Cashew Butter Conversation Heart Cookies (vegan, gluten free, refined sugar free, oil free)
Feb 09, 2020 • Updated Feb 07, 2024
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Cashew Butter Conversation Heart Cookies!
It’s that time of year, and in the name of love, I bring you these Cashew Butter Conversation Heart Cookies! These are not only easy to make (one bowl, y’all!) but also super customizable and fun to ice. Unlike your average cookie, this cookie is sweetened without refined sugars and made with feel good ingredients. Yeah, enjoying dessert is great and all, but enjoying dessert minus the sugar crash after? Win win ????
Whether you’re making these cookies for friends or loved ones, they are delicious and extra special with that personal touch. They can be made crunchy or chewy (whatever floats your boat), and have a light sweetness to them. To make these cookies, I modified my tried and true Maple Tahini Cookie base recipe, and am sharing 2 different ways to create icing sugar using coconut. That’s right! You can make icing without using conventional powdered sugar.
So grab your ingredients–there are only 5–and come prepared with some catchy phrases to ice on your cookies. Let me know which cookie you’d eat first!
what’s in these Cashew Butter Conversation Heart Cookies?
- These Cashew Butter Conversation Heart Cookies are vegan, gluten-free, oil free, refined sugar free and made in just one bowl.
- Cashew butter → is the healthy fat source we’re using in place of what would typically be butter or oil in a cookie. I like using cashew butter because it’s one of the most neutral nut or seed butters to use (tahini is wonderful but has a slight bitterness, almond butter works well and peanut butter tends to be overpowering).
- Oat flour → one of my favourite gluten-free flours. It can be tricky texturally when making a baked good like cake or bread, but for cookies, it’s the perfect flour. If you’re allergic to gluten, be sure to use a certified gluten free oat flour, and I find that a storebought oat flour works best. If you’re DIY-ing oat flour at home (simply blending dry oats to a powder), I recommend sifting to make sure it’s superfine.
- Maple syrup → has to be one of my all time favourite ingredients to use to sweeten. It’s an easy alternative sweetener in liquid form, and as you know, I use it in a ton of my recipes. As an alternative to maple syrup, you can use agave, or your preferred sweetener of choice.
- Coconut sugar → is a secret ingredient I use to make powdered sugar, refined sugar free! It’s a great alternative to conventional sugar, and all you need to do is blend it in a high speed blender until powdered. Alternatively, you can substitute coconut sugar for regular powdered sugar (no shame in the game) to mix with a little water to create icing.
- Coconut butter → stands in as a great icing replacement too! You can warm it up and use a piping bag with a tip to ice your cookies, though it does take a little more time to set and is a little harder to control. It’s also delicious with a touch of maple syrup added to it (whisk while warming together). Choose your own adventure!
- Natural food colouring → was used to achieve this gorgeous pink/red colour. Because I shot the photos towards the end of the day with limited light, the colour of the cookies look more red, but in reality they’re a beautiful fuchsia colour that I achieved using all natural food colouring. No artificial dyes, just a fruit based powder.
secrets to success
I highly recommend using a baking mat or parchment paper and rolling pin for best results. If you want, you can also use any bottle you have lying around in the kitchen, but because the cookies are fragile, using a nonstick surface is key.
A piping bag and tip is kind of a must to ice these cookies nicely. I tried freehand and ended up using a piping bag because I couldn’t get it to spoon nicely. Alternatively, you can use a ziploc bag and cut a tiny hole in the tip of one corner to makeshift it.
if you like this recipe, try…
- High Protein Chocolate Mousse
- Heart Beet Brownies
- Flourless “Nutella” Choc Hazelnut Cookies
- Chocolate Chip Chickpea Blondies
- Double Chocolate Quinoa Granola
- Hot Chocolate French Toast
If you try these Cashew Butter Conversation Heart Cookies, tag me on Instagram @veggiekins so I can see your delicious re-creations and for a chance to be featured! As always, I love when you share your reviews in the comments below, and if you make any fun substitutions, let me know how it worked out below too!
This post may contain affiliate links.
Cashew Butter Conversation Heart Cookies (vegan, gluten free, refined sugar free, oil free)
Ingredients
- 1 1/4 cup fine oat flour or all purpose gluten-free flour of choice
- 1/2 cup creamy cashew butter opt for one without added sugar/oils
- 1/3-1/2 cup maple syrup
- 1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
- 1 tsp baking powder
- pinch of salt
- optional
- 1 tbsp cacao powder
- coconut sugar
- coconut butter
- natural food colouring
Instructions
- Preheat your oven to 350F while you prepare your dough.
- In a large bowl, whisk together cashew butter, maple syrup and vanilla extract until smooth. If using food colouring, add it to the wet ingredients.
- Sift in oat flour, baking powder and salt then mix together using a spatula until a dough forms. It should be workable with your hands. If you find it to be too wet, you can pop it into the fridge to set for a few more minutes, or add additional oat flour by the tablespoon.
- Roll dough out between 2 nonstick baking mats or sheets of parchment paper using a rolling pin (or any bottle you have lying around!) until roughly 1/4 inch thick. Use a heart shaped cookie cutter to make hearts.
- Place on a nonstick baking mat, leaving at least a 1/2 inch between each cookie. They won't spread too much, but give them rom to bake evenly. Bake for roughly 10-13 minutes, keeping in mind the cookies will firm up after baking.
- Let cool completely before preparing your icing. If using coconut sugar, blend until a powder forms, then mix 1/4 cup with non-dairy milk or water by the teaspoon. Mix until you achieve a thick paste. If the mixture is too wet, it will take a long time to set and will be harder to ice with. If using coconut butter, melt by placing the jar into a pot of freshly boiled water (off the stove). Allow to melt, and once melted, transfer to a piping bag and allow to cool slightly before icing. Again, coconut butter is harder to work with, but is a great whole food alternative.
Nutrition information is automatically calculated, so should only be used as an approximation.
