Cashew Butter Cookies

I love love love being in the kitchen with my little girl and baking with her is always a treat! In this post I'm going to share with you how we make Cashew Butter Cookies. I found a recipe I loved for them and I'll share it here, but I specified a few of the ingredients we use when we make them and gave steps for how you can make them with a child. 

This time we made Cashew Butter Cookies, they're very similar to peanut butter cookies but way yummier! These make a great dessert for any time and especially if you're going to be around someone who has a peanut allergy or if you or your kids do. These cookies will be gobbled up in no time no matter who you're serving them too, and I feel good about the healthy ingredients in them.

Cashew Butter Cookies Recipe:

Ingredients:
- 1 1/2 cups all purpose flour (Trader Joe's Unbleached All Purpose Flour is my personal favorite)
- 1/2 tsp baking powder
- 1/2 tsp baking soda
- 1/4 tsp salt
- 1/2 cup Earth Balance Original Natural Buttery Spread, room temperature
- 1 cup of raw sugar (We like Sugar In The Raw)
- 1/2 cup creamy salted cashew butter (Trader Joe's brand  for us)
- 1 egg
- 1 1/2 tsp vanilla extract

First preheat the oven to 350.

Step 1: Teach your little one how to measure out the dry ingredients and level them off. Then let them put the flour in a medium sized bowl and use a fork to remove any clumps.

Step 2: Have them add the baking powder, baking soda, and salt to the bowl with the flour and use the fork to mix them all together.

Step 3: Get out a bigger mixing bowl together and put the butter and sugar into it together. When we use the buttery spread I don't worry too much about it being room temperature since it's already pretty soft, but getting the amount you need out before doing the first two steps can be a good idea.

Step 4: Get out the mixer and cream the sugar and the butter together. When we do this I let my daughter hold on to the mixer and then I take my hand and place it on top of hers and control most of the movements, but this way she is learning how it's done and is still a part of the process.

Step 5: Now, add in the cashew butter, egg and vanilla extract. You're going to beat it in with the mixer until it is smooth. Again, I'd do this the way I mentioned in step 4.

Step 6: This next part can get a little tricky with kids if they're wanting to dump all the dry ingredients right into the mix, but you can explain how you're going to gradually add the dry ingredients to the large bowl and use the mixer on low speed to blend it into the cashew butter mixture you've made.

Step 7: Now you and your child can get your hands dirty and make little balls for the cookies, about 1 inch in size and put them on a baking sheet that has parchment paper on it. Explain to your child how you leave a little bit of space between the cookies so they don't bake together.

Step 8: This is my daughter's favorite part (in the picture above), once all the cookies are on the baking sheet get a fork a little bit wet and do a demonstration of rocking it back and forth on the cookie in a criss-cross fashion to make a pattern on it, then let them do all the rest of the cookies. They will definitely feel like they're putting their special touch on them.

Step 9: Bake for 11-13 minutes, until the edges are looking a little bit golden brown.