Chocolate Cashew Butter Cookies

I have to confess, the reason I decided to bake cookies is because I was eating spoonful after spoonful of nut butter with chocolate chips on top. Save me from myself!

So, instead of just eating the nut butter + chocolate chips by the spoonful I thought baking them as cookies would make it more acceptable. Plus, baking is a great excuse to eat the ingredients (cashew butter + chocolate chips) by the spoonful. Sigh. Some days this just happens.


Cashew Butter.

This stuff is crack. I've been making it homemade now for the last several weeks and it doesn't last long. It's so easy to make and soooo much better homemade. Try making your own:

• Roast 1-2 c cashews at 325 for a 5-10 min until fragrant. 
• Allow to cool for a few minutes, then process in a blender. 

A vitamix works best, but you can use any blender. Just have patience and give it breaks. I blew out a blender a couple years ago making homemade nutella- I just kept pushing without letting the blender have a moment. Lesson learned.

In any event, since I was trying out a new recipe I decided to test several options/additions to find the best one. I tried four different combos of flavors: 1) simple cashew butter, 2) lucuma + maple + hemp, 3) hemp seed + maca, and 4) cacao cashew.

However, ALL recipes had chocolate chips :)

Ready to bake

I tasted all four options. Multiple times.

Finished product x4

And I just couldn't decide which one I liked best between the Simple Cashew and the Cacao Cashew.  So I decided to share both recipes :)

Chocolate Cashew Butter Cookies: Two Ways

Version 1. Simple

• 1 c cashew butter 
• 6 dates, pitted, soaked in hot water, and mashed into a paste
• 1/4 c maple syrup
• 2 eggs (or chia eggs for vegan version)
• 1/4 tsp baking soda
• 1/4 tsp vanilla
• pinch of salt
• 1/2 c mini chocolate chips 
• 1/3 c hemp seeds (optional)

Version 2. McChocolate-y

• 1 c cashew butter 
• 6 dates, pitted, soaked in hot water, and mashed into a paste
• 2 eggs (or chia eggs for vegan version)
• 1/4 tsp baking soda
• 1/4 tsp vanilla
• pinch of salt
• 1/2 c raw cacao powder
• 1/4 c maple syrup
• 3/4 - 1 c mini chocolate chips (I used about 1 cup....I really wanted chocolate!)

Bake at 350 for 10 minutes. Remove from baking sheet at let cool for a few minutes to set.

Flax egg- worked really well in this recipe!

Chocolate Chocolate Cashew Cookie

Simple. Classic. Delicious.