The class of Jordan algebras are the most important class of algebras in this direction.
They are defined by the two identities,
(commutativity): $xy=yx$,
(Jordan identity): $(xy)(xx)=x(y(xx))$.
They are an extremely important class of non-associative algebras (check Jacobson's Strucuture and Representation of Jordan algebras or McCrimmon's A taste of Jordan algebras)
The most easy way to produce such an algebra is by considering an associative (alternative suffices) algebra $A$ and changing the product from $.$ to $*$ as follows: $a*b = \frac{ab+ba}{2}$. Some care of course is necessary in case of charesticcharacteristic two.