One bowl, Healthy Oatmeal Cookies made with wholesome ingredients like almond flour and rolled oats, sweetened with maple syrup and studded with melty dark chocolate chips. These cookies are easy to make and really deliver! | Gluten Free + Vegan
ARE OATS GLUTEN FREE? CLICK HERE TO LEARN MORE ABOUT GLUTEN FREE OATS
Healthy Oatmeal Cookies (Vegan!)
A New Year – a new batch of cookies to obsesses over! Who’s with me?
This one goes out to all my fellow oatmeal cookie lovers. If you’re not already on board – you will be after one bite of these! I’ve enjoyed testing these cookies over and over again these past few weeks and they have officially become a personal favorite.
I now understand why breakfast cookies are a thing. I’m usually not too keen on starting out my day with something sweet, but one of these almond flour oatmeal cookies paired with more morning coffee and I’m all set.
They’ve got just the right balance of salty and sweet and they’re made with healthier ingredients than you’d typically find in traditional oatmeal cookies.
That being said, they’re still cookies and I really have to keep myself from eating too many because they’re too good!
Now. Enough chit-chat! Let’s bake!
Quick Questions
What’s the difference between almond meal and almond flour?
Though almond flour and almond meal are made from essentially the same thing (ground almond) there are a couple of key differenced between the two.
- Almond flour is typically made with blanched (skinless) almonds into a more fine flour.
- Almond meal is usually made with un blanched (skin on) almond into a more coarse flour.
Can I use almond meal instead of almond flour in these healthy oatmeal cookies?
Yes! In many cases you cannot swap out almond meal/almond flour interchangeably but with these cookies you can.
Can I use another type of flour in place of the almond flour?
- I don’t recommend using another type of flour here. I have only tested this recipe using almond flour so I can’t speak for how other flours would work without testing those too.
- If you can’t have almond flour you might enjoy these Oatmeal Blueberry Cookies instead. They’re made with gluten free oats and gluten-free flour. You can use flax egg in place of the egg and swap out the blueberries for chocolate chips.
- If you can have eggs you might also enjoy these Flourless Peanut Butter Oatmeal Cookies.
Substitutions
Eggs instead of Flax Eggs
- This is a very simply swap! If you’d prefer to use a chicken egg in place of a flax meal egg – simply mix in one egg with the other wet ingredients in the beginning.
Coconut Oil Instead of Vegan Butter
- You can swap out the vegan butter for coconut oil, but the cookies will come out slightly different in both taste and texture. If you want to use coconut oil, use 2/3 cup softened oil (144 g). Coconut oil has a much lower melting point which means you’ll need to chill the dough before baking to keep it from spreading too much. You’ll also end up with a slightly different tasting cookie, but if you like cooking with coconut oil you won’t mind it.
Freezer Tips
- To freeze the dough: roll cookie dough into balls and place in the refrigerator for an hour or so. Once the balls have chilled and hardened place in a ziplock bag and store in the freezer for up to 3 months. When you’re ready for cookies simply bake from frozen – just add an extra 2-3 minutes to the overall bake time. You may also want to write down the date frozen as well as the bake temperature and time.
- To freeze baked cookies: Once fully cooled place the cookies on a large rimmed baking sheet that you can fit in the freezer. Place in the freezer until solid then transfer the cookies to a bag or Tupperware container. Place a small sheet of baking parchment in between each cookie to prevent cookies from freezing together. Cookies will keep up to 3 months in the freezer. You can enjoy frozen cookies straight out of the freezer or allow them to thaw in the fridge overnight.
Tip!
Let the cookies cool! You need to let these cookies cool almost completely before you try to move them to a wire rack! If you try to move them around too soon they will fall apart. This often happens when you bake with flax eggs. Once they cool down they will set properly with crisp edges and a soft center. They are then able to be moved and stored away like you would with normal cookies.
Optional Tip: Just after baking, I like to press a few additional chips in the freshly baked cookies. This just gives your finished cookies with more of a bakehouse kind of look to them. If you’re using chopped chocolate (instead of chips) sprinkle the leftover chocolate dust over the tops of the cookies.
Swap out the chocolate: If you’re in the mood for healthy oatmeal raisin cookies you can always swap out the chocolate for raisins, or maybe even use a combination of the two.
Healthy Oatmeal Cookies (Vegan!)
One bowl, Healthy Oatmeal Cookies made with almond flour and rolled oats, sweetened with maple syrup and studded with melty chocolate pieces. These cookies are easy to make in no time! | Gluten Free + Vegan
Ingredients
- 1 tablespoon ground flax seed + 2 1/2 tablespoons of water
- 2/3 cup | 150 g vegan butter, softened to room temperature
- 6 tablespoons | 120g pure maple syrup
- 2 tablespoons | 32 g peanut butter, almond butter or another nut/seed butter of your choice
- 2 teaspoons | 10 ml vanilla extract
- 1 3/4 cup | 158 g certified gluten free oats
- 1 1/4 cup | 120 g almond flour
- 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
- 1/2 teaspoon salt
- 2/3 cup | 113 g or 4 oz dairy free dark chocolate chips or chocolate chunks + more for topping cookies
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 350°F/180°C. Line a couple of cookie sheets with parchment paper. Set aside.
- If you haven't already prep your flax egg: mix together the flax seed and water together in a small cup or bowl. Set aside for 5-10 minutes and let the mixture thicken.
- In a large bowl, add the butter, nut butter, maple syrup and vanilla extract. Beat with an electric mixer or by hand until combined.
- Stir in the dry ingredients: Add the almond flour, oats, baking soda and salt and mix together until fully combined. The dough will be thick and slightly sticky.
- Stir in the flax egg. Once mixed, add the chocolate chips/chunks and stir until the chocolate is evenly distributed throughout the dough.
- Scoop out about 1 heaping tablespoon worth of dough and drop on to your lined baking sheets. Leave about 2 inches in between each dough ball.
- Bake in the center of your oven for 12 minutes. The edges should be slightly golden brown. Remove the baking sheet from the oven and set aside to let cool completely before moving them. If you try to pick up or move to cookies before they've cooled they will fall apart.
- Enjoy!
Notes
You can speed up the butter softening by warming it in the microwave for about 10 seconds.Â
- To freeze the dough: roll cookie dough into balls and place in the refrigerator for an hour or so. Once the balls have chilled and hardened place in a ziplock bag and store in the freezer for up to 3 months. When you're ready for cookies simply bake from frozen - just add an extra 2-3 minutes to the overall bake time. You may also want to write down the date frozen as well as the bake temperature and time.
- To freeze baked cookies: Once fully cooled place the cookies on a baking sheet you can fit in the freezer. Place in the freezer until solid and then transfer the cookies to a bag or Tupperware container - place a small sheet of baking parchment in between each cookie to prevent cookies from freezing together. Cookies will keep up to 3 months in the freezer.  You can enjoy frozen cookies straight out of the freezer or allow them to thaw in the fridge overnight.
- You can use almond meal instead of almond flour
- You can use honey in place of maple syrup if you don't need these cookies to be vegan
- You can use a regular chicken egg in place of the flax egg
- Optional Tip:Â Just after baking, I like to press a few additional chips in the freshly baked cookies. This is completely optional but it does give your finished cookies a little more of a bakehouse kind of look to them. If you're using chopped chocolate instead of chips, sprinkle the leftover chocolate dust over the tops of the cookies as well.
- Let the cookies cool! You need to let these cookies cool almost completely before you try to move them! If you try to move them around too soon they will fall apart. This often happens when you bake with flax eggs. Once they cool down they will set properly and be easy to move store away like you would with normal cookies.
jdawg says
great recipe—turned out excellent
Sarah Nevins says
Excellent! So glad you liked it!
Linda says
These cookies are amazing!!! I made the following changes and they are still yummy.
Left out the nut butter and replaced the chocolate chips with Craisins. They were gobbled up very fast (even though I doubled the recipe:). Thanks so much for sharing!
Sarah Nevins says
Thanks Linda! So glad you enjoyed them as much as we do 🙂 Thanks so much for taking the time to come back and let me know what you thought of the cookies!
Liv says
I’m obsessed with these cookies! I’ve been making these almost weekly for the past month. SO GOOD. Thanks for the recipe!
Sarah Nevins says
Thanks Liv! I’m so glad you’ve enjoyed these so much!
CJ says
Is it possible to use chia seeds instead of flax as the egg replaced?
Sarah Nevins says
Hi CJ – that shouldn’t be a problem!
Effie says
Cookies taste delicious but fell apart immediately trying to pick them up. Very dissapointed
Sarah Nevins says
Hi Effie! Did you let let the cookies cool completely before moving them? It’s the last bullet point in the notes in case you missed it. Flax seed egg cookies need to cool down before being handled so they have time to set. If you pick them up too quickly they’ll just fall apart.