Oat Flour Sugar Cookies

Tender and buttery oat flour sugar cookies are as perfect in the holiday cookie tin as they are all year round. Naturally gluten-free oat flour plus pure vanilla extract, good butter, and sugar make these cookies stand out.

Why You’ll Love These Oat Flour Sugar Cookies

These are tender, flavorful cookies made with simple ingredients and hit all the notes you want in sugar cookies. Here’s why you’ll love this simple recipe for oat flour sugar cookies:

• Gluten-free yet you’d hardly know it! Naturally gluten-free oat flour performs beautifully in this recipe, mimicking a traditional sugar cookie made with all-purpose flour.
• Easily adaptable. Dress these cookies up with sprinkles or frosting or serve them plain. This solid, sturdy recipe delivers big on flavor every time, no matter how you finish them.
• Quick and simple. You’ll be able to find all of the ingredients needed at your local grocery store, and it take just minutes to put the dough together.

What You’ll Need to Bake Oat Flour Sugar Cookies

From simple ingredients comes something so good! The full ingredient amounts and instructions will be in the recipe card at the end of this post.

• Oat flour – A beautifully versatile naturally gluten-free flour, oat flour is delicious in this recipe and the only flour needed
• Baking powder
• Butter – I use unsalted butter in my baking recipes but salted butter will work in a pinch. Slightly reduce the amount of salt to compensate.
• Egg – Use a large egg
• Vanilla extract – Use a good-quality, pure vanilla extract in these cookies because you’ll really be able to taste the flavor.
• Salt – I always use fine grain sea salt in my recipes!
• Sugar

How to Make Oat Flour Sugar Cookies:

1. Prepare: Line two cookie sheets with parchment paper.
2. Cream: Combine the butter and sugar and mix until light and fluffy.
3. Mix: Add the egg and vanilla extract.
4. Add dry ingredients: Beat in the oat flour, baking powder, and salt to form a thick dough. Place it in the fridge to chill.
5. Roll and cut: Soften the cookie dough at room temp for a few minutes, then roll out the dough into a sheet. Use cookie cutters to cut the dough into shapes.
6. Bake: Place in oven and bake until firm and set.
7. Cool: Remove cookies from the oven and cool completely before serving.

Tips and Variation Suggestions

If you’ve made sugar cookies, you know that they’re not a fussy cookie, but you’ll need to follow a few best practices to avoid any sticky dough (or, conversely, dry dough that cracks when you roll it out). I’ve included a few tips plus some variations below:

• Rest the batter: Let batter rest and chill in the fridge for at least 15 minutes before baking, or longer if you can. Oat flour, like all gluten-free flours, benefits from a rest to let it absorb liquids.
• Use room temperature ingredients: Bring ingredients to room temperature before using. This is particularly important for the butter – if it’s nice and soft, it will incorporate better into the batter, making for a smoother and more uniform cookie.
• Use good quality ingredients: There are so few ingredients in these cookies that it’s important to try to use decent-quality ingredients! Choose pure vanilla extract and good butter to make these oat flour sugar cookies truly stand out.
• Don’t worry if the dough is crumbly. When you’re combining the dough, it may seem a bit dry and crumbly. Don’t worry! Keep beating the ingredients until they come together. If needed, you can use your hands to squeeze and knead the dough together a few times.
• Make them dairy-free: You can easily make these oat flour cookies dairy-free. Swap a non-dairy butter or slightly softened coconut oil for the butter.
• Make them vegan: Substitute for the butter as detailed above, and either omit the egg or use a flax egg substitute.
• Make them refined sugar-free: I love to use maple sugar when I make sugar cookies. The subtle, natural sweetness of the maple sugar take them over the top (and, make them refined sugar-free!).
• Oat flour substitute: If you don’t eat oats, you can use sorghum flour, or try an all-purpose 1:1 gluten-free baking flour.

Serving Suggestions

Oat flour sugar cookies are absolutely perfect in a gluten-free holiday cookie tin! Heck, you don’t even need to make it a gluten-free cookie tin – these cookies will rival any “regular” sugar cookie. Bake a batch of cookies ahead of the holidays and stash them in the freezer for when unexpected guests drop by. They defrost quickly, and a plate is perfect with a hot cup of coffee or tea. Or, use this recipe as a sugar cookie base for all sorts of occasions, from Valentine’s Day to birthdays to just because.

How to Store

Here’s how to keep your simple oat flour sugar cookies:

• Counter – Store cookies in an airtight container at room temperature for up to 5 days.
• Fridge – Keep oat flour sugar cookies in an airtight container or sealable bag in the fridge for up to 10 days. You can store the dough, well wrapped in plastic, for up to 5 days in the fridge.
• Freezer – Place layers of cookies with parchment paper in between them in an airtight, freezer-safe container for up to 3 months. Thaw the cookies in the fridge before eating.

More Gluten-Free Cookie Recipes

• Oat Flour Chocolate Chip Cookies
• Gluten-Free Chewy Molasses Cookies
• Gluten-Free Oatmeal Chocolate Chip Cookies

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