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Soft, chewy, and studded with chunks of dark chocolate, these cookies contain rolled oats, almond flour, butter and coconut sugar which all works together to create an enviably indulgent cookie that is classic yet gluten-free.
To be honest I never intended to make this recipe. Much like penicillin, this cookie recipe was developed by sheer accident, and man am I over the moon that it came to be. I wanted a batch of my oatmeal raisin cookies but I was fresh out of raisins having used all up in batch testing.
Pondering what I could put into the cookies in place of the raisins, I eyed my container of dried cranberries and as I was about to reach for it my eye fell on the bag of dark chocolate chips. Chocolate tends to win out most times with me and this was definitely one of those times. The first batch was good, but I thought it could be better. And so I began tweaking the recipe to accommodate the army of chocolate within in…which is really a great excuse to say “I need to make several batches of cookies…for scientific purposes…”
💕 Here’s why you need to make yourself a batch of these cookies TODAY:
- They are gluten free and clean eating.
- They contain heart-healthy oats and almond flour as the main flour.
- The main sweetener is coconut sugar – which is a low GI sugar.
- It’s wonderfully spiced and pocked with warm bits of dark chocolate in every bite.
- They require just one bowl and ten minutes to make the dough.
- Honestly you can have these cookies in under two hours from start to finish, so what are you waiting for?!
Head to Your Pantry and Grab the Following:
- Butter: Salted or unsalted, you’ll need one stick that we’ll semi-melt/soften.
- Blanched Almond Flour: Ensure you’re using a super fine grind for the best results.
- Coconut Sugar: This low GI sugar adds a ton of rich caramel flavor to our cookies.
- Gluten Free Flour: I use a small amount of Bob’s Red Mill Gluten Free 1-to-1 Baking Flour to keep the recipe gluten free and to help our cookies have a more traditional texture, spread and set.
- Dark Chocolate: Chips or chunks.
- Tip #1: you can opt to vary the chips by using different cocoa percentages (example using half 60% and half 85%).
- Tip #2: you can rough chop or blitz your chocolate to vary the size and dispersion for a more rustic and artisanal cookie!
- Old-Fashioned Rolled Oats: I like to use rolled oats which are made from oat grains that are steamed to soften them and then pressed flat with a roller. They cook much faster than steel cut oats, and adds the perfect texture and chew to these cookies that you won’t get with instant oats.
- Molasses: I’m using a full-flavored unsulphured molasses. I recommend this kind over the blackstrap variety. The addition of molasses adds not just flavor to our cookie but also moisture which helps with our cookies having a near-perfect spread when baked. I don’t recommend skipping the molasses because it also serves the purpose of being the ingredient that activates our cookie’s rising agent…
- Baking Soda: Activated by the molasses, baking soda helps to function as both leavener and helps with our cookie’s spread. Ensure you’re using baking SODA and not baking POWDER.
- Salt: I’m using a pink Himalayan salt but you can also use a sea salt.
- Cinnamon Powder: This spice adds a depth of flavor to our cookies but don’t stand out as it blends well with all other ingredients. Whether you use cassia or Ceylon, it’s up to your personal preference.
- Vanilla Extract: This adds a wonderful flavor and depth to our cookies. Alternatively you can use maple extract if you like.
- Egg: A whole large egg acts as our main binder for our cookies.
Here’s Three Tips To Add Even MORE Flavor To These Cookies:
- Consider browning your butter. The flavor amplification from browning your butter is immense and takes your cookie up to bakery level.
- Add 1/2 tsp of baking espresso powder to your cookie dough. Baking espresso blends into your batter and amplifies the flavor of your chocolate.
- Rest your dough – more on that in a moment!
For now though…
Cookie Time!
Grab a bowl and spatula or wooden spoon and combine your semi-melted butter with your coconut sugar, egg, extract, and molasses until it’s thick and has a caramel-like consistency.
Add in your rolled oats and stir until they are fully incorporated. You can, if you like, break down your oats a bit beforehand by pulsing them a few times in a mini food processor so that they can be dispersed and incorporated better.
To the bowl we’ll add in the dry ingredients including the almond flour, gluten-free flour blend, salt, and cinnamon, and mix until everything is fully incorporated.
Finally, the pièce de résistance, the chocolate chips/chunks. I’ve pulsed my chips in my food processor to break them down into irregular bits. If you do this be sure you add in every last morsel including the “dust”. Mix it all in and then pop your bowl into the fridge for at least an hour to as long as overnight or 24-hours.
Why chill the dough?!
- It allows the dough’s flour to absorb as much of the liquids as possible which will help the dough set.
- It helps the fat in the dough to be cold which will assist in our cookie’s final bake and set (the warmer the fat, the more the cookie will spread and the thinner it will be).
- It gives all our flavors time to mingle and bloom. This works especially well for the cinnamon and molasses.
With your dough chilled, divide it into 10-12 equal portions and roll them into a ball. Or alternatively, Roll your cookie dough into a log (using parchment or plastic helps) and cut your log into 10-12 equally portioned slices.
Preheat your oven to 350F and place your portioned dough onto a parchment-lined baking tray. Ensure your cookies dough is disc-shaped to encourage it to bake evenly.
Bake your cookies for 10-15 minutes (depending on the oven). I’ve found that 10-12 minutes works great for conventional (regular) ovens and 12-15 minutes works best for convection (fan) ovens.
You’ll want to bake your cookies until the bottom edges begin to brown and the tops look set.
Once baked remove your tray from the oven and allow them to cool for 10-15 minutes. They will be soft right out of the oven and will need time to set. The undersides of your cookies will be wonderfully golden brown like in the above image while the top will be flat and studded with bits of chocolate throughout the craggy surface. The mark of a perfect cookie if you ask me!
And there you have it. A heavenly soft and chewy oatmeal chocolate chip cookie that you’ll be making time and time again. I really hope you enjoy these cookies and that they bring you the warmth and happiness that they bring to us. Don’t forget to rate the recipe if you’ve tried it and to leave us a comment to let us know what you think! As always, happy baking! 🍪
Oatmeal Chocolate Chip Cookies (Gluten-Free)
Ingredients
- ½ cup salted butter (softened or browned)
- ¾ cup organic coconut sugar
- 1½ tbsp molasses (unsulphured)
- 1 large egg
- 1 tsp vanilla extract
- ¾ cup old-fashioned rolled oats
- 1¼ cup blanched almond flour (scooped and leveled)
- ¼ cup Gluten Free 1-to-1 Baking Flour (scooped and leveled)
- ¼ tsp cinnamon powder (more to taste if you like a strong cinnamon flavor)
- ½ tsp baking soda
- ¼ tsp Himalayan salt
- ¾ cup dark chocolate chips or chunks
- ½ tsp espresso powder (optional)
Instructions
- Combine softened butter, molasses, coconut sugar, egg, and vanilla extract in a bowl until it has a thick almost caramel-like consistency.
- Add the rolled oats into the wet mixture, then add the almond flour, gluten-free flour, cinnamon powder, salt, baking soda and chocolate chips/chunks and mix well.
- Set your dough into the fridge to chill/rest for at least an hour to as long as overnight.
- Pre-heat oven to 350°F (177°C).
- Using a double filled tablespoon measure scoop 12 equal portions of dough onto a baking sheet lined with parchment paper and gently press down the domed tops to flatten them into an even thickness.
- Bake at 350°F for 10-12 minutes in a conventional oven or 12-15 minutes in a convection (fan) oven, until the bottom edge begins to turn golden brown.
- Allow to cool completely before attempting to move them from the tray as they will be soft when you fist remove them from the oven but will firm up and set as they cool.Enjoy and store leftovers in an airtight container for up to four days at room temperature, one week in the fridge or up to one month in the freezer.
Notes
- Be sure to use a super-fine grind of almond flour for the best texture.
- You can add the rolled oats and chocolate chips to a food processor and pulse a few times to break it down for better incorporation and dispersion.
- Want to amp up the flavor of these bars even more, consider browning your butter for this recipe! It's so easy to do, I've made a quick tutorial >HERE<
- Before baking, you can allow your cookie dough rounds to sit on the tray on the countertop while the oven preheats (about 10 min). This will allow the dough to soften a bit which helps with the cookie's spread. If the dough is very cold, you will get less spread. But if it's too warm, your cookies may spread too much when baking which will result in a thin and flat cookie.
