Having my mom here for the last several days was such a treat. I’ve felt a bit like a basket case lately as we’re dealing with some behavioural issues (the munchkin, not the mom!), and having her here made the world of difference. As I’ve written about in my birth story, the presence of other women who’ve been through it before (childbirth, raising a family, etc.) is a comforting feeling. There is strength to be found in hearing someone else’s child-rearing war stories (which are often hilarious in hindsight…seriously hilarious!). Sometimes you just need someone to tell you that everything is going to be ok, despite feeling like you’re doing most things wrong, unable to find solutions to ongoing issues, or worse yet, creating lifelong bad habits. I’m starting to realize that it’s ok not to have an immediate answer, to sift through the highs and lows of parenting, to do my best each day while troubleshooting through it all, and know that in the end love wins. We have so much love and laughter in this house—I have to remind myself not to lose sight of that. When my mom says to me that soon she’ll be grown and past these phases I find myself welling up with tears because I don’t want this time to pass, yet some days I’m at a loss as to how to get through them. “We are given what we’re able to handle,” she reminds me. Parenting is a humbling experience, and I laugh at my former self who had a long list of “things I’d never do as a parent”. Well, that list has been a running joke around here of late.
Cookies have felt so right lately, in every way possible. I’ve gotten lost in the testing of this recipe, probably 12 times in a few weeks (as you may have witnessed on Snapchat and Instagram!), and I’m so thrilled with how they turned out. I can’t even deal with how delicious these are, and how much joy they’ve brought into our lives. Total comfort food, right here.
Here are some things I love about these cookies:
+ They are jumbo (so glad I didn’t go with my original idea—mini cookies…temporary lapse in judgement, clearly.), chewy, and gooey (thanks to big chunks of chocolate and a short bake time) with a crispy edge (aka: my cookie nirvana).
+ They are vegan and gluten-free with a perfect texture…so pretty much unicorns of the cookie world given how amazing they taste.
+ Much like my beloved Crispy Peanut Butter Chocolate Chip Cookies, they have a wholesome base made up of oats and almonds.
+ They are sweetened with pure maple syrup rather than cane and brown sugar (this is a big request I’ve had!).
+ You only need ONE bowl! And everything is stirred by hand—no electric mixer required!
+ They only contain a few tablespoons of virgin coconut oil—there’s no vegan butter to speak of, but the flavour isn’t compromised one bit.
+ They are bursting with gooey chunks of dark chocolate! I started my testing with 100 grams, then tried 125 grams, and finally settled on 150 grams of chocolate in this recipe. Trust me on this one. Normally, I gravitate toward this 70% dark chocolate, but we all preferred a slightly milder bar in this recipe—Camino 55% dark chocolate bars. Feel free to experiment and find your perfect chocolate in this recipe!
+ Arrowroot flour/starch helps bind these cookies rather than a flax egg (some of you requested a vegan/gf cookie without flax due to flax allergies so I’m happy you can enjoy them too!).
+ They are super fun to photograph (hence, the million pictures). Try it yourself and tag them #ohsheglows on social media so I can see!
+ Did I mention they’re the cookies of my dreams? Ok, I’ll stop now.
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Jumbo Chocolate Chunk Cookies
Yield
13 jumbo (4-inch) cookies
Prep time
Cook time
Total time
These vegan and gluten-free chocolate chunk cookies will blow your mind! The cookie dough is sweetened with pure maple syrup—you'd never know they don't contain any granulated cane or brown sugar (aside from the chocolate, of course). Almond butter, oats, almond flour, and a small amount of coconut oil form the hearty and nutritious base of these irresistible cookies. Prepare yourself for an addiction. We love these warm, but they're also great straight from the freezer or fridge! This recipe is inspired by The Bojon Gourmet.
Ingredients
For the wet ingredients:
- 1/2 cup (120 g) natural smooth almond butter (no subs)*
- 1/4 cup plus 3 tablespoons (105 mL) pure maple syrup
- 3 tablespoons (45 mL) virgin coconut oil, softened but not hot**
- 1/2 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
For the dry ingredients:
- 1/2 cup (50 g) gluten-free rolled oats
- 1/4 cup plus 2 tablespoons (50 g) gluten-free oat flour
- 1/4 cup (33 g) arrowroot flour/starch
- 1/4 cup (25 g) almond flour
- 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
- 1/2 teaspoon pink Himalayan salt
- (150g) 55% non-dairy dark chocolate (about 1 1/2 bars)***
Directions
- Preheat the oven to 350°F (180°C) and line a very large (approx. 21 by 15 inch) baking sheet with parchment paper.
- In a large bowl, stir together the wet ingredients (almond butter, maple syrup, oil, and vanilla) until completely smooth.
- Stir the dry ingredients (oats, oat flour, arrowroot, almond flour, baking soda, and salt) into the wet mixture, one by one, until thoroughly combined. The dough will be a bit wet/oily, but this is normal.
- Chop the chocolate into small chunks. Set aside 3 tablespoons (for topping the cookie dough later), and stir the rest of the chocolate into the batter until combined.
- Using a large retractable cookie scoop (or simply a spoon and your hands), scoop mounds of dough (about 2 1/2 tablespoons of dough per cookie). Add each onto the baking sheet, about 3 inches apart, as they'll spread a lot while baking.
- Press the remaining 3 tablespoons of chocolate onto the tops of the cookie dough mounds, evenly distributed. (Reshape the cookie dough mounds if they flatten a bit.)
- Bake for 8 to 10 minutes (I prefer 8 1/2 to 9 minutes for gooey and soft cookies), until the cookies are spread out. If you prefer a crispy cookie, bake for about 12 minutes.
- Cool the cookies directly on the baking sheet for about 5 to 6 minutes. The cookies will be super delicate until they are cooled. Using a spatula, gently transfer each cookie directly onto a cooling rack for another 10 minutes, where they'll firm up even more. (It's normal to have a small amount of oil on the bottom of the cookies due to the almond butter. If this bothers you, simply place them on a couple sheets of paper towel.) Serve and enjoy! Allow the cookies to cool completely before storing.
Tip:
- * It's important to use natural smooth almond butter that has a fairly "drippy" consistency. Be sure to stir it very well before measuring and avoid using the dry/hard nut butter at the bottom of the jar as it's too difficult to mix with the other wet ingredients. Some readers have also said that using peanut butter resulted in cookies that didn't spread out and didn't hold together, so I wouldn't recommend subbing the almond butter.
- ** What is softened coconut oil? During the warm summer months, coconut oil is the perfect "softened" consistency at room temperature; it's neither solid nor completely melted. If you do need to use melted coconut oil, just be sure that it's not hot/warm or it could melt the chocolate.
- *** I prefer Camino 55% dark chocolate bars in this recipe, but feel free to use the chocolate of your choice.
- Tip: These cookies spread out a lot and are fairly thin. If you prefer a thicker cookie you can try chilling the dough before baking. (I haven't tried this yet myself.)
Nutrition Information
(click to expand)
COOKIE FAQs:
I posted this recipe to the Oh She Glows Recipe App over the weekend, and I’ve already had some questions about these cookies that I will share here:
Can I sub natural peanut butter for almond butter? Some readers have commented that they tried this swap and it didn’t work out so well. The cookies didn’t spread out and they were very crumbly. So I wouldn’t recommend it.
Can I make these nut-free? I haven’t tried a nut-free version yet, but if I do it will likely involve trying out sunflower seed butter and finely ground toasted sunflower seeds. Obviously the flavour will change a lot and might be overpowering. The cookies might not spread out, too. If you try anything out, please leave a comment and let us know how it turns out!
Can I swap the arrowroot for another starch? Arrowroot flour is a starch and it helps bind these cookies together. I haven’t tested this recipe using another starch yet (such as tapioca or potato starch), so I can’t say for sure. Again, if you try anything out please report back!
Can I make regular-sized cookies as opposed to jumbo? You sure can!
How do you store these cookies? After cooling completely, I typically store these cookies in a zip bag or container in the fridge (where they’ll firm up even more thanks to the coconut oil solidifying) for a few days. You can also store them in a freezer-safe bag in the freezer (likely for up to 1 month, but we’ll probably never be able to verify this).
These look divine… ;D
Would these work with other types of flour?
Hi Naomi! Sorry for the delayed response – have you had a chance to try these cookies yet? I haven’t tried flour substitutions myself, but I know a lot of readers have—especially for the almond flour (many have reported back that various swaps for that— namely, gluten-free flour, oat flour, and all purpose flour—worked out fairly well). I’d suggest having a read through the comments to see what’ll work best for you and what you have on hand! Hope this helps, and that enjoy the cookies! :)
I CANNOT get enough of these cookies. They are an absolutely amazing texture and flavor. I love the nuttiness and the oat flavor and the maple. I’ve given some to my non-gluten-free non-vegan friends and they are also big fans. I bakes mine for 12 minutes and they are lovely and crunchy but also still chewy. I cannot believe how wonderful these are. I am overjoyed. :) Thank you for the fantastic recipe!!
Thank YOU for the fantastic review! I’m so happy to hear the cookie recipe is a hit.
These cookies are delish! I acacidentally have been omitting the almond flour and they were superbly gooey and wonderful. With the almond flour I noticed they are much more pillowy and compact! Just a note!
Hi Samantha, thanks for sharing!
Hi Angela- I’ve just made these amazing cookies for our Thanksgiving feast tomorrow. Can’t wait to share them with some of my non-vegan family members. One question- I can’t seem to get 12 cookies out of the recipe. Just doesn’t seem to make enough batter for 12 2 1/2 tablespoon scoops. Could I be missing something? I love all your recipes. Thank you! And I hope you had a nice Tjanksgiving back in October :) Tulsi
* Thanksgiving :)
These look amazing! I can’t wait to try them. We eat gluten free, and my husband is very allergic to oats (he can’t eat GF oats either). Can the oats be substituted with quinoa flakes? And if so, what would you suggest to replace the oat flour with?
Looking forward to making these!
Hi Samantha, I haven’t tried subbing the oats with quinoa flakes myself, so it would be a bit of an experiment. If you try it, please do report back and let us know how it goes! In terms of subbing the oat flour, I think a few readers have replaced that with some success—I’d suggest reading over a few of the comments to see what they did! Hope this helps. :)
I made these and they were DELICIOUS!
Simple to make and what I loved the most about these was their chewy texture, with a crisp edge! I used 72% chocolate but I am a dark chocolate lover and the cookies were still sweet enough for my husband and I! I would make them again, thanks for sharing this recipe :)
I’m so pleased to hear they were a hit! :) I’m definitely a fan of their great texture, as well.
By FAR the best vegan gluten free cookies I’ve made! These have been my go to recipe for all occasions, Thank you so much! I was able to make them refined sugar free by finding a chocolate bar sweetened with coconut sugar.
The only way they could be better is if they were oil free. If anyone has had Success with substituting the oil, let me know! Maybe apple sauce or more almond butter?
Thank you for this recipe. I was looking to cook a dessert that didn’t have cane sugar in it. These were very good–not the sugar shock taste and feel with regular chocolate chip cookies. These hit the sweet spot more gently. I also appreciate that they are gluten free, just to vary our diet away from wheat everything. Also we usually eat vegan (though we have eggs from our chickens). So this recipe was perfect and without sacrificing taste or sweetness. This is not my first OSG recipe that I have enjoyed nor will it be the last I try!
I’m so happy to hear you enjoyed the recipe so much!! :) Thanks for the lovely comment.
These cookies are absolutely delicious. They are my new favorite!!!
I’m glad you enjoyed them, Amy! :)
Holy crap, it was snowing and I had no eggs and I really felt like a chocolate chip cookie, I decided to try your recipe but I only made a half batch because vegan and cookie are often not words that go well together…. But I wish I’d made a full batch, they are so delicious! My whole family is gluten free and I will hands down say this is a superior GF chocolate chip cookie to any that I’ve seen/made! Love them will definitely make again, thanks! :)
Oh, I’m so happy they were a surprise hit, Estella! Thanks so much for the lovely comment. :)
BEST GLUTEN FREE VEGAN COOKIE EVER.
And without the hard sugars?
Brilliant!!!
Keep up the hard work!
Sooo I’ve made these many timea already and they are my husbands + my favorites!!!
I just wonder how your chocolate chunks stay so perfect after baking them? Mine just melt all over the place!
xoxo
Wow! These are amazing. I was getting so frustrated trying recipes off pintrest. I have been looking for a good holiday treat with wholesome ingredients. I would make recipes and they just weren’t tasty! Then I remembered your blog and of course you came through!!! Super yummy!!!
Thank you!
I’m glad this recipe was a winner, Cammy! Enjoy :)
Hi! I was wondering if there was anything I could sub for oats and oat flour since I am allergic. These look amazing! Thank you so much!
Hi Callie, I haven’t tried subbing the oats and oat flour myself, but I know a number readers have replaced the oat flour (with various alternatives) with some success—I’d suggest reading back over a few of the comments above to see what they did and what might work best for your! And I believe someone was thinking of swapping the whole oats for quinoa flakes, but I’m not sure how that went. If you decide to experiment, please report back and let us know how it goes! Hope this helps. :)
hi!
I am so frustrated because I’ve tried making these twice now and each time they spread out and are very very crumbly and the edges burn. I think it’s possibly because my oven is a bit crappy and I don’t have a thermometer to make sure the temp is accurate . . . I’ve also been blending my thicker almond butter with a bit of sunflower oil to get it super creamy and ‘drippy’ like you said, but perhaps this additional oil is throwing them off?
I will try try again bc these look so beautiful and delicious,
but any advice you could think of would be so helpful :)
I’ve made these twice both for friends who are not vegan or gluten free and they lived it. I substituted arrow root starch an oat flour for trader Joes gluten free flour (1/2 cup) and it looked just like the pics
I’m glad to hear the cookies were a hit, Bre!
HI Angela!
The mix came out very dry for me and when cooked the cookies completely fell apart. I definitely messed up by mixing all the dry ingredients together and then adding that mix gradually to the wet ingredients – do you think that was the cause? or perhaps my almond butter (Justin’s) was too dry? I’d like to try to make them again and don’t want to unknowingly make the same mistakes! Thank you!
Bam. Solid delectable recipe. I am also happy to report that my homemade (sufficiently drippy) hazelnut butter makes a good swap for the almond butter. I know you warned against subbing, but I was a rebel :)
Glad to hear it worked out well, Sophie! Hazelnut butter sounds like a delish swap :)
What could I substitute for the oats and oatmeal? My husband loves my traditional chocolate chunk cookies, but he can’t have wheat or oats anymore. I’m trying to find a good recipe that he can devour.
Thanks!
Hey Kayla, This is such a great question! I’m sorry that I don’t have a firm option for you at this time as I haven’t tried anything else yet, but I will be sure to update the recipe if I do. I would guess that quinoa flakes might work in place of the oats, and for the oat flour, you might be able to get away with swapping it for another flour. Please report back if you try anything out!