Cashew Cookies with Salted Date Caramel Filling
on Mar 07, 2016, Updated Jan 17, 2019
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If you follow along with this blog you might notice a trend of me REALLY getting into certain foods. Whether it was the brussels sprouts binge of 2014 or the toasted coconut fiasco of 2013… I definitely have my moments. These Cashew Cookie sandwiches combine 2 of my new obsessions – dates & cashews. I have long been a fan of cashews and use them in everything from Avocado Pesto to Paleo Cheese Dip, but it was time to get some sweets in the mix. You know the classic peanut butter cookie recipe? If you don’t, it consists of 1 cup of peanut butter, 1 cup of sugar and 1 egg. I thought, well i’m sure any nut butter would work right? So I switched in some cashew butter (i buy mine at Trader Joes), some coconut sugar instead of regular, and voila! I also brought down the sugar to 3/4 cup because I knew we didn’t need them to be too sweet as there would be an ooey gooey caramely date filling. If my last post about dates didn’t convince you – this recipe will. Dates are majestic creatures and even made an appearance on my pizza last night!
Oh and PRO TIP for ya. If you are so blessed to have a trader joe’s near you (sorry lovely sister in Montana!) – then here is a cashew tip that will save you money. You can buy 1 pound of raw cashews for 7.99, but right next to those you will find 1 pound of raw cashew pieces for about 5.49!! These are perfect for things involving crushing said cashews – like these cookies! You can thank this penny pincher later. (insert kissy face emoji)
Squeezing filling into sandwich cookies is my favorite!!
Eating cookies is a close second though…. Pin it puhlease??
Cashew Cookies with Salted Date Caramel Filling
Ingredients
Scale
Cookies:
- 1 cup cashew butter
- 3/4 cup coconut sugar
- 1 egg
Caramel Filling:
- 1 1/2 cups dates
- 1 cup cashews
- 1 teaspoon vanilla
- 1/2 teaspoon salt
- 3 tablespoons water
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 350 degrees and line a cookie sheet with parchment paper. In a mixing bowl combine cashew butter, coconut sugar and the egg. Whisk until combined then scoop 12 equal sized balls onto the cookie sheet. Take your palm and slightly flatten each dough ball. Bake for 11 minutes. Remove from the oven and let cool completely.
- While the cookies cool, take out your food processor with blade attachment. Add cashews to the food processor and pulse until the nuts are about the size of a pea. Then add in dates, vanilla, salt and water. Process until the mixture is smooth. Then transfer the “caramel” to a large ziplock bag and cut about 1/2 inch off the corner.
- Lay one cookie down, bottom up, and squeeze about 1-2 tablespoons onto the cookie. Top with another cookie to make a sandwich.
- ***This recipe will make 6 sandwich cookies with extra filling. You can double the cookie recipe and make 12 sandwiches without changing the filling amount!
I loved this recipe the moment I saw it. My granddaughter and I made them the other day. Sort of. I’m afraid I tweaked it around quite a bit, as I needed to reduce the sugar content, and they turned out delicious and beautiful. Thank you so much! This was my pick for Recipe of the Day yesterday on YayYay’s Kitchen Facebook page.
Oh yay!!! I was so excited about this recipe, we ate all of them in 2 days!! Love cashews so much! Thanks for reading!
Okay these look AMAZING! When I saw them I immediately thought of my childhood and my beloved little debbie oatmeal cream pies. I am making these asap!
Thanks Maddie!! They are sooo tasty!!! If you like cashews you will just DIE!! 🙂
There is no mention of dates in the directions; when are the 1½ cups dates introduced into the “caramel” mixture?
Ah thank you for letting me know! Just updated the recipe. You add the dates after the cashews! 🙂 Thanks for reading and enjoy!
I am allergic to eggs. Is there any way to replace them with something else in the recipe? I know a flax egg might, but do you know of anything else?
Good question! I haven’t tried anything else but a flax egg should work, possible even 1/2 a smashed ripe banana. Only thing is it might give it banana flavor! Let me know if either of those work for you!
Could almond butter be used for the cookies?
Yes!!
Absolutely love these cookies! Do you by any chance know the nutritional info on them, like calories per cookie?
I do not! You can enter it in myfitnesspal though!