Talk about a gluten-free oatmeal cookie to remember! These gluten-free oatmeal cookies are chewy and full of cinnamon-spice. It can be made with chocolate chips, raisins (or both) and covered with a delicious icing. This post contains affiliate links. Please see my disclosures.
The oatmeal raisin cookie is one of the most popular cookies in the U.S. and a cookie I personally enjoy, too.
Some people think oatmeal cookies are a “healthy” alternative to the chocolate chip cookie, but the truth is, an oatmeal cookie contains plenty of sugar too. However, what I love about using oats is that that more slowly digest, and therefore do not spike your sugar levels as much.
I decided to try my hand at making gluten-free oatmeal cookies because, well, I was craving them. And maybe because I haven’t had one in so long.
I used to love oatmeal cookies, especially when they were topped with sweet icing and stuffed with raisins or chocolate clips.
Today I’m letting my cravings dictate the beautiful recipe you see here today – enjoy!
What You’ll Need
Like most cookie recipes, this recipe requires the basic cookie ingredients, including:
- Sugar
- Butter
- Eggs
- Vanilla extract
- Cinnamon
- Salt
- Baking soda
- Gluten-free flour
- Oats
Please note that you baking with gluten-free flours can be a little touch and go. I used Bob’s Red Mill 1:1 Gluten-Free Flour blend for this recipe and it worked like a charm.
Additionally, you must be very careful when using oats in any gluten-free recipe. Only oats labeled gluten free – or better, certified gluten-free – are okay for you to use.
For this recipe, you’ll want to use rolled oats. I enjoy using Bob’s Red Mill Gluten-Free Rolled Oats because the company takes many precautions to test their oats to ensure they’re safe for people with celiac disease to eat.
Remember, oats are notoriously cross contaminated with wheat during the growing, harvesting, storing and transporting processes. In fact, oats are often grown in rotation with wheat crops. Many companies grow oats in dedicated oat fields or have instituted optical or mechanical sorting of oats to ensure they’re safety.
There are very few people with celiac disease who cannot tolerate oats and who experience what is known as gluten cross reactivity with oats. Again, this is very rare.
How to Make Gluten-Free Oatmeal Cookies
If you know how to make cookies from scratch, making these cookies will be as easy as a piece of gluten-free cake.
First, you simply combine all the ingredients (except for the oats and raisins) until well mixed, then fold in the oats and raisins by hand.
If you don’t like raisins, you can use chocolate chips or any other add in of choice (dried fruits, nuts, etc.)
Next, drop the batter by the spoonful onto your baking sheet. You may want to roll the dough into even balls to get the most beautiful cookies. The dough is sticky, so lightly wet your hands before handling and shaping the dough.
Now you’re ready to bake the cookies for 10-12 minutes. Your house will smell heavenly as you wait for these fragrant cookies to complete the baking process. Enjoy all the wonderful spices and sugary sweetness that waft in the air as they bake.
Tip! I personally recommend slightly under baking the cookies for a rich, chewy texture. Yum!
When the cookies are done, transfer them to a wire rack to completely cool before adding icing.
Adding icing is totally optional and just adds more sweetness and beauty to your gluten-free oatmeal cookies.
To make the icing, combine
- Powdered sugar, sifted
- Vanilla extract
- Milk (or milk alternative)
Mix it all together until smooth. The icing should be smooth enough to flow off your spoon without being watery. You may have to adjust the ratio of milk and powdered sugar to get it just right.
You’ll also want to make sure you allow the cookies time to cool before icing. As you can see, I get impatient at times and my frosting doesn’t stick to the cookie in even strands as it should when drizzled on top of my cookies.
The Taste Test
These gluten-free oatmeal cookies are the bomb! You can taste the sweet brown sugar and fragrant cinnamon as you chew on this soft and slightly sweet cookie.
Between the cookie dough, raisins and icing, this cookie is a real people-pleaser.
I loved them. My husband loved them. And my kids loved them the most. These cookies, simply put, make everyone happy.
FAQs
Storing the Cookies: These cookies keep well when stored in a sealed baggie on your countertop. They were good for up to four days. They also freeze well for longer enjoyment.
Egg-Free: Yes, these cookies work well without eggs if you follow an egg-free diet. Use two flax eggs in lieu of eggs. To make 1 flax egg, combine 3 tablespoons of flaxseed meal with 3 tablespoons of water. Allow it five minutes to gel. Double the recipe to get the two flax eggs needed for this recipe. You could also use an egg replacer in lieu of eggs.
Freeze the Dough: You can also make this dough ahead of time and freeze it. I recommend rolling it into balls and then flash freezing the balls on a baking sheet. Then combine all the frozen balls into one bag for easy – and efficient storage. Just take out a few balls and bake them when you want a freshly baked oatmeal cookie.
Flour: This recipe has been tested with Bob’s Red Mill’s 1:1 Gluten-free Flour Blend. I have not tested it with other flours, but if you do, please leave a comment to share how they turn out. Expect different results depending on which flour blend you use. Look for a 1:1, cup-4-cup or measure-for-measure gluten-free flour blend that contains xanthan bum in lieu of regular rice flour.
Dairy-Free Options: For a dairy-free option, swap butter for the Earth Balance vegan buttery sticks. You’ll still get that buttery flavor without the dairy. You can also use dairy-free milk for the icing (optional).
Oats: I highly recommend using rolled oats for an extra chewy texture, but it will also work with quick-cook oats. Quick cook oats are more thin and therefore won’t result in a chewy texture. Rolled oats give these gluten-free oatmeal cookies a little bite. Steel cut oats won’t work. Read more in this article, Are Oats Gluten Free?
Cookies too Hard? It’s likely you over-baked them. I find these cookies taste best when slightly underbaked.
Don’t Like Raisins? If you don’t like raisins, consider adding chocolate chips, other dried fruits, nuts, seeds or another filling you desire.
Gluten-Free Oatmeal Cookies with Icing
Ingredients
Cookies
- 8 Tbsp unsalted butter softened
- 1/2 cup granulated sugar
- 1/2 cup light brown sugar
- 2 large eggs
- 1/2 tsp vanilla extract
- 1 tsp ground cinnamon
- 1/2 tsp Kosher salt
- 1/2 tsp baking soda
- 2/3 cup Bob’s Red Mill 1-to-1 gluten-free flour blend 110 grams
- 3 cups gluten-free rolled oats
- 1/2 cup raisins or chocolate chips or other filling of choice
Icing
- 1.5 cups powdered sugar sifted (180 grams)
- 1/4 tsp vanilla extract
- 2 Tbsp milk
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 350º F. Line 2 baking sheets with parchment paper. Set aside.
- In a bowl attached to your standing mixer (or use your handheld mixer), beat together butter, granulated sugar and brown sugar. Add eggs, one at a time, until well incorporated.
- Add vanilla, cinnamon, salt and baking soda. Mix well. Then slowly add flour and continue mixing until well combined.
- Fold in oats and raisins or chocolate chips, by hand.
- Add rounded spoonfuls of batter to prepared baking sheets about 2" apart. If the dough is too sticky to handle, lightly wet your hands to help shape the dough into balls.
- Bake for 10-12 minutes or until edges are slightly browned. Allow cookies to cool on baking sheet for 5 minutes and then transfer to a wire rack to cool completely.
Icing
- To prepare icing mixture, combine powdered sugar, vanilla and milk in a bowl and mix well until smooth. If mixture is too thick, add a bit more milk. If it's too thin, add more powdered sugar.
- Once the cookies are cooled, use your spoon to drizzle the icing over the cookies (while they are on the wire rack so the icing can flow off and not puddle around the cookies). Allow icing 1-2 hours to set before enjoying (if you can wait that long).
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