These thick and chewy chocolate chip oatmeal cookies are made wheat-free with spelt flour, which keeps them extra tender and full of whole-grain goodness. These spelt flour cookies are made with 9 main ingredients in 25 minutes, no chilling required. Add chocolate chips or chunks, or go with raisins and spices - you do you!
Note that spelt flour is *not* gluten-free, but some people (who don't have celiac disease or other gluten allergy) find that they tolerate spelt better than wheat. Make these if you're looking for gluten-free chocolate chip oatmeal cookies.
The Easiest Spelt Flour Cookies
I find few activities as satisfying as baking cookies. You turn on the oven to preheat, hoist your stand mixer down from where it lives on top of the fridge, get out a couple of baking pans, and set to work.
But what's this? You don't own a stand mixer/are too lazy to haul it down from the top of the fridge? Well, well. Have I got a recipe for you.
These spelt flour cookies are made using melted butter, so there's no stand mixer or butter softening required. Simply stir together the ingredients with a spoon and a bowl while the oven preheats, plop the dough balls onto a cookie sheet, and pop them in the oven for 10-ish minutes.
I first shared this spelt flour oatmeal cookie recipe back in 2010 when TBG was just one year old. At the time, I wasn't eating gluten-free, but I knew I didn't tolerate wheat well, and spelt seemed easier on my system due to its being an ancient form of wheat. Spelt flour was the first alternative flour that would lead me to experimenting with other gluten-free flours including almond flour, oat flour, buckwheat flour, and many more. I eventually wrote a cookbook all about baking with gluten-free flours which won an IACP award!
Spelt flour also has a lovely nutty flavor that pairs beautifully with brown sugar, oats, and chocolate. I've shared other recipes using spelt flour, including this spelt flour pie crust recipe and these crunchy sourdough discard crackers.
I'm thrilled that this spelt flour cookie recipe has endured over the years! Here's what one reader recently said about the recipe:
5-Star Reader Review
“I made no changes to the recipe and it turned out excellent! They are so tasty, the sugar caramelizes nicely and the spelt flour gives it an irresistible nuttiness to them.”
—Sophia S.
Ingredients
- Spelt flour forms the base of the dough.
- I used whole spelt flour here, but white spelt will also work. Or you can use whole wheat pastry flour or all-purpose flour. Note that spelt is *not* gluten-free, but it's an ancient form of wheat that some find easier to digest.
- Salt sharpens the flavors.
- Baking soda helps the cookies spread and brown.
- Brown sugar sweetens the cookies, adding rich molasses notes.
- Sub by weight coconut sugar for refined sugar-free.
- Old fashioned rolled oats add texture and heft. Be sure to use gluten-free oats if need be.
- 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.
- Vanilla extract adds floral notes.
For oatmeal chocolate chip cookies (shown here)
- Chopped bittersweet chocolate melts into gooey pockets.
- Sub chocolate chips if you prefer. For refined sugar-free, use chocolate sweetened with maple or coconut sugar such as Hu, Raaka maple, or Rad chocolate.
- Toasted pecans add crunchy goodness, but they're optional if you're not a fan.
- Cacao nibs add deep chocolate notes, kind of like coffee beans. These are also completely optional if you don't have any on hand.
For oatmeal raisin cookies
- Raisins plumped in boiling water (or tea) 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 spelt flour cookies
This recipe makes about 24 cookies in about 25 minutes, start to finish.
Storage
These cookies keep well, covered, at room temperature for up to 5 days.
Make-Ahead
These spelt 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.
However you make these spelt oatmeal chocolate chip cookies, I hope you love them as much as we do!
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 these spelt flour oatmeal cookies, I’d love to know. Leave a comment and rating below, and tag your Instagram snaps @The_Bojon_Gourmet and #bojongourmet.
Spelt Flour Oatmeal Cookies with Chocolate or Raisins
Print Recipe Pin RecipeIngredients
Wet Ingredients
- 8 tablespoons unsalted butter, melted and cooled (1 stick, ½ cup)
- 1 large egg
- ¾ cup packed light or dark brown sugar or coconut sugar (6 ounces)
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
Dry Ingredients
- ¾ cup whole spelt flour (or whole wheat pastry flour or all-purpose flour)
- ½ teaspoon baking soda
- ⅜ teaspoon fine sea or kosher salt
- 1 ½ cups old-fashioned rolled oats (5 1/2 ounces)
For Oatmeal Chocolate Chip Cookies
- ½ cup coarsely chopped dark chocolate, or chocolate chips (3 ounces)
- ½ cup pecan halves, toasted, cooled, and broken into coarse pieces (optional)
- 2 tablespoons cacao nibs (optional)
- flaky salt, such as Maldon, for sprinkling (optional)
For Oatmeal Raisin Spice Cookies
- 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
- ⅛ teaspoon nutmeg (freshly grated is best!)
- ½ cup raisins (covered with boiling water or tea for five minutes, then squeezed dry)
Instructions
Prepare things
- Position two racks in the upper and lower thirds of the oven and preheat to 350º. Line two cookie sheets with parchment paper.
Cookie Dough
- In a large bowl, whisk together the brown sugar and egg until combined.
- Whisk in the melted and cooled butter, then stir in the vanilla.
- In a medium bowl, whisk or sift together the spelt flour, baking soda, salt, and the cinnamon and nutmeg, if using.
- Stir the flour mixture into the egg mixture until almost combined, then stir in the mix-ins of your choice (chocolate, nuts, and cacao nibs; or raisins).
Bake
- Drop the dough by heaping tablespoons (or using a #40 spring-loaded ice cream scoop) onto the lined baking sheets, spacing them at least 2 inches apart. Flick a few grains of flaky salt on the tops if using.
- Bake the cookies until just set on the edges, and puffed and wet in the centers, 10 - 12 minutes, rotating front to back and top to bottom halfway through. The cookies will look underdone, but will continue to cook as they cool. (If you accidentally over bake, remove the cookies from the pans and onto cooling racks immediately.)
- Cool the cookies completely on the pans.
Storage
- Store the cookies in an airtight container at room temperature for up to a few days.
Ann Lam says
I cannot wait to try this. Thanks, Alanna!!!
Siri says
the cookies look gorgeous Alanna :)
Happy Holidays.
Siri
alanna says
Thanks! Happy holidays to you, too!
Gary James says
You are soooo right, these are the BEST oatmeal cookies my wife and I have ever tasted! For that matter, they're also among the best chocolate chip cookies! They are also the easiest to make! Thanks!
Alanna says
Yay! I'm so glad you like them - thanks so much for the comment! :)
Claire says
Perfect!
Although I made a couple of changes - oat flour for the spelt to keep them GF, and I added about 1/3 cup of coconut.
The texture was just the thick, chewy oatmeal cookie I have been craving and they were super quick to put together too. Next time I will split the batter and add raisins to my half and keep chocolate in the other to keep the kids happy.
Thanks for my new go-to oatmeal cookie.
Sophia S says
I made no changes to the recipe and it turned out excellent! They are so tasty, the sugar caramelizes nicely and the spelt flour gives it an irresistible nuttiness to them.
One thing - I believe I overmixed the sugar/egg at the beginning because I was left with very flat cookies... I wonder instead, if I were to start by mixing the sugar with the melted butter first, and then adding the egg and stirring until the egg is just combined would solve this issue.
Alanna Taylor-Tobin says
I'm so glad you liked these cookies, yay!
Hm, I'm not sure if changing the mixing order would make the cookies more puffy, but it would be an easy tweak to try, so please let me know if you do!
Otherwise, you could try adding an extra tablespoon or two of flour, which should help them hold their shape more, or you can try chilling the cookie dough balls for an hour or up to a few days prior to baking them.
Please keep me posted on what you try!