With crispy edges and gooey middles, these almond flour oatmeal cookies are so simple to make with 10 ingredients, 1 bowl, and 30 minutes. Add chocolate chips or chunks, or stir in cinnamon and raisins – you do you!
Thanks to Bob's Red Mill for sponsoring this post!
Oatmeal chocolate chip cookies are a favorite in my home, and we've been in heaven this past week as I tested and shot these almond flour oatmeal cookies with chocolate chunks.
Even though I've shared loads of almond flour recipes here on TBG as well as in my award-winning gluten-free baking cookbook, I was still happily surprised at how well it works in this cookie recipe.
Thanks to almond flour, these cookies bake up with crispy, golden edges and chewy, gooey middles. You would not know they're gluten-free because they taste like a classic (wheaty) chocolate chip cookie, only with extra richness and flavor. They also keep like a dream for up to 5 days, staying moist and tender.
They've quickly became one of my favorite cookie recipes of all time, and I'm not alone. Here's what a reader had to say about them:
Kid & Husband Approved!
“These cookies will be in regular rotation in our house. It is surprisingly hard to find a good gluten-free oatmeal cookie recipe but this one is perfect! These cookies are the perfect balance of chewy on the inside and slightly crisp on the outside. Very quick to make too. I love cookies without too many steps! Very tasty and kid and husband approved!”
—Jess
These almond flour oatmeal cookies are:
- thick
- chewy
- crispy on the outside
- soft in the middle
- full of flavor
- undetectably gluten-free
- easy to make in 30 minutes with 10 ingredients
Almond Flour = Exceptionally Delicious Cookies
Almond flour has become one of the most sought-after and easy-to-find gluten-free flours for baking for good reason. Thanks to its high protein content, abundance of healthy fats, and neutral flavor, it bakes up rich and tender in a variety of recipes.
It makes this gluten-free olive oil cake pillowy and springy, gluten-free tart crust rich and tender, and paleo apple crisp crunchy and satisfying.
Here it makes oatmeal cookies undetectably gluten-free, binding the dough together with its high protein content and creating a sturdy base for toasty oats and dark chocolate. Its neutral flavor complements the butterscotchy notes of vanilla and brown sugar beautifully.
You might ask, what does almond flour do in cookies? It:
- adds protein, which makes them sturdy, never crumbly
- adds richness and tenderness
- adds nutty flavor
- makes them super addictive!
I hope these almond flour oatmeal cookies fulfill your cookie dreams like they did ours!
Ingredients & Substitution Suggestions
This recipe uses just 10 easy-to-find ingredients.
- Almond flour adds substance and rich, earthy flavor. I use Bob's Red Mill blanched almond flour, which is made from peeled and finely ground California almonds. It's certified gluten-free and safe for Celiacs.
- Sub by weight almond meal or hazelnut flour.
- Tapioca flour helps the cookies hold together, making them soft and chewy.
- Sub by weight arrowroot flour.
- Salt sharpens the flavors, and flaky salt adds a bit of crunch on top.
- Baking soda helps the cookies spread and brown.
- A combination of brown sugar and granulated sugar sweeten the cookies just enough, adding rich molasses notes.
- Sub by weight coconut sugar for both sugars for refined sugar-free.
- Old fashioned rolled oats add texture and heft. Be sure to use gluten-free oats if need be. I like to toast the oats first in order to build flavor.
- Butter moistens the dough.
- Sub dairy-free butter such as Miyoko's, decreasing the salt if necessary.
- Egg gives the cookies just the right amount of spread, adding protein to hold the dough together.
- For egg-free cookies, try these vegan tahini oatmeal cookies or vegan almond butter cookies instead.
For Almond Flour Oatmeal Chocolate Chip Cookies (shown here)
- Chopped bittersweet chocolate melts into gooey pockets.
- Sub chocolate chips if you prefer.
- Vanilla adds floral notes.
For Almond Flour Oatmeal Raisin Cookies
- Raisins plumped in boiling water add chewy, sweet-tart flavor.
- Try dried cranberries for a festive variation.
- Cinnamon and nutmeg (freshly-grated nutmeg has the loveliest flavor!) add cozy spice.
How to Make Oatmeal Almond Flour Cookies
This recipe takes about 30 minutes to make, start to finish. It makes a small batch of cookies, about 15 medium-sized cookies, so feel free to increase the recipe as needed.
Make-Ahead Options
These oatmeal almond flour cookies can be made ahead for fresh, gooey cookies whenever the whim strikes. Here's how to do it:
- Make the dough as directed, then let sit until firm enough to scoop (or chill for a few minutes to speed this up).
- Scoop the dough into balls using a cookie scoop, place the dough balls on a small baking sheet lined with parchment, and chill until firm, about 1 hour.
- Transfer the cold dough balls into a container and chill for up to a week. Or freeze for up to several months.
- To bake, place dough balls on a cookie sheet as directed. Let them soften slightly before baking for the best spread.
Tips for Baking Better Cookies
Cookies are at once one of the simplest treats to bake and one of the most sensitive. Here are a few tips to ensure almond flour oatmeal cookie bliss.
- Make sure your oven temperature is accurate. I recommend using an external oven thermometer.
- Make sure to measure accurately. For best results, weigh your ingredients with a food scale. This is the one I use.
- When measuring by volume, use the dip and sweep method for flours: fluff up your flour, dip in your dry measuring cup, and use a flat butter knife or small offset spatula to sweep away the excess so that the flour is level with the cup. For brown sugar, pack it well into the cup; it should mostly hold the shape of the cup when turned out into the mixing bowl.
- Bake off a single test cookie before baking the full batch. This way you can adjust the rest of the dough or the oven temperature before baking off the full batch. (This is a tip I learned from my pastry chef days!)
- Pull the cookies from the oven when they look underbaked. The edges should be just starting to color, while the tops should be puffed and soft, collapsing when you touch them gently with a fingertip.
Troubleshooting
Here are some common cookie troubles and how to fix them:
- The cookies spread too much.
- Add 1-2 tablespoons more almond flour to the remaining cookie dough, and/or increase the oven temperature by 25-50 degrees.
- The cookies didn't spread enough.
- Lower the oven temperature by 25-50 degrees and/or flatten the dough balls before baking them. Next time you make them, use a little less flour.
Variations
A few ways to vary this recipe for more cookie enjoyment!
- Nutty cookies: stir in 3/4 cup toasted pecans or walnuts with the chocolate
- Nibby cookies: stir in 2 tablespoons cacao nibs with the chocolate
- Iced oatmeal cookies: omit the chocolate. Drizzle the baked and cooled cookies with coconut butter icing or maple glaze.
- Oatmeal cream pies: omit the chocolate / raisins and sandwich the baked cookies with peanut butter frosting or low-sugar cream cheese frosting.
Oatmeal Almond Flour Cookies for Everyone
Here, brown sugar, chocolate, and oats all work together to show off almond flour's exceptional flavor. Whip up a batch of these almond flour oatmeal cookies to share or hoard all to yourself. Hope you enjoy!
Bojon appétit! For more Bojon Gourmet in your life, follow along on Instagram, Facebook, YouTube, or Pinterest, purchase my award-winning gluten-free baking cookbook Alternative Baker, or subscribe to receive new posts via email. And if you make this almond flour oatmeal cookie recipe, I’d love to know. Leave a comment and rating below, and tag your Instagram snaps @The_Bojon_Gourmet and #bojongourmet.
Soft & Chewy Almond Flour Oatmeal Cookies
Print Recipe Pin RecipeIngredients
Wet Ingredients
- 8 tablespoons (113 g) unsalted butter, melted
- ½ cup (100 g) packed light brown sugar*
- ¼ cup (50 g) organic granulated cane sugar*
- 1 large egg (2 ounces out of the shell)
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract (omit for raisin cookies)
Dry Ingredients
- 1 cup + 2 tablespoons (130 g) Bob's Red Mill blanched almond flour
- ¼ cup (27 g) tapioca flour or corn starch
- ¾ teaspoon fine sea salt
- ½ teaspoon baking soda
For Oatmeal Chocolate Chip Cookies
- 6 ounces (170 g) coarsely chopped bittersweet chocolate or chocolate chips (60-70% cacao mass)
- flaky salt for sprinkling (optional)
For Oatmeal Raisin Cookies
- 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
- ⅛ teaspoon nutmeg (freshly grated is the best!)
- ½ cup raisins (covered with boiling water for five minutes, drained, and squeezed dry)
Instructions
- Position a rack in the upper third of the oven and preheat to 375ºF. Line two rimless cookie sheets with parchment paper.
- Spread the oats on a small baking sheet lined with parchment paper. Toast the oats until golden and fragrant, about 5 minutes. Remove from the oven and let cool to room temperature.
Make the Cookie Dough
- Place the white and brown sugars in a large bowl. Stir in the melted butter and let cool to warm.
- Stir in the egg and vanilla (if using) until smooth.
- Place a mesh strainer over the bowl and sift in the almond and tapioca flours, baking soda, and salt (and spices, if using). If some of the almond flour won't go through, add whatever is left in the strainer to the bowl.
- Stir the dough vigorously to combine, then stir an additional 60 strokes. This activates the stickiness of the tapioca flour which makes extra sturdy and chewy cookies.
- Stir in the toasted, cooled oats and chocolate or raisins until combined.
- Let the dough sit for a few minutes until thick enough to scoop, or chill briefly.
Bake the Cookies
- Form the dough into balls that are about 2 ½ tablespoons large (a #24 cookie scoop works well).
- Place the dough balls on the prepared cookie sheets, spacing them 2-3 inches apart.
- Top each dough ball with a pinch of flaky salt, if using.
- Bake the cookies until the edges are set and starting to color but the centers are puffed and look underbaked, 8-12 minutes.
- Remove the cookies from the oven and pull them, parchment and all, onto wire racks to cool. They will be delicate at first, but will continue to firm up as they cool.
- Store the cookies at room temperature for up to 5 days.
Notes
- Cover the dough and let stand 1-2 hours at room temperature before baking.
- Or scoop the dough into balls and chill airtight until ready to bake, up to 1 week. Or freeze for up to 2 months. Allow the dough balls to soften a bit before baking.
- Nutty cookies: stir in 3/4 cup toasted pecans or walnuts with the chocolate or raisins
- Nibby cookies: stir in 2 tablespoons cacao nibs with the chocolate
- Iced oatmeal cookies: omit the chocolate. Drizzle the baked and cooled cookies with coconut butter icing or maple glaze.
- Oatmeal cream pies: omit the chocolate / raisins and sandwich the baked cookies with peanut butter frosting or low-sugar cream cheese frosting.
- Note that for the raisin version, the cookies will be on the sweeter side. Feel free to decrease the sugar if you like; the cookies will spread less with less sugar.
Halle says
Do you think it would work to sub peanut butter for the butter? Thanks.
Alanna Taylor-Tobin says
Great question! I don't think that will work very well because butter is mostly fat whereas peanut butter has fat, fiber, and carbohydrates. However, you can add 1/2 cup peanut butter to the recipe for a peanut butter oatmeal cookie. The cookies won't spread as much, so you may want to flatten them out a little before baking. Please let me know if you try it!
Nancy says
Our family really loved these cookies so moist. I would personally cut back on some of the sugar, they were a bit too sweet for my taste but they were still very good. I wonder if we reduce the sugar if the recipe will still work?
Alanna Taylor-Tobin says
Hi Nancy,
I'm so glad you all loved the cookies!
Yes you could definitely reduce the amount of sugar; the cookies just won't spread quite as much. Depending how much you cut it back, you may want to flatten the dough balls out a little before baking.
Please let me know what you try and, if you like the results, I can add it to the recipe notes for other readers wanting less-sweet cookies.
Thanks so much for trying my recipe and for the feedback, I really appreciate it!
-Alanna
Jess says
These cookies will be in regular rotation in our house. It is surprisingly hard to find a good gluten-free oatmeal cookie recipe but this one is perfect! These cookies are the perfect balance of chewy on the inside and slightly crisp on the outside. Very quick to make too. I love cookies without too many steps! Very tasty and kid and husband approved!
Alanna Taylor-Tobin says
Aw I'm so glad the cookies were a hit with the whole family. Thanks so much for trying my recipe and for the kind note, I really appreciate it!
Galen says
These are great! The texture is superb and, as usual with Bojon GF recipes, these are even more delicious than the wheaty originals. In the spirit of more is better, I included the cinnamon and a handful each of raisins, walnuts, and chocolate chunks for fun.
Alanna Taylor-Tobin says
Aw I'm so glad you loved these! I heartily approve of that mix-in combo - yummm!
natasha says
loved the oatmeal raisen cookies. However, I am trying to reduce sugar can i substitute half sugar for honey?
Alanna Taylor-Tobin says
So glad you liked these cookies! And totally get it about trying to reduce sugar. Honey can be a tricky substitute for sugar because it has more liquid, it's sweeter for the same volume, and it's more acidic. So you can certainly experiment with swapping it in, but the cookies might spread more and have a different flavor and texture.
A more foolproof option is to use another granulated sweetener such as coconut sugar or maple sugar. Subbing by weight is usually more accurate, but if you want these to be less sweet overall, you can sub by volume (maple sugar and coconut sugar weigh less than sugar cup for cup.) They will likely spread less with less sweetener since the sweetener acts like a liquid ingredient in the heat of the oven.
In any case, please let me know what you try, and feel free to reach out with more questions!
-Alanna
JoAnne says
Can I substitute coconut oil for the butter? If so, should it be melted or more solid, and how much? Thanks!
Alanna Taylor-Tobin says
Hi JoAnne,
That's a great question. Butter is about 80% fat and 20% water and milk solids, whereas coconut oil is closer to 100% fat. So I would try 7 tablespoons coconut oil and 1 tablespoon milk or plant milk. I would melt the coconut oil and add it to the recipe just like the melted butter, and I would add the plant milk after adding the egg.
Please let me know if you try it!
-Alanna
JoAnne says
Thanks Alanna, I will!
denise says
Hi! I'm looking forward to making these cookies! Just a quick note for the readers who have mentioned wanting less sweetness and/or something to use in place of sugar. (I am pretty careful about sugar substitutes and for example won't use anything that includes erythritol, which is used in every stevia that I've found.) I have been substituting allulose or monkfruit + allulose in my recipes, 1:1, and so far it's worked great. Allulose in particular is slightly less sweet than granulated sugar, which is great by me. I will report back after I have made them, and would love to hear from anyone else who has used either of the sugar subs I mentioned. Thanks!
Alanna Taylor-Tobin says
Hi Denise,
That's great to know that allulose and monkfruit can work well as sugar subs! Please come back and let us all know if you try these cookies with those sweeteners; I'll be very curious to hear how it works. Happy baking!
-A
anne kelly says
Hi, What is the cornstarch for?
I have nevwe heard of this ingredient in a cookie recipe?
Thank you :)
Alanna Taylor-Tobin says
Great question! Here it helps the cookies hold together, making them sturdy and chewy. I usually use tapioca starch, but other readers have used corn starch instead and it worked well for them. Let me know if you try the recipe!
Moni says
These cookies are amazing!!! The 1st time I made them I followed the recipe exactly with chocolate.
The 2nd time I made them, I reduced the brown sugar to 1/3c and used monkfruit sweetner to replace the granulated sugar. I also added about 1/2 c. of unsweetend coconut flakes and about 1/2 c. of a mix of sunflower seeds, cashew pieces and pumpkin seeds. They were amazing as well. I liked reduceing the sugar since we have so many diabetics in my family. This will be my go to oatmeal cookie recipe from now on.
Thank you so much!
Alanna Taylor-Tobin says
Hi Moni,
Aw thanks so much for the great feedback! So glad you and the family are loving the cookies and that the recipe worked well with less sugar and some monkfruit sweetener - brilliant! I know that tip will help other readers as well. Those mix-ins sound absolutely delicious, kind of like a trail mix cookie. I can imagine enjoying them for a hearty snack or on-the-go breakfast. Cheers my dear!
-Alanna
Candie says
what temp and. how long do you cook the almond flour cookies???????
Alanna Taylor-Tobin says
375F and 8-12 minutes. It's in the gray recipe card at the bottom of the post. Sorry for the confusion!
Von says
Love this cookie recipe and the grandbabies love them.
Alanna Taylor-Tobin says
Yay, I'm so glad these cookies are a hit with the family. Thanks so much for trying my recipe!
Kenzie says
Hi! I want to make the oatmeal raisin cookies, but im not sure why we have to boil the raisins. Can someone please respond ASAP, i'm in a rush here! sorry!
Alanna Taylor-Tobin says
Hi Kenzie,
It's just to plump up the raisins - you can skip this step in a pinch, they may just be a bit more hard/dry and could absorb moisture from the dough causing the cookies to not spread as much. LMK what you try!
-Alanna
Kenzie says
Ok, thank you so much! The raisins are brand new so I'm not too worried. Ill give a real review later!
Alanna Taylor-Tobin says
Oh that should be fine then. Please report back, and happy baking!
Jilli Kay says
These are so good my husband who hates almond flour baked goods loves them!
Alanna Taylor-Tobin says
Aw I love to hear that - so glad they're a hit!
Amanda says
I made these for the first time today and had to come leave a comment! These are the best gluten free cookies ever! And I've tried A LOT of different recipes. I'm looking forward to picking up your book and trying more recipes.
I also wanted to note I cut down the sugar by quite a lot (I think I reduced somewhere between 1/4 and 1/2 cup) and they still turned out amazing. I used a mix of soft brown, muscovado and demerera sugar. My boyfriend who is a bit skeptical because of all my crazy gluten free baking endeavours also said they were the best ones I've made so far.
The marzipan-like taste that comes through from the almond flour every now and then, with the crispy browned buttery oats. Lovely. Next time I'll experiment with sweeteners to see if I can make some for my diabetic grandma. Thank you so much!
Alanna Taylor-Tobin says
Hi Amanda,
Thank you so much for trying my recipe and for leaving such a sweet comment! I'm so glad the cookies were a hit, especially with your skeptical-to-gluten-free-baking boyfriend, haha.
That's great to know that the recipe works well with the sugar reduced. I can imagine what lovely caramel notes the muscovado and demerara sugars would add - yum!!
Please come back and let us all know how the diabetic-friendly version goes - I know that will help other readers here too! And what a lucky grandma you have.
Happy baking!
-Alanna
Car O Line says
Incredible cookies. I even added in some coconut shreds to it — soooooo incredible!!!!
Out of curiosity — why do you toast the oats prior to baking?
10/10!!!’
Alanna Taylor-Tobin says
Yay I'm so glad you liked the cookies. I bet the coconut added lovely flavor and texture - yum!
Toasting the oats gives them a head start cooking and adds some nutty flavor. If you're in a time crunch, you can absolutely omit this step though!
Nicole Butters says
I made these cookies and changed the sugars a bit. I used 1/4 cup Smartsugar and 1/4 cup Allulose (with Monkfruit) and about a tsp of Now vanilla liquid stevia. They turned out to be really delicious and my kids loved them.
Alanna Taylor-Tobin says
I'm so glad you and your kids loved these cookies and that the recipe worked well with those substitutions. Thanks very much for sharing; I know that will be helpful to other readers as well!