“Heaven in a jar: I only wish that I could show more restraint with this stuff – I always plan to use it in moderation but the plan never seems quite to work out. It really is too delicious for my own good!”

An over 65 Waitrose customer from Hull leaving a review of Meridian cashew butter

Alright, so you may wonder if it’s worth buying cashew butter if you have a perfectly good jar of peanut just to hand. Hopefully the reviewer above will convince you to give it a go, but if not the peanut butter… or almond butter will both do.

Chocolate-strewn cashew cookies

Makes 12

Ingredients

• 120g/4 oz/½ cup cashew butter
• 100g/1 cup ground almonds
• 60 ml/4 tbsps maple syrup
• 50g/¼ cup/4 tbsps soft brown sugar
• 100g/¾ cup wholemeal flour
• 1 tsp ground cinnamon
• 3 tbsps coconut oil… or use walnut or almond oil
• 100g/3 oz dark chocolate

Method

1. Preheat the oven to 180°C.
2. Line a baking tray with silicon paper.
3. Put everything except the chocolate into a large mixing bowl and mix and knead together until it forms one lump. It should still be a bit sticky (dry as a bone? As a bit more nut butter).
4. Drop generous tablespoons of the mixture onto the baking tray, with as much space as you can achieve left around them. Squash down with the back of a spoon or your fingers – these cookies won’t expand as they cook like most do.
5. Bake 10-15 minutes. Leave to cool on the tray.
6. Meanwhile melt the chocolate by breaking it up and either by putting it in a heatproof bowl, and suspending that over simmering water (using a bain marie effectively) until it melts (stir occasionally to encourage it; or by putting it in a microwave-proof bowl and microwaving at 30 second intervals, stirring between, until its melted.
7. Drizzle the molten chocolate over the cooling cookies.