Healthy and nutritionally packed, these easy Teff Almond Butter Cookies pair beautifully with coffee or tea. Gluten-free, vegan, and refined sugar-free.
The increased amount of sun this week has made everything feel a bit easier. Daylight savings and Spring seemed to have coordinated their schedules because we couldn’t have asked for a more beautiful introduction to March. It also felt like a good time to take our Christmas wreath with its festive lights down off the front door. I know. I did, though, stop turning the wreath lights on at the close of January.
Clearly, you can see where my priorities are not.
Much of my attention recently has been given to these teff almond butter cookies. I have been wanting to do more with teff as it seems like it has a variety of uses. Touted as a nutritional powerhouse, full of amino acids, fiber, and protein, it is one gluten-free grain that I haven’t experimented with much.
After researching cookie recipes that used teff and nut butters, the ratios of teff flour to nut butter all seemed to be the same. But I played anyways, using a little more teff, a little less, sweetening with coconut sugar, switching up and sweetening with maple syrup, more salt, less salt, a touch with cinnamon, some without.
I ended up resorting back to the seemingly tried and true ratio of teff flour to nut butter, then sweetening with maple syrup, adding ground cinnamon for some warmth, and enhancing the almond butter base with some almond extract. These cookies have a delicate texture, are slightly crumbly, and remind me a little of a softer shortbread cookie.
I also tinkered with the cooking time quite a bit, maybe a little too obsessively, but came to the conclusion that a slightly undercooked cookie center made for the best outcome. Overbaking by a couple minutes sucks the moisture out of these little bites and leaves you running for the nearest beverage. Speaking of beverage, these cookies do pair nicely with coffee or tea.
Teff Almond Butter Cookies (Gluten-free, Vegan)
Ingredients
- 1 1/2 cups teff flour
- 1/2 teaspoon salt
- 1/4 teaspoon ground cinnamon
- 1 cup unsalted almond butter
- 1/2 cup maple syrup
- 1/2 cup melted coconut oil
- 1/4 teaspoon pure almond extract
- 1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
- Sea salt for sprinkling
Instructions
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Preheat oven to 350 degrees Fahrenheit. Line a cookie sheet with parchment paper or a Silpat.
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In a large bowl, combine teff flour, salt, and cinnamon. Add almond butter, maple syrup, coconut oil (make sure it is no longer hot), and almond and vanilla extracts. Stir with a rubber spatula until well combined.
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Roll cookie dough into small balls and place on cookie sheet. With a fork, flatten balls about halfway down. Sprinkle cookies with sea salt.
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Bake for 10-11 minutes. Overtaking will result in a dry cookie. Remove from cookie sheet and allow to cool on a wire rack.
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Store in an airtight container.
Recipe Notes
Granulated sugar will not work well as a substitute for maple syrup in this recipe.
Adapted from Maskal Teff.
Christina @ Bake with Christina says
Mmm what yummy looking cookies! I’m a huge fan of almond butter, and I would LOVE to use it in a cookie recipe, definitely have to give these a try!! Pinned :)
Tessa says
These are so easy to throw together too. Thanks, Christina!
Gwen @ Delightful Adventures says
Good for you for sticking with it and doing all the experimenting! I find this to be something that is necessary with gluten-free baking. I have only used teff flour once in a recipe, I think this recipe will be attempt number 2! Love that they have the crumbly texture of a shortbread. Beautiful pics as usual :)
Tessa says
Thank you, Gwen! I had so many batches of these cookies laying around we started running out of room in our little kitchen! :)
Sarah @ SnixyKitchen says
Teff flour is also one of those gluten-free flours I haven’t experimented with much either. I love the simplicity of this recipe – as a cookie-holic, I’m definitely going to be making these. Also – your photos, as always, are so beautiful and comforting.
Tessa says
Thank you, Sarah! I’m totally ready to try out some other recipes with teff now. But I do love how quickly these cookies come together! xo.
Kathryn says
I’m so excited to have a use for my teff flour! These cookies sound wonderful, just the right balance of sweet and nutty and tender. Can’t wait to try them!
Tessa says
I can’t wait to hear what you use your teff in. I’m determined to use it in a blend for bread next…I may be getting ahead of myself though. Ha.
Thalia @ butter and brioche says
What delicious cookies.. I love the almond butter flavour and all the sprinkle action going on.
Tessa says
Thank you, Thalia! The almond butter makes for such easy cookie-making too. xo.
Laura says
Yummm!!! I’ve been using teff flour a lot lately in baking and it is certainly a win. Thanks for this inspiration for cookies as well!
Tessa says
Thanks, Laura! So glad to hear you are a teff fan as well! :)
Shannon says
These are stunning and sound delicious! I love all of the creative teff recipes I’ve been seeing on blogs lately. It has such a great nutty flavor and the nutritional benefits are only a plus :D
Tessa says
I agree, the nutritional benefits are such a bonus! Thanks so much, Shannon!
Medha @ Whisk & Shout says
Lovely photos! These are adorable, pinning :)
Tessa says
Thank you, Medha! Have a great weekend! :)
Anne says
This sounds amazing!!!
Tessa says
Thank you, Anne! :)
Ingredient1 says
Not sure if I’ve ever tasted a teff cookie – very innovative! Can’t wait to try these :)
Tessa says
Thanks so much! I hope you enjoy them!
Alanna says
Omgggggg, give me ALL the cookies! These look freaking spectacular. I’ve just started baking with teff flour and I’m HOOKED – so malty and earthy. I just love these photos.
Tessa says
Hahaha, thank you Alanna!! I am now a teff convert. I keep trying to decide what I want to make next with it!
Nela says
Pictures look delicious. I tried the recipe, but it was too liquid to form balls. Is there a trick? I ended up having used xylitol instead of maple syrup and adding more flour still.
Thanks,
Tessa says
Hi Nela! Thanks so much for your comment. I haven’t used xylitol with these before, but during one of my testing trials I made them with coconut sugar instead of maple syrup and the outcome was similar to your try with xylitol. I wish I knew the science behind this, but for some reason granulated sweeteners make for a thinner cookie dough. If you want to keep playing with these using xylitol, you might try mixing all the ingredients together and then slowly adding a little bit of the melted coconut oil at a time, until you get a consistency that will come together and form balls. If you find an adaptation with xylitol that seems to work best, I’d love to hear.
Nela says
Hi Tessa,
I’m actually having one of your cookies now – followed exact recipe just substituting some of the maple syrup with agave. The texture is much better, crumblier this time, and they even increased in size unlike 1st time when I used xylitol.
Looks like it really depends on the brand of almond butter. E.g. MaraNatha almond butter works great while when I used ‘Nuts to You’ it got too liquid.
Thanks again for great recipe
Regards
Nela
Tessa says
Oh yay! I’m so glad you had better success this time and that agave worked as a good sub for the maple syrup. Thank you so much for letting me know! That’s great to know about the two different almond butters as well. Thank you, Nela!
Jennifer says
Was I the only one who had these cookies spread way too much out? I know part of the problem is that I had to special order teff from a local store, and they only had teff not teff flour. I tried grinding it down, but I am sure some of it didn’t grind all the way. But I am thinking if maybe it was too hot? The oil and almond butter was melted and liquidy (I poured out the almond butter to measure it) Do you think if I kept the dough cold it would of kept shape better?
Tessa says
Hi Jennifer – I’m so sorry to hear that the cookies spread! I have a couple guesses to what might help. I’m wondering if the teff grain you had to grind wasn’t ground fine enough and therefore wasn’t able to absorb the liquids as well. I use Bob’s Red Mill teff flour which is finely ground and a lot of times I order it through Amazon since my local store doesn’t always have it in stock. You may also want to let the melted coconut oil cool a bit more before adding it to the mix. It may help if you happen to be using a new jar of almond butter to stir it up completely and refrigerate it before using in the recipe as I think sometimes the oil content in nut butters can vary. I think your idea of chilling the dough could be great too. If you try again and find something that works well with your teff, I would love to know! Thanks, Jennifer!
Jennifer says
I used a trader joe’s raw almond butter, and that stuff is thin! I think that is a major problem. It was still pourable after storing the open jar in the fridge. It was also so hot when I made the cookies that the coconut oil was in liquid form. I am wondering if these conditions for the oil and nut butter would get better results with a solid sugar, like date sugar or coconut sugar? Regardless, the flat cookies were still pretty darn tasty. And gives me motivation to keep using teff!
Tessa says
Good to know! When I was experimenting with this recipe I actually tried using coconut sugar and the result were cookies that spread like crazy! I had another reader that subbed the maple syrup with granulated xylitol and hers spread as well. When she tried again and did part maple syrup, part agave, they came together much better. There is something about the the liquid sweetener and ratio to flour absorption that seems to work best. I wish I knew the science behind it! I’m so glad you found the cookies to be tasty. I think teff is such a cool grain/flour to work with and I am pumped to try it with more things as well. Thanks so much for getting back to me!
rahel says
Excellent recipe!!! Super-healthy, super-tasty cookies! I was scouring the internet for a cookie recipe that wasn’t 100% almond flour but when I came upon this one, I was nervous about 100% teff so tweaked it to be 1 cup teff, 1/4 cup almond flour and 1/4 cup glutinous rice flour. Then tweaked some more to suit allergies and ingredients on hand so 1/4 cup dairy butter instead of the coconut oil, 1/2 cup honey instead of the maple syrup, reduced to 1/2 cup almond butter. Turned out fantastic. I cannot thank you enough for providing a solid recipe to work with.
Tessa says
Thank you, Rahel! I am so, so glad to hear it!
renee (will frolic for food) says
ah! i love these little gems! can’t wait to try this recipe out. love the clean styling in these shots, too.
Tessa says
Thanks, Renee!! I hope you like them – they are so freaking addictive!
Gillian says
These are so delicious! I didn’t have hazelnuts so I made these, but your hazelnut teff cookies are next on my list.
Tessa says
Thank you! I am so happy you liked them!! I hope you like the hazelnut teff cookies just as much. The hazelnut + chocolate together is so good!
Maddy says
Omg. Tessa. I just made these and I didn’t think the batter would make it to the oven because I couldn’t stop eating it by the spoonful straight out of the bowl. THESE ARE AMAZING. Where has this recipe been hiding?! Everyone needs to make these!!!! The flavors are incredible – so complex and comforting. I’m graduating college this week and am giving them to my favorite professor as an end-of-the-year thank you. I can’t even. I could go on and on. Thank you!!
Tessa says
Maddy! I am SO happy you liked them! You just made my day. Seriously. :) And what a compliment that you are giving them as a gift!
Congrats on your graduation!!! What’s next for you?
Liz Smith says
So sad to report that I just made the Teff Almond Butter Cookies recipe (following to a “T”) and it was a disaster. The cookies melted into each other and didn’t adhere as a solid, turning into a mess of crumbs. I saved the mess of cooked crumbs and will probably try using it as pie or crumble crust. I think if I pressed it into the bottom of a dish it might stay put and be delicious.
Tessa says
Hi Liz – I’m so sorry to hear that. I know that is frustrating and hate that that was your experience. My only guess as to why they didn’t stay solid is that the almond butter may have had a higher oil content. I have found in making other recipes that nut butter oils can vary sometimes and alter the results. I like your idea of saving as a crust and agree it would be delicious as a crumble!
Miriam says
These cookies were delicious! It’s hard to find almond butter where I live so I substituted and used Tahina which worked well. Thanks for this recipe
Miriam
Tessa says
That’s awesome! Thanks so much for your note. I will have to try them with tahini as well. If almond butter is hard to find, you can also throw a couple cups of almonds into a food processor and make your own almond butter. I love toasting my almonds and then processing them!
Beth says
I try introducing healthy options for my toddler… Due to the high protein content of teff, I wanted to intoduce it to his diet and one can’t go wrong with cookies. I made a few alterations and it still turned out great, thanks for the wonderful recipe :))))
My son has nut allergies, so instead of almond butter, I used tahini…
Since making it vegan wasn’t a concern for me, I used organic butter instead of coconut oil.
Lastly, I didn’t sprinkle salt on top as I added 1/2 cup of raisins.
Tessa says
Tahini is such a great sub! I’m so glad it worked for you. Thanks so much for your kind note, Beth!!
Rachel says
Thank you so much! Sounds really interesting! Can i sub the almond butter with peanut butter?
Tessa says
Hi Rachel! I think natural peanut butter would sub in just fine! :)
Rachel says
Really amazing cookies!!! :)
Tessa says
Thank you, Rachel!!