Oat Flour Chocolate Chip Cookies (Gluten Free, Nut Free)

Name: Oat Flour Chocolate Chip Cookies (Gluten Free, Nut Free)
Cook time: 11 min
Total time: 11 min
Ingredients: ½ cup (1 stick) salted butter, melted*; ½ cup white sugar; ¼ cup brown sugar, loosely packed; 1 large egg; 2 cups oat flour; ½ teaspoon baking soda; ½ cup chocolate chips or chunks; Flaky sea salt for topping

May 13, 2021

Jump to Recipe·Print Recipe

Chewy and gooey oat flour chocolate chip cookies are gluten free and nut free. This 1-bowl dessert recipe is so easy to make (without a mixer!) and creates the most delicious chocolate chip cookies – no one will know they’re gluten free!

Gluten Free, Nut Free, Soy Free

Gluten Free Oat Flour Chocolate Chip Cookies

I think I may start a dessert blog…

OK, not really because I love breakfast foods too, but I’ve been having SO much fun testing this recipe (and yes, I’ve gone through many, many batches to get the most perfect oat flour chocolate chip cookies).

These Oat Flour Chocolate Chip Cookies are…

Freakin’ delicious
Easy to make in 1 bowl
Made with less than 10 ingredients
Allergy-friendly (gluten free, nut free)
Totally satisfying

Why Oat Flour Chocolate Chip Cookies?

There are some reallllly good chocolate chip cookie recipes out there. I know because I make them all the time. I freakin’ LOVE chocolate chip cookies.

BUT, it’s really hard to find a really good GLUTEN FREE chocolate chip cookie that’s NUT-FREE. SO many gluten free chocolate chip cookie recipes contain almond flour or coconut flour as a key ingredient. Although coconuts are not technically tree nuts and many people allergic to tree nuts are NOT allergic to coconut, personally, I think coconut flour is just too specific of a taste. Takes away from the chocolate chip cookie-ness!

So when I was thinking about what flour to use for a gluten free chocolate chip cookie, I had a couple of options: oat flour or cassava flour.

I also think cassava flour has a very specific taste (that my husband is NOT a fan of). I LOVE it – and have a few cookie recipes made with cassava flour:

So I was ready for something new!

Why oat flour?

I think oat flour is a fairly neutral-tasting gluten free flour. It’s not quite as light and fluffy as all-purpose flour and cassava flour, but the taste is more neutral. Plus, it’s easy to find (or make – see below) and affordable.

I’m so tired of allergy-friendly substitutes costing a fortune!!

Nutrition Benefits of Oats

Even better, oat flour does contain more nutrients than all-purpose flour. Oats are a naturally gluten-free whole grain, meaning they contain more fiber, vitamins and minerals than regular flour.

Per 1/2 cup, oats contain:

150 calories
3 grams fat
4 grams fiber
5 grams protein
10% DV magnesium
8% DV iron
and more

Using a nutrient-rich fiber helps add some gentle nutrition to these cookies WITHOUT sacrificing flavor, texture or satisfaction. That’s a win-win-win in my book!

How to make oat flour

Making oat flour sounds super complicated (as I imagine “make your own all-purpose flour” sounds), BUT it’s actually super easy!

Oat flour is simply oats processed until a flour-like consistency forms. I like to make oat flour in my Vitamix, but you can also use a food processor. I find the key to the best oat flour is to keep pulsing and grinding even when flour-like consistency forms. Give it an extra 30 seconds.

The conversion is ABOUT 1 cup of old fashioned, “rolled oats” (NOT steel cut or instant) to make one cup of oat flour.

Additional Ingredients to Make these Gluten Free Chocolate Chip Cookies

You only need 6 additional ingreients to make these oat flour chocolate chip cookies. You’ll need:

Salted butter
Brown sugar
White sugar
Large egg
Baking soda
Chocolate chips or chocolate chunks

I also highly recommend an extra sprinkle of flaky sea salt on top. You can’t go wrong with a salty + chocolatey combo!

Ingredient Substitutions

There are a few easy swaps you can take (based on what you have in your pantry) to make these cookies.

Sugar Swaps

If you prefer to use less refined sugar you can use all coconut sugar or date sugar for this recipe. Personally, these cookies taste most like a chocolate chip cookie when you use brown sugar and white sugar. Remember, all sugar is sugar is sugar. Yes, some types of sugar contain more nutrients, but it’s truly negligible and not worth stressing over.

Egg Swaps

I have NOT tested this cookie recipe with any egg substitutes. I do think the egg lends some structure to this recipe, so I’m not sure if a plant-based swap will work. I’ll keep you posted if I decide to try it.

Flour Swaps

This recipe is purposefully designed to be made with oat flour. I used homemade oat flour (see above).

Proceed at your own risk if you swap in another flour.

Chocolate Chips vs. Chocolate Chunks

I honestly think there’s a difference between chocolate chips and chunks. Chunks leave bigger chocolatey bites in the cookies. Chips leave smaller dots of chocolate throughout. Use whatever you want, have on hand, prefer. I actually used a combo of both.

How to make Oat Flour Chocolate Chip Cookies

It’s very simple to make this recipe, BUT they do require some chilling time (at least an hour is preferable). Luckily though you can make this recipe in ONE BOWL with NO MIXER! I used a rubber or silicone spatula to mix the batter – it’s that easy to mix!

First, mix together all of your ingredients.

Mix together melted butter with sugars. Then mix in the egg. Slowly add the oat flour, one-half cup at a time. With the last half cup of oat flour also add the baking soda. Last, fold in the chocolate chunks or chips.

You do need to chill the dough.

Cover and refrigerate the dough for at least one hour.

Why should you chill the dough? This is an essential step because the dough is way too drippy. This means your cookies will spread like crazy when you make them. If you want one big cookie pizza, fine. But if not, it’s a good idea to chill the dough.

Then it’s time to bake!

When you’re ready to bake, take the dough out of the fridge and preheat the oven and line a baking sheet with parchment paper (for easy clean up).

I like to use an ice cream scoop (how fun is this hot pink one?!) to make big cookies. Your average ice cream scoop holds about 3 tablespoons of dough. Spread the scoops of cookie dough out by a few inches to allow room for spread. You may need to bake the cookies in batches.

These cookies only need 11 minutes to bake. But then don’t transfer them to a cooling rack. Let the cookies completely cool on the baking sheet.

How to Store Your Chocolate Chip Cookies

Honestly, these cookies only last a few days in our house. Even less if my brother-in-law is over!

The best way to store these cookies is in an airtight container at room temperature. If you have cookies leftover after 3 days I think it’s best to freeze them. Honestly, I love cookies straight from the freezer, but you can also microwave them for a few minutes when you randomly want dessert.

Enjoy!!