Magical cookies made with almond butter, maple syrup, oats, buckwheat flour, and plenty of chocolate. Though these cookies are gluten-free, vegan, refined sugar-free, and contain no weird ingredients, they look and taste surprisingly like classic chocolate chip cookies! Now with a nut-free variation here.
Spring seems to be the new winter here in California. Now that it's April, we're finally getting a bit of rain and "cold" weather. I couldn't be happier about this fact.
I grew up during the drought of the late 80's and came to associate flushing the toilet with feelings of severe guilt. So during a recent storm, I didn't even mind getting completely drenched on a walk home from yoga. My hair got so wet I could wring it out, and I was even using an umbrella. I've never been so not-grumpy about wet socks in my life.
To me, rain means not only guilt-free toilet-flushing, but a great excuse to stay indoors listening to music, drinking tea, and baking cookies; preferably soft and chewy chocolate chip oatmeal cookies, but any cookie will do so long as I get to stay in my jammies.
I got inspired to make these gluten-free and vegan treats from a few different sources. First, Dana "Minimalist Baker" Shultz's beautiful gluten-free, vegan cookies packed with chocolate and peanut butter. Second, Heidi's vegan peanut butter cookies, loaded with whole grain flour and sweetened with maple syrup. I decided to combine the two, trading the olive oil in Heidi's recipe for coconut oil, using milder almond butter in place of the peanut, and keeping the flours gluten-free.
I whisked together almond butter, coconut oil, maple syrup, and vanilla, then moved on to the dry ingredients. Since buckwheat goes so well in chocolate chip cookies, I decided to use it in conjunction with sweet rice flour, which is naturally sticky and adds chew to baked goods. And inspired by these oatmeal cookies from Flourishing Foodie, I added not one, but two kinds of oats: quick oats to absorb more moisture and keep the cookies thick, and old-fashioned rolled oats for hearty flecks and a bit of chew. I stirred in a ton of chopped chocolate, scooped the dough into balls which I topped with flakes of salt and more chocolate, and baked them into chewy pillows of cookie love.
Then I made them three more times because, hey, it was raining. Also, I keep giving them away to all the gluten-free and vegan people I know, which is a lot.
I never thought I'd be able to make a good cookie that was both gluten-free and vegan, so I'm thrilled with the results. The texture is indistinguishable from conventional cookies: thick, chewy, soft, and moist. Sweet rice flour and protein-rich almond butter help to take the place of gluten, and they also let the robust flavors of chocolate, buckwheat, and maple shine through. The oats give you something to sink your teeth into, and the occasional burst of flaky salt makes them utterly addictive.
I love the whiff of earth and spice that buckwheat flour adds to these cookies but if you don't have any on hand, you can likely trade both flours for a gluten-free all-purpose blend, or wheat flour if gluten isn't an issue. Do be sure to use oats that are certified gluten-free for those cookie-eaters who are severely gluten-intolerant, and seek out chocolate that is vegan. Bittersweet chocolate doesn't usually contain dairy, but refined sugar can be processed with animal bone char which is a no-no for vegans.
And be sure to have a tall glass of something milk-like to wash down gooey, warm-from-the-oven chocolate chip cookies. Because that is one of life's little pleasures...
right along with guilt-free toilet flushing.
More Gluten-Free Cookie Recipes:
- Vegan Paleo Chocolate Chip Cookies
- Vegan Gluten-Free Oatmeal Chocolate Chip Cookies with Tahini and Maple
- Tahini Chocolate Chip Cookies (vegan, paleo)
- Soft and Chewy Gluten Free Chocolate Chip Cookies
- Crunchy Gluten Free Biscotti with Hazelnuts & Chocolate
- Gluten Free Oatmeal Chocolate Chip Cookies
- GF Ginger Molasses Cookies
- Gluten Free Double Chocolate Cookies
- Gluten Free Flourless Chocolate Chip Peanut Butter Cookies
- Find more gluten-free cookie recipes in my cookbook Alternative Baker!
More Cookie Recipes:
- Triple Ginger Molasses Cookies, Three Ways
- Almond Pulp Chocolate Chip Cookies
- Triple Chocolate Chile Cookies
- Buckwheat Chocolate Chip Cookies
- Chocolate Pistachio Rugelach
*Bojon appétit! For more Bojon Gourmet in your life, follow along on Instagram, Facebook, or Pinterest, purchase my gluten-free cookbook Alternative Baker, or subscribe to receive new posts via email. And if you make this gluten-free vegan chocolate chip cookie recipe, I’d love to see. Tag your Instagram snaps @The_Bojon_Gourmet and #bojongourmet.*
Oatmeal Chocolate Chip Almond Butter Cookies with Maple, Buckwheat, and Flaky Salt {Vegan and Gluten-Free}
Print Recipe Pin RecipeIngredients
- 1/2 cup sweet rice flour (mochiko) (2.75 ounces / 80 grams)
- 1/2 cup buckwheat flour (2.5 ounces / 70 grams)
- 1/2 cup old-fashioned rolled oats, plus an extra handful for the tops (1.75 ounces / 50 grams)
- 1/2 cup quick (baby)oats (1.5 ounces / 40 grams)
- 1 teaspoon baking soda
- 1/2 teaspoon fine sea salt (or 1/4 teaspoon if your almond butter is salted)
- 1 cup smooth, unsalted almond butter (8 ounces / 225 grams)
- 3/4 cup plus 2 tablespoons maple syrup (8.5 ounces / 240 grams)
- 6 tablespoons melted but cool coconut oil (2.5 ounces / 70 grams)
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- 1 1/2 cups coarsely chopped bittersweet chocolate (preferably 65-70% cacao mass), plus some extra chunks for the tops (8 ounces / 225 grams)
- flaky salt such as Maldon, for the tops (optional)
Instructions
- Position a rack in the upper and lower thirds of the oven and preheat to 375ºLine two or three cookie sheets with parchment paper.
- In a medium bowl, whisk together the sweet rice and buckwheat flours with the old-fashioned and quick oats, baking soda, and sea salt.
- In a large bowl, stir together the almond butter, maple syrup, coconut oil, and vanilla. Add the flour mixture and stir until combined, then stir vigorously for 20 seconds. (This helps create a chewy texture.) Stir in the chocolate.
- Form the dough into 1 1/2-inch balls (either with two teaspoons or with a #40 spring-loaded ice cream scooand place at least 2 inches apart on the lined baking sheets. If you like, top each cookie with a few flakes of flaky salt, a few oats, and a chocolate chunk or two.
- Bake the cookies, rotating the pans from front to back and top to bottom after five minutes, until the cookies are puffed and slightly cracked on top, and set around the sides, 8-10 minutes. (They will seem underdone, soft, and fragile at first, but will firm up as they cool.) Let the cookies cool completely, then store airtight at room temperature. They will stay soft and chewy for up to 3 days.
Notes
Nutrition
Stacie says
These look amazing, I can’t wait to make them! If I wanted to use less maple syrup(I don’t like things very sweet)what should I substitute to keep the right consistency? Would unsweetened applesauce or more coconut oil work?
Alanna says
I don't like things very sweet either. I might try keeping the maple the same but using very dark chocolate (like 85%). I think coconut oil will make the cookies too oily, and I'm not sure how applesauce would act, thought it's worth a try. Let me know what you end up trying!
Leora says
Hi Allana happy New Years from Perth, Western Australia! These look amazing! Just wondering if they taste coconut-y from the coconut oil? I want to mage these for my dad, but he doesn’t like coconut flavours.
Alanna says
Hi Leora,
Yikes I hope you're staying safe over there. I'm sending so much love to Oz during this time.
As for the cookies, I don't think the coconut flavor comes through much at all. You mostly taste the almond butter, buckwheat, and chocolate. But you could use refined coconut oil which has no coconut flavor, or you could try palm oil. I've never tried these with a liquid oil but that could potentially work too. Or a vegan butter that you like the taste of (and decrease the salt if the butter is salty). Please let me know what you try!
-A
Catherine says
Hi Alanna! Major fan here in Washington, DC & we have a (now virtual) GF baking group that uses your book. I made these this morning as an alternative to the no-bake breakfast bars in the book (a house favorite!). The taste is yummy yet the coconut oil separated out after everything was mixed together. I did make a double recipe & with 2 changes: using sunflower butter instead of almond & added a fistful of dried sour cherries after the chocolate bits, but not sure why that would have thrown it off. I actually have had this sometimes in other recipes with coconut oil. Thank you for past years of good eating & in advance for any insights. Keep well!!
Madeline+Armstrong says
Awesome recipe. I just made these and absolutely love the taste and texture of them. I subbed half of the almond butter for tahini, and took out 40g of the maple syrup to make them slightly less sweet. I also left them a little rounder than you have in your pictures which made the inside super soft. :) Soooo good. Thank you for this recipe, I'll definitely be making these again!
Alanna says
Those changes sound absolutely divine! I'll have to try that next time. :)
Nikki says
Excellent Cookies! Very easy to make. Don't taste or feel like a gluten-free cookie!
Thank you for your website and cookbook. I've learned so much from you. Its made the transition to gluten-free easier.
Alanna says
I'm so glad you liked the cookies and that you're enjoying my site and book! Thank you so much for the sweet note. If you feel inspired to give this recipe a star rating as well, please do! :)
Blythe says
These are DELICIOUS. A favorite over here for sure! I'm wondering if you can sub applesauce for the coconut oil like you can in many other baking recipes. What do you think?
Alanna says
I'm so glad you love the cookies - one of my all-time favorites too! Hm I've never tried that before. Are you wanting to reduce the fat content? I would recommend testing this out with either a half batch, and/or start with replacing half of the oil with applesauce. Please come back and let me know how it turns out!
Blythe says
I made it! They were still suuuuper yummy. The texture was different, they were soft and fluffy cookies (but still chewy). You need to increase the bake time to around 12 min, but we thoroughly enjoyed every last crum!
Alanna says
Aw so cool! I'm so glad it worked out.