The varieties of chocolate chip cookies are nearly as vast as the variety of brownies, and everyone has their favourites. These Chewy Gluten Free Oatmeal Chocolate Chip Cookies were a hit with my kids, and they are perfect to pack in their lunch kits too!
Last week I had a reader ask me if I knew of any gluten-free cookie recipes that were chewy. Every cookie she had tried so far had been crisp. Well, I’m here to tell you that I created a fabulous Chewy Oatmeal Chocolate Chip cookie, and it was a total accident. I was actually intending to make a crisp cookie, but after baking and tasting these, I realized that I had just created a fabulous chewy cookie! A wonderful accident. 🙂
These cookies are loaded with chocolate chips, and have a great crisp exterior, but a nice soft, chewy middle. Perfect to have with your afternoon coffee, or to send along in the kid’s lunch kits. If you wish, you could add 1 cup of chopped nuts, which I omitted due to nut allergies at school. Feel free to change up the chocolate chips as well, using any blend of milk, dark, butterscotch, cinnamon, etc.

Chewy Gluten Free Oatmeal Chocolate Chip Cookies
These Chewy Gluten Free Oatmeal Chocolate Chip Cookies were a hit with my kids, and they are perfect to pack in their lunch kits too!
Ingredients
- 1 cup certified gluten-free quick cook oats
- 1 cup sorghum flour
- 1/2 cup brown rice flour
- 1/4 cup tapioca starch
- 1 teaspoon xanthan gum
- 1 teaspoon baking soda
- 1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon (optional)
- 1/2 teaspoon salt
- 2/3 cup canola oil
- 1 cup granulated sugar
- 1/2 cup brown sugar
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- 3 large eggs
- 2 cups semi-sweet chocolate chips
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 350 degrees F and line your baking pans with parchment paper.
- Using a food processor or coffee grinder, quickly pulse the oats to form smaller flakes, but not too much, or you will have flour.
- In the bowl of a stand mixer, combine the pulsed oats, sorghum flour, brown rice flour, tapioca starch, xanthan gum, baking soda, ground cinnamon, and salt.
- In a separate bowl, whisk together the canola oil, sugars, vanilla, and eggs.
- With the mixer running on slow speed, add the wet ingredients to the dry ingredients. Mix until combined. Add the chocolate chips and mix until evenly distributed.
- Scoop 2 teaspoons of dough on your baking sheet, leaving 3-inches between cookies to allow for them to expand while baking. Dampen your hands with a small amount of water and roll the scooped dough into a smooth ball. This will give your finished cookies a nice round shape.
- Bake cookies in preheated oven for 10-12 minutes, decreasing for a chewier cookie, increasing for a crispier cookie. Allow cookies to cool for a few minutes before moving them to a wire rack to cool completely. Store cookies in an airtight container.
Notes
If your dough is still too soft, or you want a slightly 'puffy' cookie, add an additional 1/2 cup brown rice flour.
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Looking for an easier way to scoop your cookies? Or perhaps a gift for the baker in your life? I LOVE my cookie scoops. I have 3 sizes, one perfect for small cookies, one for Cookie Monster size cookies, and the 3rd is perfect for filling muffin tins.
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Im At Home Baking says
These look super delicious 🙂
Amee (inspired-housewife) says
Oh these look really good will have to try them here very soon. I pinned them to my gf desserts board and hope others will see them too. 🙂 Amee
Leanne Campbell says
These look delicious! Good luck in the ‘My Cookies are the Best’ contest!
katie Apple&Spice says
These look fabulous. I’ve been on the lookout for a chewy gf cookie too. Thanks 🙂
Sally - only gluten free baking says
These look delicious and good luck with the competition.
Jenn says
Mmmm…those look very tasty! Thanks for sharing and best of luck in the contest. Be Well…Jenn
Sarah says
Okay, so I think if you’re gonna comment on a recipe, you should try it first! Otherwise, your comment isn’t so useful to those wondering about the recipe. And so, without further ado, here is my comment:
My husband is known far and wide as a master baker of chocolate chip cookies. He is very particular about his chocolate chip cookies. Today, a teenage friend with a limited palate was visiting, and said Master Baker decided to make cookies. He knows his recipe by heart, but he decided to make them so that I could eat them, gluten free. Thus began the search for a gluten-free cookie recipe, which landed him here–and then promptly lead him to the store to get all the different flours because my jars and bags are not labelled in our pantry. ahem. I guess they will be now. He wasn’t very excited about using all those different flours, but he did it. He also modified the recipe in this way: butter instead of canola oil (because we don’t really use canola oil). added 1 cup chopped pecans, and added some raisins to about half the batch just to try it out.
MY REVIEW:
These are pretty great cookies. I ate 3 of them hot right away–kind of unlike me, and they tasted yummy. The combination of the flours is good, nice and flavorful, no weird aftertaste. He baked them exactly 12 minutes, but I think they could bake a little longer. They also could use a bit more salt, and maybe a bit less sugar. The raisin ones puffed up more for some reason, but since that was a deviation from the recipe, it probably won’t happen to others’ cookies. If you are needing a cookie fix, these will fit the bill, they are chewy and yet a little crisp on the outside. Thanks for a good recipe!
Sandi in MN says
I made these a couple nights ago and they are really yummy. I changed a couple things..I used a scant amount of powdered Stevia extract and the brown sugar to reduce the sugar, then I used mini chocolate chips. I made the first batch too big and realized they won’t spread like gluten baked items do (I’m new to the gluten free thing) so I made them smaller and smashed them down with my fingers. They weren’t as pretty as yours but still tasty. The kids like them too, so I”ll try them again, next time using egg substitute of some kind. I’m still trying to figure out what my food allergy is, not sure if it’s dairy, wheat or something else. 🙁
NA says
Made these the other day. They are awesome. I was out of vanilla so subbed in some rum baking emulsion, and WOW, were they ever good! The cookies look too puffy when they come out of the oven but flatten slightly as they cool into the perfect cookie texture and shape. They have held well, too, staying chewy and delicious over the days in between. A real winner, Jeanine!! Thanks! (And my husband the Cookie Monster REALLY thanks you!)
Jeanine says
yeah!! And that substitution sounds AMAZING! Mmm… Cookie! 😀
NA says
Oh, the substitution was amazing, Jeanine, it was! I can also suggest that for a Butterscotchy flavor, subbing Buttershots Schnapps for Vanilla is a good change, too. I have not used that one in awhile, though, so you need to check to be sure Buttershots is GF. I think it is, but I can’t say 100%. Buttershots is also WAY cheaper than vanilla, so while I adore vanilla, the substitution can help when cutting costs, too.
Marisa says
Congrats Jeanine
These fantastic cookies have won you a trip to Toronto
Jeanine says
Thanks, Marisa! It was actually the sour cream sugar cookies that won, but these were in the same contest (and I actually like these ones better, hehe)
Sue says
These cookies really do spread out so be sure to leave enough space between them while baking.
Sue says
I didn’t have sorghum flour so I substituted Bob’s Red Mill GF all purpose baking flour. They are yummy!
Jeanine says
Thanks for the note, Sue! Always nice to know what substitutions worked for someone. 🙂
Christina says
made these yesterday with my kids, they are So good and chewy! A few changes I made, since I didn’t have rice flour, is I used 1/4 c. quinoa flour and 1/4 c. of Sorghum, used 1/2 c. butter and then coconut oil, 1/2 c. of rolled oats, and followed the rest of the recipe’s ingredients. Thanks for sharing!
Jeanine says
Great substitutions, Christina! thanks for sharing! 🙂
Candase says
Just made these for a road trip tomorrow, they are amazing!
Gwen says
I did not have success with these at all, and am left feeling really disappointed. I realize I did not follow the recipe to the letter, as I didn’t have sorgham- instead I substituted an equal amount of all purpose GF flour (Doves Farm brand) so in fairness I cannot fault the recipe. The dough was very rubbery and sticky, but as your other recipes I’ve tried turn out completely awesome, I kept going. They did not spread out at all, just puffed up. (For my subsequent trays I flattened out the dough before baking, so at least it resembled a chocolate chip cookie!)
I am so surprised that my one substitution had such an effect- so I have to ask, does sorgham change the texture and flavour that much? They lacked sweetness and the buttery crumbliness I get when making a typical Toll House recipe, and just subbing GF all purpose flour. Everyone seems to love them so much I just have a hard time believing I made the same recipe! So what did I do wrong? Any ideas?
Jeanine says
Hmm…that’s a tough one, Gwen. Does the all-purpose mix you used have anything else in it? Any gums or leaveners? Did you make the cookies bigger? Or, it’s quite possible that you just accidentally omitted something else (always possible, I forgot baking soda in my cornbread muffins earlier this week – goodness, I made hockey pucks! lol ).
Gwen says
Not this one- it’s potato flour, rice flour, tapioca flour, maize flour (which I think is corn starch?) and buckwheat.
http://www.dovesfarm.co.uk/flour-and-ingredients/gluten-free-flour/gluten-free-plain-white-flour-1kg/
Maybe the cornflour (as they call it in the UK) made them rubbery?
As for sorgham, would it have added sweetness?
Jeanine says
Well, I’ve heard that potato flour, if overused, can make things rubbery, and if the rest of the blend is starches, that could very well be it. The sorghum wouldn’t really add sweetness, but it has a mild nutty flavour to it.
Trudy says
Just made these and have to admit the dough looked like a fail in the oven,
but magically halfway through, they plumped up and looked perfect. Celiac and nonceliac kids devoured them! My new go to cookie recipe. Thank you!
Jeanine Friesen says
Yeah!! Phew – you had me worried there for a second. 😉 Glad to hear everyone liked them! I’m still enjoying some that I baked on the weekend.
Jeffrey says
Hi Jeanine.
Have made a few things from your repertoire and all have been great. Tried the Choc Oatmeal Cookies and at first I didnt know if they were right ! Cause i thought they were too wet. I baked one tray and they spread alot / too much so I added an extra 70g Flour and they were better. Still a bit too wet for me so I added another 50g or so of flour. They cooked well and stayed in a nice round shape and baked in a nice dome.
The only substitution I made was that instead of using the different flours ( Sorghum , Brown RIce , Tapioca) I used a pre mixed Gluten Free Flour ( which is majority Maize / Corn Starch/ Flour – Tapioca Flour – RIce FLour with raising agents like Soda and thickeners like Guar Gum so I didn’t bother adding more as i know that Guar Gum can be subbed for Xantham )
So from a chart I found online ( http://realfoodmadeeasy.ca/wp-content/uploads/2011/12/glutenfree-flours-volume-weight.pdf) – these are the weights of flour I subbed
1 Cup Sorghum = 127g
1/2 Cup brown Rice Flour = 79g
1/4 Cup Tapioca Starch = 31g
So I just subbed 240g Gluten Free Pre Mix Flour as specified above.
Also I found that at 175 C ( approx 350 F ) they baked a bit too white so I upped the temp a bit but still wanted the biscuit to be chewy.
Anyways – what are your thoughts – do you think the pre mix had something to do with it – but I have subbed the same flour mix for the different flours used in your Crispy GInger Biscuits and they worked fine.
Thanks speak to you soon.
Jeff
Jill says
Jeanie, I have mixed these up to the T. No substitutions except corn oil over Canola! But I feel something is wrong? Like the above poster Jeffery, they have turned out quite wet. I shall try a small batch then keep adding a bit more flour. I’m thinking of using some of your GF blend. Or should I just use some brown rice flour? Thanks
Rachel says
I had the same problem as the previous two posters. Mine turned out as flat as flat can be! They flattened and spread so much that it was just one very large, very thin cookie on the sheet. I didn’t change anything. What could have gone wrong?
Jeanine says
Cookies are one of the hardest things to trouble shoot online, Rachel. There are so many factors. It could just be the way that we measure the flour. Here is a list of cookie trouble shooting ideas: http://www.thebakingbeauties.com/2013/12/how-to-correct-your-gluten-free-cookie-crisis.html
Heather says
These are fantastic! I ate way too many! I used margarine instead of oil, but otherwise followed the recipe. Thanks for a great cookie. I’m new to GF baking and am enjoying trying your recipes – my other favourites so far are the pie crust (better than my old wheat flour recipe!) and the devil’s food chocolate cake. Thanks so much!
Jeanine says
Love hearing what your favourites are, Heather. Glad to hear that you’re enjoying the recipes! And now I want cookies… 🙂