In a small bowl, combine flour, baking soda and salt. Add the flour mixture to the butter mixture, mix until combined.

Fold in chopped chocolate.

Shape dough into 1” balls and place on cookie sheets. Bake for 7-9 minutes.