Gluten-Free Cowboy Cookies combine the goodness of oats, pecans, and chocolate chips in a deliciously easy cookie recipe. Vegan too!
To be perfectly honest, I've never had a cowboy cookie.
I recently saw the recipe for Laura Bush's cowboy cookies and thought, if only they were gluten-free!
After doing some research on a "typical" cowboy cookie, I set out to make my own. Free of gluten, eggs, and dairy, to boot.
Since I'm late to this cookie party, what I've gathered is that the best cowboy cookies, and a cousin cookie to the monster cookie, contain oats, pecans, chocolate chips, cinnamon, and sometimes coconut.
Gluten-Free Cowboy Cookies Ingredients
I went with everything except for the shredded coconut, but do use coconut oil in place of butter. If you ask my coworkers, they'll tell you I almost killed them with cinnamon on the first round of these babies. That has been remedied.
So, here's what you'll need:
- gluten-free oats
- dairy-free chocolate chips
- raw pecans
- coconut oil
- gluten-free oat flour
- almond flour
- tapioca flour/starch
- cinnamon
- ground flaxseed
- organic cane sugar
- coconut sugar
For the quickest assembly of this vegan cowboy cookie dough, prepare your flax eggs first and allow them to sit for 4-5 minutes. This lets the flax eggs gel while you are preparing your other ingredients.
I'd also advise melting your coconut oil after prepping your flax eggs. This gives the coconut oil time to cool slightly before combining it with the other ingredients.
The more egg-free and dairy-free baking you do, the more you learn that these two preps are usually best done first!
Due to the rustic nature of these craggy cookies, I'd recommend using a cookie scoop for your dough. It helps pack the dough together and leaves a nice dome shape to the cookie.
Since these cookies do not spread much, it also helps ensure that they hold together. If you don't have a cookie scoop, using a tablespoon, in the same way, would work too.
Want more oat flour cookies? These oat flour chocolate chip cookies are ones to try!
More Gluten-Free Cookie Recipes
Gluten-Free Olive Oil Chocolate Chip Cookies
Double Chocolate Coconut Pecan Cookies
Gluten-Free Oatmeal Raisin Cookies
📖 Recipe
Gluten-Free Cowboy Cookies (Vegan)
Ingredients
- 2 flax eggs 2 tablespoons ground flaxseeds + 6 tablespoons warm water
- 8 tablespoons coconut oil, melted 86 g
- ¾ cup raw pecans 78 g
- ¼ cup + 2 tablespoons coconut sugar 50 g
- ¼ cup organic cane sugar 50 g
- 1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
- 1 cup + 1 tablespoon gluten-free oat flour 100 g
- ¼ cup tapioca flour/starch 27 g
- ½ cup almond flour 50 g
- ¾ teaspoon salt
- ¼ teaspoon baking soda
- 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
- 1 cup gluten-free old-fashioned rolled oats 103 g
- ¾ cup dairy-free chocolate chips I recommend mini chips (6 oz/168 g)
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 350 degrees Fahrenheit. Line 2 large baking sheets with parchment paper. Prepare your flax eggs in a small bowl, set aside for at least 5 minutes.
- In a glass measuring cup or small microwaveable bowl, melt your coconut oil in the microwave for 30-second intervals, until oil is almost completely melted.
- Spread the pecans on a small sheet pan and toast in the oven, 5-6 minutes. Let cool completely, then chop roughly.
- Place the sugars in a large bowl and stir in the melted coconut oil. Let cool slightly, 1-2 minutes, then whisk in the flax egg and vanilla extract.
- In a medium size bowl, add the oat flour, tapioca flour, almond flour, salt, baking soda, and cinnamon. Whisk to combine. Slowly add the flour mixture, stirring as you go, into the coconut oil mixture, until thoroughly combined.
- Stir in the chopped pecans, oats, and chocolate chips. Allow the dough to sit for 3-5 minutes before scooping.
- Using a spring loaded cookie scoop (or tablespoon), scoop the dough and place them on the prepared cookie sheets, spacing them 2-3 inches apart. Bake the cookies one pan at a time until the edges of the cookies are golden and set and the tops are also golden, 14-15 minutes.
- Remove the cookies from the oven and let them cool on the pans.
- Cooled cookies can be stored in an airtight for up to 3 days; they will soften slightly and become more fragile as they sit.
Janie
Our neighbor brought these cookies to a block party a couple months ago, and a number of us had to have the recipe. I finally got around to making them myself and it is definitely one of my very favorite cookies so helpful to have recipes for friends, who need to be gluten-free and dairy free. Thank you for a cookie recipe. That is absolutely delicious!
Tessa
Hi Janie! That is so great to hear, thank you!!
Christina Bianco
I split the batch into 2 then added raw pumpkin seeds to the 2nd batch and it was delicious! Thanks for another great recipe!
Tessa
I love the pumpkin seed addition. I will have to try that too! <3
Jerilyn
Great looking cookies! Can I use chicken eggs instead of flax eggs? Thank you.
Tessa
Thanks, Jerilyn! Yes, I think that would work just fine - just watch your baking time a little closer. If you try it, I'd love to hear how it worked.
Jerilyn
Thank you for your reply!
Jerilyn
Hi, I made the cookies with chicken eggs & they turned out great. The bake time was quicker so instead of 14-15 minutes they were baked through in 10-12 minutes depending on the type of baking tray I used...light vs dark.
Tessa
That's fantastic! Thank you for reporting back - I appreciate it!