These gluten-free Oat Flour Chocolate Chip Cookies are crispy around the edges, chewy in the center with pockets of gooey melted chocolate in every bite. They are quick and easy to make, store well and perfect to dip into a glass of cold milk.
Oat flour cookies are my favorite solution anytime I want a delicious gluten-free cookie. While I don't have a gluten sensitivity, I've actually been on and off diets restricting wheat products for several years and I've gotten quite comfortable making gluten-free recipes. The biggest challenge, in my opinion, is gluten-free baked goods that don't crumble apart or taste like cardboard. Oat flour in cookies makes a satisfyingly chewy, tender yet crispy and crunchy cookies, and there's a few tips I'll give you along the way to ensure they turn out perfectly.
Why You'll Love These Chocolate Chip Cookies with Oat Flour
- Gluten-free cookies with chewy, tender and crispy texture
- Grocery store ingredients with no trips to specialty markets
- Instructions on making homemade oat flour
- Versatile, with plenty of options for mix-ins
- Retains texture when stored a few days
- Freezes well for small batch cookies to order
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Ingredients that Matter
Gluten-free cookies made with oat flour call for simple ingredients readily available at grocery stores. Here are the ingredients you'll need to make these oat flour cookies:
- Oat Flour. This gluten-free flour is made simply by grinding rolled oats into a fine flour-like texture. Below I'll show you how to make your own oat flour but you can also find it in most grocery stores with other glute-free baking ingredients.
- Chocolate Chips. The type of chocolate you use is completely up to you. Try bittersweet or semi-sweet chips, chunks or a chopped up baker's chocolate bar.
- Brown Sugar. Light brown sugar helps create a moist interior for these GF cookies and gives a pleasant molasses, caramel-like flavor.
- Granulated Sugar. A bit of granulated sugar adds sweetness and creates a crisp exterior.
- Butter. Use softened (room temperature) unsalted butter. Leave a stick of butter on the counter at least 2 hours (preferably overnight) or place the butter in its wrapper in a glass of room temperature water for 5 minutes to soften. This method works really well if you forgot to pull your butter ahead of time.
- Egg. One large eggs is all you need to help bind the gluten-free cookie dough and create structure. You can use the same method of soaking the egg in water like you did for the butter if you want to bring your egg closer to room temperature.
- Baking Soda. Use baking soda to provide a light texture and to encourage browning.
- Table Salt. I prefer just a small amount of salt in my cookies, but you can certainly finish these chocolate chip cookies with flaky salt, if desired.
- Vanilla Extract. A splash of vanilla extract adds a nice warm, caramel flavor.
- Cornstarch or Tapioca Starch. The starch is here to absorb some of the moisture from the cookies and for structure. Since there is no gluten in oat flour, the starch helps mimic stabilizers you'd find in one-to-one GF flour blends. You can make this recipe without the starch, but the cookies will be a bit more crumbly.
See recipe card for quantities.
How to Make Gluten-Free Oat Flour Cookies
Making oat flour cookies is similar to making any drop cookie. Later I'll show you how to make homemade oat flour, but I'll describe here how to make these cookies whether you make your own or purchase store-bought oat flour.
Start by combining the oat flour with cornstarch (or tapioca starch), baking soda and salt in a medium mixing bowl. Whisk or stir with a fork until well combined.
In a stand mixer fitted with a paddle attachment (or a medium mixing bowl if using a handheld electric mixer), cream the softened butter with the brown sugar and granulated sugar until light and fluffy. The mixture should be quite light and even turn a bit pale, about 2-3 minutes on medium. Be sure to scrape the edges of the bowl as you work. Add the egg and vanilla.
Beat the egg and vanilla into the creamed butter mixture until very light and fluffy and the mixture turns pale, scraping the edges of the bowl as you work, another 2-3 minutes. Be sure the mixture is light and fluffy for the best texture cookies.
Add the oat flour mixture in two batches, blending the flour mix into the butter mixture after each addition. Since there is no gluten, you don't need to worry about over mixing the cookie dough.
After the last addition of flour is added, mix well and be sure to scrape the edges of the bowl to ensure there are no streaks of flour or butter. The mixture should still be light and fluffy.
Add the chocolate chips and fold them into the dough using a spatula.
Portion the cookie dough into 2-tablespoon balls, using a cookie scoop or spoons, and place on a parchment-lined baking sheet. This recipe makes about 16 cookies. I recommend baking six cookies per batch. Store the other cookie dough balls on another parchment-lined baking sheet or a plate. Refrigerate the dough before baking about 30 minutes. You can skip this step if you just can't wait any longer, but cooling the dough first allows the flavors to blend and the butter to firm up a bit, resulting in a better texture cookie.
When ready to bake, preheat oven to 350F. Bake the cookies for 8 minutes, then lift the baking sheet a couple inches off the wire rack in the oven, and drop the sheet on the rack. This step helps flatten the cookies, making for more even cooking. Continue baking until the edges are golden brown and the center is still just a bit soft, another 2-4 minutes (10-12 minutes total). Remove from the oven, cool for 10 minutes on the tray, then transfer to a wire rack to cool completely. Repeat with remaining cookie dough.
Did you know: Cookies, like all baked goods, will continue to cook out of the oven as they cool on the counter. That's why it's a good idea to pull these oat flour chocolate chip cookies when the edges are just golden brown and the tops are still a bit pale as they'll finish cooking on the counter.
Substitutions
These cookies are gluten-free since they are made with oat flour; however, it's important to use gluten-free rolled oats if you are making the flour from scratch. Beyond that, there are further substitutions you can make based on your dietary restrictions or preferences:
- Dairy-Free - Use a vegan butter substitute and dairy-free chocolate to keep these cookies dairy-free and gluten-free.
- Chocolate Chips - Besides dairy-free chocolate chips, you can also use bittersweet, semi-sweet, dark or even milk chocolate morsels. You can also use chocolate chunks or roughly chop a bar of baker's chocolate, if desired. Heck, you could even use white chocolate morsels, if preferred.
- Cornstarch - Using cornstarch helps absorb moisture in these cookies and provide a bit more structure. It sort of takes the place of the stabilizers you'd find in a one-to-one gluten-free flour substitute. You can use just about any starch, including tapioca or arrowroot, as example.
- Sugar - This recipe has slightly less sugar than a lot of other similar gluten-free chocolate chip cookie recipes, but I think they are plenty sweet enough. If you prefer, you can use a sugar like coconut or demerara sugars.
How to Make Homemade Oat Flour
It is super simple to make homemade oat flour! However, it's really difficult to get a very fine grind as you would with store-bought flour. The result of using homemade oat flour is a cookie with a bit more texture, which I actually prefer. Here is how to make homemade oat flour:
Add rolled or quick-cooking oats to a stand mixer or a high speed blender like a Vitamix or a Ninja blender. For this recipe, use 2 ¼ cups rolled or quick-cooking oats to yield 2 cups oat flour. In all my testing, I've found that you generally need 1 cup plus 2 tablespoons or oats to yield 1 cup of oat flour. If you have a kitchen scale, weight out 8.6 ounces (or 243 grams) of rolled oats.
Pulse the oats a few times then allow the processor to run for about 30 seconds. Or, if using a blender, pulse a few times then blend on high for 30 seconds. Scrape the edges of the bowl and pulse a few more times until the mixture looks like powder with no whole oats remaining.
This method will produce a well ground oat flour but it won't be nearly as fine as you'd get in a bag of store-bought oat flour. But the reason I like this method is you don't have to buy a specialty ingredient. I always have old fashioned rolled oats on hand and simply grinding them in a food processor produces a good quality oat flour substitute. And if you too aren't gluten-free and instead making these for friends or family that are gluten-free, this is a great option for making your own oat flour (but please be sure you are using gluten-free rolled oats as not all oats are in fact gluten-free).
If you are really into making your own flours, especially gluten-free flour alternatives, you should consider investing in a grain mill like the KitchenAid All Metal Grain Mill Attachment or (if you are wiling to spend the money) a more advanced NutriMill Harvest Electric Stone Grain Mill.
Gluten-Free Chocolate Chip Cookie Mix-Ins
Don't just stop at chocolate chips for these oat flour cookies, try these mix-ins:
- Chopped nuts like pecans, almonds or walnuts
- Raisins or dried cherries or cranberries
- Other dried fruit, like chopped apricots, blueberries or prunes
- Shredded unsweetened coconuts
- Mini candy covered chocolates
- Mini marshmallows
Storage & Make-Ahead
Store leftover oat flour cookies in an airtight container, zip-top bag or cookie jar on the counter for up to 3 days. They will get a bit softer the longer they sit on the counter but may get stale after 3 days. You can instead store them in the refrigerator for up to 4 days. Or, freeze the cookies in a freezer-safe zip-top bag for up to 1 month.
To make these cookies ahead, store balls or raw cookie dough in an airtight container in the refrigerator for up to 3 days. You can freeze raw cookie dough for up to 3 months. Place the balls of dough on a plate and freeze at least 1 hour then transfer the frozen balls to a freezer-safe zip-top bag and lay flat in the freezer. Remove portions of frozen dough to the refrigerator a day ahead or, if cooking straight out of the freezer, add a few minutes to the cook time.
Adam's Pro Tip
The secret to making the best gluten-free chocolate chip cookie, or any drop cookie, is in the creaming method. Do NOT skip this step! Be sure the butter is room temperature (remember, you can let butter soak in a glass of warm or room temperature water in its wrapper for about 5 minutes to soften) and blend with sugar until very light and fluffy. Why is this important? The sugar crystals pierce through the butter, which when baked, creates the perfect combination of crispy and chewy texture. Skipping this step is typically the reason homemade cookies turn out lackluster. Try our other cookies, like Oatmeal Cherry Cookies and Chocolate Chip Marshmallow Cookies that use this same method.
FAQ
Store-bought oat flour is generally gluten-free (just be sure to read the label) but homemade oat flour must be made with gluten-free rolled oats.
You can substitute 2 tablespoons of ground flaxseeds soaked in 2 tablespoons of water for 5 minutes in place of the large egg.
Oat flour chocolate chip cookies are crispy on the edges and chewy in the center similar to regular chocolate chip cookies, but have less of a tender chew.
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Print
Recipe
Oat Flour Chocolate Chip Cookies
- Total Time: 40 minutes
- Yield: 16 cookies 1x
Description
These gluten-free Oat Flour Chocolate Chip Cookies are crispy around the edges, chewy in the center with pockets of gooey melted chocolate in every bite. They are quick and easy to make, store well and perfect to dip into a glass of cold milk.
Ingredients
- 2 cups (18.6 oz. or 243 grams) oat flour *see note
- 1 Tbsp. cornstarch or tapioca starch
- ½ tsp. baking soda
- ¼ tsp. table salt
- ½ cup (1 stick) unsalted butter, softened
- ½ cup (3.8 oz. or 107 grams) light brown sugar
- ¼ cup (2 oz. or 56 grams) granulated sugar
- 1 large egg
- 1 tsp. vanilla extract
- 1 cup chocolate chips *see note
Instructions
- Whisk together the oat flour, cornstarch (or tapioca starch), baking soda and salt in a medium mixing bowl until well combined.
- Cream the butter, light brown sugar and granulated sugar in the base of a stand mixer fitted with a paddle attachment or in a medium bowl if using an electric hand-held mixer until light and fluffy, 2-3 minutes on medium. Be sure to scrape the edges of the bowl and cream until the mixture is slightly pale. Add the egg and vanilla and continue mixing until well combined and light and fluffy. Add half the oat flour mixture and stir to combine, scraping the edges of the bowl, then add the remaining oat flour and continue to mix until well combined. Be sure to scrape the edges of the bowl to avoid streaks of flour or butter. Add the chocolate chips and mix with a spatula.
- Portion the dough into 2-talbespoon balls using a cookie scoop or spoons. Place six on a parchment-lined baking sheet at least 2-inches apart. Place the other cookie dough balls on another parchment-lined baking sheet or a plate. Refrigerate for about 30 minutes, until the cookie dough balls are solidified.
- When ready to bake, preheat the oven to 350F. Bake the cookies (six cookies per baking sheet) for 8 minutes then left the sheet a couple inches off the wire rack in the oven and drop on the rack to help flatten the cookies. Continue cooking until the edges are starting to turn golden brown and the tops are still a bit pale, another 2-4 minutes (total of 10-12 minute). Remove from the oven and cool for 10 minutes before transferring to a wire rack to cool completely. Repeat with remaining cookies. Enjoy warm or room temperature.
Notes
- To make your own oat flour, measure out 2 ¼ cups rolled oats or quick-cooking oats and add to a high speed blender or food processor. Pulse a few times then blend on high until finely ground, about 30 seconds. The mixture will not be as fine as store-bought oat flour but will work well for this recipe.
- In all my tests, I've found you need about 1 cup plus 2 tablespoons rolled oats to yield 1 cup oat flour.
- Use cornstarch or tapioca starch to help absorb moisture in the cookies and to take the place of stabilizers found in store-bought gluten free flour blends.
- Use your favorite chocolate, including semi-sweet or bittersweet chips, dark or milk morsels, or even white chocolate. You can even use chocolate chunks or roughly chop a bar of baker's chocolate.
- Store leftovers in an airtight container for up to 3 days or 4 days in the refrigerator. Or, freeze the cookies for up to 1 month.
- You can make the dough ahead and store portions of cookie dough balls in the refrigerator in an airtight container for up to 3 days or freeze for up to 3 months.
- Prep Time: 10 minutes
- Cook Time: 20 minutes
- Category: cookies
- Method: baking
- Cuisine: American
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