These vegan and gluten free oatmeal chocolate chip cookies are PERFECT. Extra chocolate chips and flaky salt take these tender, soft baked cookies to the next level. We suggest making a double batch!
In recent years, vegan, gluten-free cookies like these ones (jam-packed with chocolate) have nearly eclipsed ice cream as my favorite dessert. Homemade cookies, to be specific.
There's really nothing not to like about a freshly baked, soft cookie straight from the oven. Especially when they're loaded with oatmeal and chocolate and topped with a sprinkle of salt!
We've been spending a lot of time testing new vegan and gluten free dessert recipes in the last few months. One of our goals is to make gluten free and vegan baking both approachable and equally delicious their non-vegan, gluten-containing counterparts.
Our baking trials (specifically when it comes to cookies) have ranged from better-than-average to pure cardboard-tasting blobs of dough. Hey, no one said gluten-free and vegan baking was easy! Baking is truly a science, and there still aren't specific rules in vegan gluten free baking like there are in regular baking.
Because we want you, and ourselves, to avoid anything similar to those cardboard dark days, we tested these oatmeal chocolate chip cookies quite a few times. The result is a fool-proof recipe for gluten free and vegan oatmeal cookie that will have non-vegan, gluten-loving friends asking for the recipe! (Our friends certainly do!)
When it comes to cookies, I definitely have a soft spot for cake-y, soft, slightly under-baked cookies. These vegan oatmeal chocolate chip cookies fit that bill. They're buttery, melt-in-your-mouth delicious and it's really hard to stop at just one.
Storage
In an effort to avoid eating every last chocolatey oatmeal crumb after our photoshoot for this recipe, we froze the leftovers. They freeze quite well--almost too well, it turns out.
These oatmeal chocolate chip babies happen to be just as delicious frozen as they are warm from the oven. We highly suggest giving it a try!
Cookie Dough Ice Cream
We happened to be inspired by this frozen cookie dough discovery. In fact, we couldn't stop thinking about it. Finally this summer we perfected our recipe for vegan cookie dough ice cream, featuring perfectly sweet and chewy globs of this gluten free oatmeal cookie dough in creamy homemade vanilla ice cream.
We love making homemade vegan ice cream. After the initial investment in a high-quality ice cream machine, making the sweet stuff at home is far cheaper than feeding our ice cream addiction from the store.
Substitutions
If you feel so inclined, you could definitely add a half cup or so of raisins to this oatmeal chocolate chip cookie dough.
What really brings the flavor of these vegan oatmeal cookies up a notch? The final sprinkle of flaky sea salt on top of each cookie as soon as it's out of the oven. We love the sweet and salty contrast and the slight crunch!
Note that this cookie dough recipe contains both almond butter and almond flour. If you are allergic to tree nuts, you can sub the almond butter with another nut or seed butter. Peanut butter would be my first choice, but sunflower seed butter would also work.
A substitute for almond flour is a bit trickier. We'd suggest replacing it with more oat flour, but the cookie texture may not be quite as soft and fluffy.
If you do make any tweaks to accommodate your allergies, definitely let us know, we always want to make room in our crowded kitchen for all dietary preferences and requirements!
More vegan and gluten free cookie recipes
You've come to the right place. If you don't want to stop at these gluten free and vegan oatmeal cookies, here are a few more of our favorites:
- Chocolate Cherry Macadamia Nut Cookies - these are the perfect mix of nutty, tart, sweet, and chocolate-y!
- Samoa Cookies - our vegan and gluten free take on a beloved Girl Scout classic. These are messy, but worth it!
- Peanut Butter Cookies - can't ever go wrong with a classic peanut butter cookie.
- Vegan Ice Cream Sandwiches - don't have the time to make your own cookies? Check out this post to learn more about our favorite store-bought cookie dough!
- Double Chocolate Cookies via Making Thyme for Health. The more chocolate, the better!
- Edible Cookie Dough Bites - perfect for a snack or light dessert!
📖 Recipe
Oatmeal Chocolate Chip Cookies
- Total Time: 27 minutes
- Yield: One dozen
- Diet: Vegan
Description
These vegan and gluten free oatmeal chocolate chip cookies are PERFECT. Extra chocolate chips and flaky salt take these tender, delicious cookies to the next level. We suggest making a double batch!
Ingredients
- 2 flax eggs (for each egg, mix 1 tbsp flax meal with 2 ½ tbsp water)*
- ¼ cup vegan butter
- 2 tsp vanilla extract
- ¼ cup maple syrup
- 2 tbsp almond butter
- ¼ cup coconut sugar
- ¼ cup cane sugar
- 1 ¼ cup oat flour
- ½ cup almond flour
- ¾ tsp cinnamon
- ¼ tsp salt
- ½ tsp baking powder
- ½ tsp baking soda
- ¼ tsp xanthan gum
- 1 cup whole rolled oats (gluten free if needed)
- ¾ cup dark chocolate chips
- Flaky salt for topping
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 350 F.
- In a small bowl, stir together flax meal and water and let sit to thicken for 15 minutes.
- Using a stand or hand mixer, blend together butter, vanilla, maple syrup, almond butter, flax eggs, coconut sugar, and cane sugar.
- In a separate bowl, whisk together oat flour, almond flour, cinnamon, salt, baking powder, baking soda, and xanthan gum.
- Slowly incorporate into wet mixture. Stir in oats and chocolate chips.
- Use a cookie scoop to portion dough onto parchment paper-lined sheet pan. Bake 11-12 minutes.
- Remove from oven and sprinkle each cookie with a bit of flaky salt. Let cool at least 10 (preferably 20) minutes to set.
Notes
*Check out this tutorial on making flax eggs
Note that the recipe also contains both almond butter and almond flour. If you are allergic to tree nuts, you can sub the almond butter with another nut or seed butter (peanut would be my first choice, but sunflower seed butter should also work). A substitute for almond flour is a bit trickier. We'd suggest replacing it with more oat flour, but the texture may not be quite as soft and fluffy.
- Prep Time: 15 minutes
- Cook Time: 12 minutes
- Category: Dessert
- Method: Oven
- Cuisine: American
Nutrition
- Serving Size: 1 Cookie
- Calories: 252
- Sugar: 16.1 g
- Sodium: 131.9 mg
- Fat: 10.6 g
- Saturated Fat: 5.1 g
- Trans Fat: 0 g
- Carbohydrates: 31 g
- Fiber: 2.9 g
- Protein: 4.4 g
- Cholesterol: 0.6 mg
Keywords: vegan oatmeal chocolate chip cookies
Caroline Geiger
Hello, thank you for the delicious recipe! Can I use chia for the egg substitute instead of flax?
Lexi
Hi Caroline, yes! That should work. You can also check out this post for more info on flax/chia eggs if you'd like: https://www.crowdedkitchen.com/a-guide-to-flax-eggs/
Vivian
Cookies look amazing!! What does the xanthum gum do and what brand? Is it on amazon? Thanks!
Lexi
Hi Vivian! Thanks so much. Xanthan gum is a thickening agent that is present in a lot of gluten free all purpose flour blends. It helps a lot with texture in gluten free baking recipes! We buy ours from Bob's Red Mill, which can be found on Amazon or at stores like Whole Foods.
Vivian
Thank you!!