Cashew Cookies are made with cream and chopped cashews. The crunchy, salty cashews provide a delightful contrast to the soft, sweet cookies.
Typically, we include sweet ingredients like chocolate chips in cookies, but occasionally, it’s refreshing to introduce a contrasting flavor. The combination of salty and sweet works wonderfully together!
Why you’ll love this Cashew Cookies recipe:
- Cream or evaporated milk. I’ve made many different cookie recipes over the years and this is the only one I’ve made that calls for either cream or evaporated milk. It adds richness to the cookies and makes the texture softer as well.
- Simple ingredients. Besides the cashews, you only need 7 simple ingredients to make these cookies.
- Salty and sweet. The sweetness of the brown sugar and the saltiness of the cashews complement each other so well. If you don’t like cashews, you can swap in any type of nut you’d like.
Ingredients in Cashew Cookies
Butter – Make sure the butter is completely softened to room temperature before adding to the cookies. For best results, use real butter. I always use salted butter, but unsalted works too.
Brown sugar– I always use light brown sugar in these cookies. Just make sure your brown sugar is soft and fresh because if it is dried out, it will affect your cookies!
Egg – One large egg will bind all of the other ingredients together.
Vanilla – I suggest using a good-quality vanilla extract or a Vanilla Bean Paste.
Cream or evaporated milk – This is what sets these cookies apart from other recipes. You can use whole milk if you need to, but the texture may be a little bit different.
Flour – I usually use all-purpose flour, but you can use bread flour, or even pastry flour in this recipe.
Baking soda – This is the leavening agent in the cookies. Make sure your baking soda isn’t old or expired for best results.
Cashews – You can chop the cashews however you’d like. If you want bigger pieces, that’s great, but if you want to chop them up a little bit more, that works great too!
Tips for making Cashew Cookies
Full instructions on how to make Cashew Cookies are found below in the recipe card, but I want to make sure everyone has these tips!
- Use a cookie scoop! If you want all your cookies to be perfectly shaped and have them all be the same size, a cookie scoop is the way to go.
- Use parchment paper or a silicone baking mat. Doing this will make it really easy to remove the cookies from your cookie sheet so that you don’t have to scrape them off the pan – they will just slide right off in perfect shape!
- Don’t overbake the cookies! When I take mine out of the oven, they still look slightly under-baked but they will continue to bake on the cookie sheet for a couple more minutes so that’s ok!
- Add a few extra cashews on top! The recipe instructions indicate to mix the cashews into the cookie dough, but I like to save a few to put on top of each cookie dough ball. If you do this, the cookies will look much prettier after baking!
Storing & Freezing Cashew Cookies
Store cookies in an airtight container at room temperature for up to 4-5 days. They’ve never lasted that long at my house!
You can also freeze these cookies for up to 3 months. Or you can freeze the dough and then bake cookies on demand whenever you have a craving! Place the cookie dough balls in a single layer on a baking sheet, freeze for about an hour, and then place them in an airtight container or Ziplock bag until ready to bake.
How to Get a Perfectly Round Cookie Shape
Want to know a neat little trick? After your cookies have been baked, while they are still hot and cooling on the pan, take a medium-sized round cookie cutter or a round glass/drinking mug and place it over the top of the cookie. The round shape should be slightly bigger than the cookie for this trick to work.
Swirl the round cutter/object around the cookie, knocking it into the sides a bit as you go. The more you swirl, the smaller and thicker the cookie will become. Then let the cookies cool. This is how you can get homemade cookies to look perfectly rounded. This trick won’t work with cutout cookies, but it works fine with drop cookies and rolled cookies.
WHY ARE MY CASHEW COOKIES CRISPY AND HARD?
If your cookies are hard, crunchy, or crispy, you probably baked them too long! Cookies will continue to bake for a couple of minutes on the hot cookie sheet even after you remove them from the oven, so you don’t want to wait until they are golden brown before taking them out!
Most of my cookies are baked until barely done. I don’t even wait for the tops to start turning golden brown, but look at the edges on the bottom of the cookies. If the edges look like they are turning a little bit golden brown, they’re done!
Can I make the cookie dough in advance?
Yes, you can make the dough and keep it in a well-covered bowl in the fridge for up to a day in advance. So make the dough one day and bake it the next. Perfect for parties and occasions where you want fresh cookies but without being in the kitchen for too long.
More delicious cookies with nuts:
- If you really love nuts, you need to try these Trail Mix Peanut Butter Cookies. You can use any type of trail mix you’d like, but most have at least a few types of nuts in them.
- Almonds are delicious in cookies. Almond Drop Cookies, Toffee Almond Sandies, and Chocolate Almond Bars are some of our favorites.
- Some of our favorite cookie recipes have peanuts in them. Honey Roasted Peanut Butter Cookies and Easy Peanut Caramel Cookie Bars are both amazing!
Cashew Cookies are made with cream and chopped cashews. The crunchy, salty cashews provide a delightful contrast to the soft, sweet cookies.
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