Soft, chewy oatmeal cookies with coconut flour. A simple and better-for-you cookie recipe for when you're craving something sweet. Gluten free with an option for dairy free and ready in under 30 minutes!
These have all the soft and chewy goodness you crave in an oatmeal cookie, but are made using coconut flour as opposed to all-purpose flour.
Why coconut flour? First, it's gluten free (and I avoid gluten). Plus I love making gluten-free baked goods with simple ingredients. I use almond flour in a lot of my baked goods, but that's not always good when people have nut allergies.
Coconut flour is also a good alternative to a lot of flours because of its lower carb content and it's lower on the glycemic index (compared to all-purpose flour). In addition, it is high in fiber and less expensive than a lot of gluten free flours. So it's perfect for these coconut flour oatmeal cookies.
You'll also find me using coconut flour in my almond flour blackberry muffins, Paleo almond flour donuts, and almond flour blueberry lemon bread.
Reasons to Love This Recipe
- SIMPLE, CLEAN INGREDIENTS - I love that these coconut flour oatmeal cookies require simple ingredients and no gluten-free flour blends. You just need coconut flour and oats for the base of these cookies.
- DIETERY NEEDS - There are options for making these cookies both gluten free and dairy free and they are also nut free.
- ONE BOWL & EASY- The dough for these cookies is made in just one bowl. Less clean up and less mess! Plus, no need to chill the dough before baking.
- CUSTOMIZABLE - The recipe is written with chocolate chips, but there are many options for other add-ins.
Ingredients
Ingredient Notes & Substitutions
A complete list of ingredients and amounts can be found in the recipe card below. Here are some specific call-outs, and when needed, some tips on keeping the ingredients clean.
COCONUT SUGAR - To keep these refined sugar free, I use coconut sugar. Coconut sugar tastes similar to brown sugar and I really love the caramelized sweetness it adds to these cookies.
You can sub regular white sugar or brown sugar if needed. The coconut sugar also adds a browner hue to the cookies, so if you use regular sugar, the cookies will be lighter in color. You could also use half white sugar and half coconut sugar (or brown sugar).
I don't recommend a liquid sweetener, such as maple syrup or honey.
COCONUT OIL OR BUTTER - You can use either room temperature butter (unsalted) or coconut oil. If you need them to be dairy free, use coconut oil.
Clean food tip: Typically unrefined coconut oil is best, but some refined coconut oils are considered clean too. For butter, at a minimum use organic, but grass-fed/grass finished is best (I like Kerrygold).
EGGS - If using coconut oil, make sure you use room temperature eggs. This will keep the coconut oil from solidifying into little chunks when mixed with the eggs.
Clean food tip: Pasture-raised eggs are best.
OATS - If needing these cookies to be gluten free, make sure to use certified gluten-free oats. And use rolled oats/old-fashioned oats; steel cut outs will be too dense for these coconut flour oatmeal cookies.
Clean food tip: I highly recommend organic oats. Like most grains, oats are sprayed with glyphosate (an herbicide that’s been linked to increased cancer risk) prior to being harvested.
CHOCOLATE CHIPS - I use dairy-free semi-sweet chocolate chips to keep these cookies dairy free, but any chocolate chips will work.
How to Make
STEP 1: Using a hand mixer, or stand mixer with paddle attachment, cream together the coconut oil (or butter) and coconut sugar.
STEP 2: Mix in eggs and vanilla extract.
STEP 3: Add the dry ingredients (oats, coconut flour, baking soda, salt). Mix until combined.
STEP 4: Fold in the chocolate chips.
STEP 5: Using about 2 tbsp. of dough, scoop dough (or roll into balls) onto prepared cookie sheet. Flatten dough into a round cookie shape. The cookies will not spread or change shape while they are baking. Tip: Use a spring loaded scoop for scooping dough.
STEP 6: Bake at 350 degrees for 7-9 minutes.
Allow to cool slightly and then remove from cookie sheet. These oatmeal cookies with coconut flour are the absolute best when eaten fresh out of the oven.
FAQs
Because the coconut flour is so dry and extremely absorbent, the liquid from the eggs is really needed in these coconut flour oatmeal cookies. I don't recommend using an egg substitute here.
No, almond flour reacts very differently in baking and this recipe is written specifically for coconut flour. There are no substitutions for the coconut flour.
If you want to make the dough ahead of time, you can store in the fridge for up to a week. If needed, allow dough to come to room temp so you can scoop and shape the cookies. You could also shape the batter into individual balls and then place in fridge so all you have to do is flatten/shape the cookies before baking.
Expert Tips for the Best Cookies
Don't forget these tips when making these coconut flour oatmeal cookies!
The dough is sticky. When shaping/flattening your cookies, wash hands between every few cookies or lightly grease your hands with butter or coconut oil.
Because of coconut flour, the dough for these coconut flour oatmeal cookies won't spread. Make sure to shape them into round cookies before baking. I make the cookies about ¼"-½" thick.
Use a cookie scoop to scoop the dough.
Whether using a cookie scoop, or shaping in your hands, pack the dough together. This will help the cookies hold their shape.
Coconut flour can be challenging to bake with. When measuring scoop flour into measuring cup and even out with the dull edge of a knife. Do NOT pack the flour into the measuring up.
Swap out the chocolate chips for walnuts, raisins, or any of your favorite dried fruits.
Storing
These oatmeal coconut flour cookies will stay fresh for up to 3 days when stored in an airtight container. You can also freeze these for up to 3 months.
More Better-for-You Desserts
Coconut Flour Oatmeal Cookies
Equipment
- 1 Mixing bowl
- 1 Baking sheet
Ingredients
- ½ cup coconut sugar
- ⅓ cup room temperature unsalted butter or coconut oil
- 2 eggs (see notes)
- 1 tsp. pure vanilla extract
- ½ cup coconut flour
- 1 ¾ cups rolled oats/old-fashioned oats (certified gluten free if needed)
- 1 tsp. baking soda
- ¼ tsp. fine sea salt
- ½ cup semi-sweet chocolate chips
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Line one large baking sheet (or two small) with parchment paper, or a silicone baking mat, and set aside.
- In a large mixing bowl, beat together the coconut sugar and butter (or coconut oil) until smooth, about 1 minute. You can either use a hand mixer, or stand mixer with paddle attachment.
- Add the eggs and vanilla and beat for an additional 30 seconds.
- Add the coconut flour, oats, baking soda, and salt. Beat on low until just combined. Next, fold in the chocolate chips.
- Using about 2 tbsp. of dough, scoop dough (or roll into balls) onto prepared cookie sheet (I like using a spring loaded cookie scoop for this). Flatten dough into a round cookie shape. The cookies will not spread or change shape while they are baking.
- Bake for 7-9 minutes. Let cool slightly and then transfer to a wire rack to cool completely. Enjoy!
Notes
- Both butter and coconut oil work in these cookies. Use coconut oil if you need them to be dairy free.
- If using coconut oil, use room temperature eggs. This will keep the coconut oil from solidifying when the eggs are added in.
- When measuring coconut flour, scoop flour into measuring cup and even out with the dull edge of a knife. Do NOT pack the flour into the measuring up.
- Whether using a cookie scoop, or rolling in your hands, pack the dough together before shaping into cookies. This will help them hold their shape.
- If dough is too sticky while shaping them into cookies, lightly grease your fingers with butter or oil.
OMG These cookies were so delicious! I finished half the tray to myself!
Not going to lie... I've eaten half the batch before too 🙂 So glad you enjoyed them.
Hi!
Just wondering if "rolled oats" in this recipe means quick oats or old-fashioned oats?
Thank you!
Hi - it's old fashioned oats. I'll update the recipe so it's more clear. Thanks for the question.
Followed the recipe to the T and found the dough to be a really weird consistency... seemed to thin and watery. Put it in the fridge for 30 minutes to try to firm it up, as many gluten free cookies require, but cookies still ended up spreading out kinda flat and being way too crumbly. Probably moving on to a different recipe, rather than attempting again, but thanks for sharing anyways.
Sorry to hear your dough was watery... definitely not how it should turn out. Either way, thanks for sharing and giving the recipe at try!
Super delicious, just the right amount of sweetness and chocolate and perfect with coffee for my breakfast dessert :). Thank you for this great recipe!
These cookies were so delicious and so easy to make! Everyone always uses almond flour as a replacement for regular flour and I never would have thought to use coconut flour. They turned out great and my picky toddlers are begging for more!
Thanks so much for letting me know. So glad you and your toddlers are enjoying these 🙂
what a great recipe, thanks for sharing your cooking tips-they definitely make it easier
Do you have the ingredients in grams/metric by any chance?
Hi Valerie - Apologies, but I do not. I tried to look up some conversions for you, but I'm having a hard time finding the conversion for the coconut flour and coconut sugar. Sorry!
delicious!! second batch is in the oven as I type this....already have eaten 2!!
Thanks for letting me know... I appreciate you taking the time to leave a comment. And I'm so happy you love them as much as we do! Enjoy!
Made these for the first time and they turned out perfectly! Thanks for the great recipe since I find that using coconut flour can be a bit tricky (especially getting the right right amount of liquid).
Yes, coconut flour can be tricky 🙂 So glad to hear these turned out - thanks for taking the time to leave a review. That means a lot!
I found these cookies to be crumbly. I followed the recipe but used white sugar instead of coconut sugar. I did use coconut flour. Your flavor was good I just didn't care for the crumbly texture.
Hi Patricia - thanks for sharing! I'm sorry to hear the texture didn't turn out the same as when using white sugar compared to coconut sugar.
oh so you think that may have made the difference? I didn't even know that there was a coconut sugar. thank you for letting me know I will try it again using coconut sugar. The flavor was good in the cookies.
Different sugars do have different effects in baking, so that most likely did effect the final cookie. Glad the flavor was still good. And yes, coconut sugar is more similar in taste to brown sugar and is considered a natural/unrefined sugar, which is why I like it.
I followed the recipe, except I used avocado oil instead of butter or coconut oil.
I had the same issue with them being excessively dry and crumbly. I'll need extra milk to get them down.
Hi Shannon - thanks for sharing! The liquid avocado oil may have impacted the final result, but I know other people have had the same thing happen even when using coconut oil/butter. And others get the perfect results, so I wish I could help troubleshoot more. I would suggest an extra egg next time.
First time using coconut flour for baking, and this is the perfect recipe to try. The cookies are delicious, and now I am itching to make more goodies with the flour.
Coconut flour is a hidden gem 🙂 So glad you liked them... I appreciate you letting me know.
I cannot find the serving size. Is it one cookie? I see that the recipe makes 18 cookies, and I see the nutrients list, but I can’t find the serving size that correlates to the nutrients.
Thank you. I’m looking forward to making these for my diabetic, celiac husband.
Jan
Hi! Yes, the serving size is one cookie. I hope you guys enjoy... please let me know after you make them 🙂
Hello Sara, I'm looking forward to making these cookies! I'm not a "baker" but I like to get creative in my cooking. I'm wondering if I added a banana would I have to make adjustments in the other ingredients for the cookies to turn out ok?
Hi Celeste - I can't say for sure how you would need to adjust the other ingredients if you add a banana. For sure you would need more oats and coconut flour to absorb the banana, but I'm not sure how much. The dough should be pretty dense, so if you do try the banana, add enough oats/coconut flour to make a dense dough (one that you can easily shape the cookies). If you try, let me know how it turns out! Thanks for the question.
Can we use flax eff?
Hi thank u for sherring such awesome choice of flour
Can I replace the eggs for flax eggs?I'm veegan
Thank you
I have not tried these cookies with flax eggs, but I believe flax eggs would work the same for these cookies. Please let me know how they turn out with the flax eggs.
This is the first recipe for wheat free & dairy free cookies that’s actually worked for me.
I subbed light brown sugar for the coconut sugar and added 2 tsp of applesauce(I’m high altitude cooking). The thick batch stayed thick and soft (baked for 11 minutes) and the thin batch is nice and crunchy with a slight softness(9 minutes).
I can’t tell you how thrilled I am this worked. My husband is allergic to 25+ foods and this is his first batch of non-crap cookies in 12 years.
He says thank you. 🙂
Thank you so much for this note and I am thrilled to hear that. So happy you have both found a delicious cookie recipe that works for your dietary needs! Tell your husband you're welcome from me 🙂
Hi. I’m also in high altitude & a few other bloggers failed me & I’m an experienced baker. I’m in Denver in 5,280 feet above sea level & Have home made apple sauce and plan to use coconut palm sugar. Are the oats you used quick oats or old fashion rolled in the high altitude recipe? Thanks. I’m just curious before I make Them so I dont end up with a bad batch.
This recipe needs work. We know using coconut flour can result in dry, crumbly bakes, but this is ridiculous. Next time I will add 2 additional eggs and decrease oats to 1.5 cups. If this doesn't work, I will consider this concoction an epic (and expensive) fail.
I'm sorry to hear these didn't work out for you! I wonder if you maybe you ended up with too much coconut flour? Did you scoop flour into the measuring cup and level off with a knife (so that it's not packed in the measuring cup)?
I'm an experienced baker, thanks.
I had the same problem-and I tried to make these twice. Both times they came out a crumbly، dry mess... Tasty, but unusable as cookies...
I'm so sorry they didn't turn out! I wish I could help you troubleshoot. I have had multiple people say they turn out great, so not sure what went wrong? Appreciate you trying to make them multiple times.
Thanks for replying to all the others. Im an experienced baker and eager to make these in denver and tell you how they work. I’m going to follow your instructions to the T.
Thanks, Mia! I am eager to hear how they turn out for you! Please keep me posted 🙂
These cookies are very good, not crumbly, not dry. For me they are lacking a little in flavor. Maybe cinammon, or a tablespoon of peanut butter would do it. I used brown sugar instead of coconut sugar (because I didn’t have any coconut sugar). Maybe that made the flavor a little flat. I also skipped the chocolate chips and added walnuts and pecans instead. I will make this recipe again using coconut sugar and maybe some cinnamon, or maybe some peanut butter chips.
Thank you for your thoughts, Mary! I think some cinnamon could be a great addition to these cookies.
I ended up with some pretty delicious cookies that weren’t dry or nearly as pricey as almond flour baking can be. Thank you for sharing !
Yay... delicious cookies are always the best! And thanks so much for sharing, I really appreciate that 🙂
Thanks for sharing this simple recipe. Cookies were great.
Thanks so much for letting me know. Glad you enjoyed them!
Omg amazing cookies! I did not have chocolate so I added walnut instead and worked wonderfully! Thank you for the recipe! It made my day!
Yay! Cookies always make my day, too 🙂 And the walnuts sound delightful!
Sorry one more question. What size are the eggs? Large? Extra large?
When I make them at home I use large eggs (I am not high altitude).
They were just ok. Not sweet enough for me even though chocolate chips were in them. Followed recipe but only got 15 cookies out of them. Also they were very dry. Not real crumbly but dry. Definitely have to have a drink with them. Meanwhile my hubby loved them. Go figure.
Thanks for the note, Layla! Glad to hear at least one of you enjoyed them...ha! I don't like overly sweet things, so I can see how you could have thought they weren't sweet enough.
I didn’t use any chocolate chips and replaced the coconut sugar with granulated white sugar and it turned out in PERFECTION, was a little crumbly but was still great.
Thanks for sharing and so glad you enjoyed these!
Excellent cookie. Love the soft texture. The recipe is easy to make.
Appreciate you sharing, Bonnie!
Do you think I Could use date sugar instead of coconut sugar? And would it substitute 1:1? Thanks in advance for any help.
I have never baked with date sugar, so I can't say how it would turn out. After a quick Google search, sounds like you can replace date sugar 1:1 for coconut sugar though. If you do try, please let me know how it turns out!
I was reading the comments about dry cookies and I wondered if the dry cookies were cooked in an area with a dry climate. I know that even when using regular flour the humidity in the air can affect the outcome of baked goods. In drier climates you often need to use more liquids in a recipe to have the same outcome as someone living in a more humid climate. Just a thought.
Thank you so much for your thoughts, Andrea! I hope others read this and consider this if they are in a drier climate. For some, these cookies turn out great (including me) and for some, like the comments say, they are dry. Something to consider with the climate, for sure.