Gluten free chocolate chip, oat and ginger cookies! These insanely delicious cookies have a chewy, fudgy middle, crisp bottom and pools of melted chocolate. They were first published in my newsletter as a ‘we-made-it-through-January-let’s-celebrate-cookie recipe’, but I can confirm they’re also great in/after other months too. I’d been meaning to make a vegan cookie for a while and I was so thrilled with how these turned out. They’re also low FODMAP for those of us with more sensitive tums. Nobody is going to be missing out over here!
In December Food Thoughts sent me a huge bag of their Oat mylk chocolate chips and when I haven’t been eating them straight from the bag with a spoon I’ve been experimenting with them in recipes. I had never come across oat ‘mylk’ chocolate chips before – or dairy free chocolate chips so delicious – and I wanted to celebrate them in all of their glory with what else but a chocolate chip cookie. I always have stem ginger lurking in the back of the fridge from my festive baking at this time of year and I was very happy to find that the glistening specks are a match made in heaven with the rolled oats and creamy chocolate chips.
While you don’t really taste the peanut butter in this batter it makes for the best chewy texture and my top tip: don’t skip the flaky salt!
Ingredients for vegan and gluten free chocolate chip, oat and ginger cookies
Gluten free plain flour blend – my go-to is FREEE’s gluten free plain flour blend. It’s the blend I always reach for when I want something quick and easy to use in a recipe, plus it’s always readily available at my local supermarket
Rolled oats – I love using oats in gluten free cookie recipes, to add some more texture and interest. Make sure your oats are gluten free certified also if you need them to be
Xanthan gum – xanthan gum is a key player in gluten free cookies and it’s what help gives you that cookie texture and iconic chew. A really small amount – just 1/2 teaspoon – goes a long way
Baking powder and baking soda – we use a little of each to help these cookies rise before they sink down and create those gorgeous ripples
Sea salt – I’m sure you’ve heard me say it before, but sweet recipes always need a little salt! It doesn’t make them taste salty as such, but brings out all of the other flavours and balances out the sugar. I always use fine salt within the cookie batter and flaky on top to finish
Sugar – you need a mix of both caster and brown sugars in this recipe, as you do for most cookie recipes. Caster sugar helps with the structure and crispy bottom on the cookies, while brown sugar contributes to moisture, flavour and that fudgyness
Oil – to make these cookies vegan I’ve used oil instead of butter. You can use either vegetable oil or olive oil, just know olive oil will have a slightly stronger flavour (I mix it up depending on what I have on hand)
Peanut butter (smooth) – you don’t really taste the peanut butter, but it helps with binding in place of the egg and adds richness and fudgyness
Water – just a few teaspoons of water helps the batter to bind and prevents you from having to add more oil which can make the cookies (as you’d expect) oily!
Vanilla extract – I love using vanilla bean paste in recipes for the strong vanilla flavour it gives
Stem ginger and stem ginger syrup – sticky stem ginger balls in syrup, that you can buy in jars, are such delicious flavour bombs and chunks of them spread throughout the cookies are beyond tasty. And why waste the syrup from the jar? Adding 30g (about 2 tablespoons) amps up the ginger flavour – and bonus – the syrup is a delicious lower FODMAP alternative to golden syrup
Chocolate Chips – you can’t have gluten free chocolate chip cookies without chocolate chips! as I mentioned, Food Thoughts sent me some of their Oat Mylk chocolate chips, which I used in this recipe (I was so impressed by them!) You can of course sub in another vegan chocolate (just check for high FODMAP ingredients such as inulin if needed), dark chocolate chips or chopped dark chocolate
Common cookie recipe questions!
How many cookies do you bake per sheet?
This depends on the size of your oven and sheet but on a big sheet tray I go for 6. Give cookies more space than you think to avoid them sticking together!
Do you need to chill the cookie dough?
When it comes to gluten free cookies, I really stand by chilling the dough for a few hours before baking, or overnight. Chilling and resting the dough helps the gluten free flours to hydrate, intensifies the flavour and stops the cookies from spreading too much when baking. It’s worth it, promise.
Can you freeze the dough?
You can also freeze any left over dough (emergency cookie dough is the best ever). Place the dough balls into a tupperware box or ziplock bag – just try and keep them from touching if you can, so they don’t stick together. On emergency cookie needing days, bake as above, adding a minute or so onto the baking time. The dough will keep in the freezer for a couple of months.
Ingredients
170g gluten free plain flour blend
60g gluten free rolled oats
½ teaspoon xanthan gum
3/4 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon sea salt
50g light brown sugar
120g caster sugar
100g vegetable oil or olive oil
60g smooth peanut butter
3 tablespoons water
1 teaspoon vanilla bean paste or extract
2 balls of stem ginger, finely chopped
30g ginger syrup, from the jar
125g Food Thoughts Oat Mylk Chocolate Chips
Big pinch of flaky salt
Method
- In a large bowl, sift and whisk together the flour, oats, xanthan gum, baking powder, baking soda, salt and sugars.
- In a separate bowl, combine the oil, peanut butter, water, vanilla extract, stem ginger and ginger syrup. Tip the dry mix into the wet mix and stir to combine. Add in the chocolate chips and stir once more. Cover the bowl and chill for a few hours, or overnight.
- When ready to bake, preheat the oven to 195ºC/175ºC fan and line two baking trays with baking parchment. Use your hands or an ice cream scoop to form balls of dough, about 50g per cookie.
- Bake six or so cookies per tray for about 12-14 minutes, or until golden around the edges but still a little paler in the middle. Allow to cool for a few minutes before sprinkling with a little flaky salt and transferring to a wire rack to cool completely.
- These cookies will keep for up to four days in an airtight container.
Extra recipe notes:
- This recipe uses FODMAP friendly ingredients and should fit in with FODMAP limits. I follow the Monash University app data to create FODMAP friendly recipes – if unsure, as always, please ask your dietician or GP
- You can of course sub in another vegan chocolate, dark chocolate chips or chopped dark chocolate, instead of the oat mylk chips
This recipe was first published in my newsletter. If you haven’t already signed up, you can do so here.
I love seeing what you’ve created – so if you make this recipe (or any other from this site) don’t forget to take a photograph and tag me @shecanteatwhat or with #shecanteatwhat and #fodmapfriendlykitchen on social!
More low FODMAP and gluten-free cookie recipes:
White Chocolate And Macadamia Nut Cookies
