Crisp and buttery oat flour shortbread is a gluten free version of a classic cookie. Just 5 ingredients are needed for these lightly sweet morsels, and you can try out some of my suggestions for flavor variations!
Like my gluten-free shortbread recipe, this oat flour shortbread relies on simple ingredients to create buttery-crisp cookies taste just like shortbread made with regular flour. Make these cookies plain or fancy them up a bit with chocolate, citrus zest, almond extract, and more. Then arrange them on the holiday cookie plate along with a batch of gluten free peanut butter blossoms, oat flour sugar cookies, and gluten free sugar cookies.
Jump to:
- Why You'll Love This Recipe
- What Is Shortbread?
- Ingredients Needed
- Variation Ideas
- How to Make Oat Flour Shortbread
- Baking Tip: Chill the Dough
- Tips & More Variation Suggestions
- Serving Options
- Proper Storage
- How to Package Oat Flour Shortbread for Gifting
- More Easy Gluten Free Cookie Recipes
- Oat Flour Shortbread
Why You'll Love This Recipe
- Lightly sweet. There's just enough sugar in oat flour sugar cookies to make them sweet without being overly so.
- You won't be able to tell they're gluten-free. I promise, NO ONE will be able to guess that these gluten free oat flour shortbread cookies are, well, gluten-free!
- Perfect for gift-giving. Shortbread is a sturdy cookie and they make lovely edible gifts. I love gifting them at the holidays but they're also nice any time of year, and you can even roll out the dough and cut it into your favorite shapes!
What Is Shortbread?
Shortbread is a cookie that originated in Scotland. Traditional recipes call for one part white sugar, two parts butter, and three to four parts plain wheat flour. Shortbread differs from many other cookies because it doesn't contain any leavening agent (like baking soda and baking powder) or eggs. In this recipe, I swap the wheat flour for oat flour and add a touch of vanilla extract. Shortbread can be baked in bars, wedges, or shapes.
Ingredients Needed
You only need five ingredients to make this gluten-free shortbread recipe. You'll find the full ingredient amounts plus detailed instructions in the recipe card at the end of this post.
- Butter - Use unsalted butter softened to room temperature for the best results. You want the butter to blend in well with the sugar so there are no lumps or streaks.
- Granulated sugar - To make cookies refined sugar-free, use coconut sugar or maple sugar.
- Salt - Use fine sea salt or table salt.
- Vanilla - A little pure vanilla extract adds extra flavor. You can omit this if you wish.
- Oat flour - Whole grain oat flour is a wonderful choice in cookies, but if you don't eat oats, try brown rice flour or sorghum flour by weight. You can also try a 1:1 gluten-free flour blend or use my homemade gluten free flour blend.
Variation Ideas
- Citrus zest - Rub some citrus zest like lime, orange, or lemon zest into the sugar to release their oils before creaming it with the butter!
- Chocolate - You can add chopped chocolate or mini chocolate chips to the dough, or drizzle the tops of the cookies with melted chocolate. I love semisweet chocolate here.
- Nuts - Fold in ½ cup of chopped almonds, walnuts, or pecans.
- Spices - For holiday-spiced cookies, add ½ teaspoon ground cinnamon and ½ teaspoon of ground ginger, cardamom, or nutmeg or a combination. Or try 1 teaspoon of pumpkin pie spice!
- Candy canes - My girls love crushed candy canes added to the dough or sprinkled over the top of the cookies when they come out of the oven.
Have a hankering for maple shortbread cookies? You will love my delicious gluten free recipe!
How to Make Oat Flour Shortbread
Just a few minutes are all you'll need to make this easy dough. Here's a look at how you'll do it:
- Cream butter: In a large bowl, beat the butter, sugar, salt, and vanilla until well blended.
- Add flour: Mix in the flour to form a smooth dough.
- Place in pan: Butter 2 8-inch round cake pans and line them with parchment. Press the dough into the pans.
- Add holes: Prick the dough all over with a fork.
- Bake: Bake the shortbread at 325 F for 35-40 minutes until golden brown.
- Cool and cut: Turn out the cookie rounds and use a sharp knife to cut them into cookies.
Baking Tip: Chill the Dough
Don't skip the step of resting the dough in the fridge. It performs the double duty of hydrating the oat flour while also allowing the butter to firm up a bit. This results in beautifully flaky shortbread after it's baked.
Tips & More Variation Suggestions
Add lemon zest, chopped chocolate, dried lavender, almond extract - there are so many ways you can make oat flour shortbread cookies even more special. Like:
- Add citrus - I love to make these into fragrant lemon shortbread! Add the zest of 1 organic lemon to the dry mix. You can use any other citrus fruit you like - orange, clementine, lime, etc.
- Sprinkle the with flaky salt - If you're a salt-lover like me, you may want to sprinkle your finished shortbread with flaky salt for that elusive sweet-salty combo.
- Another flour - Try using another gluten free flour such as oat flour or sorghum flour for the gluten-free all-purpose flour blend (use 300 grams of whatever flour you choose).
- Vegan - Swap the butter for non-dairy butter.
- Cut outs - This dough is sturdy enough that you could roll out the dough on an oat floured surface and cut it into shapes using your favorite cookie cutters.
- Glaze - A simple melted chocolate drizzle is the easiest and quickest way to dress up these cookies. I also like to make a quick lemon juice and powdered sugar glaze (make sure to sift the sugar first).
- Add-ins - You can pop in add-ins like chopped chocolate or cocoa nibs, finely chopped almonds, chopped shredded coconut, and more.
- Colors - If you want to make pretty pink Valentine cookies, add dried strawberries to the dough (make sure to process them to a fine powder in a food processor first) and cut the dough into hearts. You can also add food coloring if you wish to color your dough another shade of the rainbow.
- Flavors - Easy flavor additions include vanilla, almond, orange, or peppermint extracts.
Serving Options
Shortbread is traditionally served with a cup of tea, and I also love it with coffee. You can also use oat flour shortbread cookies as a base for other dishes, including crushed and mixed with butter to form a gluten-free cookie pie crust. I love taking two plain shortbread cookies and filling them with chocolate or strawberry ice cream for a cold summer treat. Tip: Use softened ice cream, then wrap the assembled sandwiches in plastic wrap and freeze them before eating.
Proper Storage
- Counter - Store your gluten free shortbread in an airtight container on the counter for up to 5 days.
- Fridge - Place gluten-free shortbread in an airtight container and store it in the fridge for up to 7 days. Bring the cookies to room temperature before serving.
- Freezer - Shortbread freezes well: Place cookies in a freezer-safe, sealable bag and store them in the freezer for up to 3 months. Defrost the cookies in the fridge before eating.
How to Package Oat Flour Shortbread for Gifting
A cookie tin is one of the easiest and most festive homemade holiday gifts. To package up oat flour shortbread for giving away, transfer the baked cookies to a pretty tin, container, or cellophane bag (if using a tin or container add a piece of parchment paper between any layers). Give the cookies away immediately, or store the containers in the fridge for up to 3 days.
More Easy Gluten Free Cookie Recipes
If you tried this oat flour shortbread or any other recipe on my website, please let me know how it went in the comments below! And I always appreciate a star rating if you loved it ❤️
Oat Flour Shortbread
Ingredients
- 16 tablespoons unsalted butter, at room temperature, at least 65°F
- ¾ cup granulated sugar
- 1 teaspoon fine sea salt
- ½ teaspoon pure vanilla extract
- 2 ¾ cups oat flour (300) grams
Instructions
- Butter 2 8-inch round cake pans and line each one with a circle of parchment paper.
- In a large bowl, beat together the butter, sugar, salt, and vanilla until well blended.
- Mix in the flour to form a smooth dough. Don't worry if the dough is crumbly at first - it'll come together as it's mixed.
- Divide the dough in half and press each half into the prepared pans (alternatively, wrap one half of the dough in plastic and set it aside to bake when the first round is done or refrigerate it for later). Prick the dough all over with a fork so that any steam that forms is released during baking. Rest the dough in the fridge for 30 minutes.
- Preheat the oven to 325℉, then bake the short bread for 35-40 minutes until the surface is set and slightly golden brown (the edges will be a darker golden brown). Remove from the oven and let cool for a few minutes, then gently turn it out onto a cutting board. Using a sharp knife or a pizza cutter, divide the shortbread into pieces. I cut 8 pieces from each round but you could cut them smaller if you wish. Then transfer the pieces to cool completely on a rack.
Notes
-
- Sprinkle with flaky salt - If you're a salt-lover like me, you may want to sprinkle your finished shortbread with flaky salt for that elusive sweet-salty combo.
-
- Another flour - Try using another gluten free flour such as sorghum flour for the oat flour (use 300 grams of whatever flour you choose).
-
- Make them dairy-free - Swap the butter for non-dairy butter.
-
- Add citrus - I love to make these into fragrant little lemon shortbread bites! Add the zest of 1 organic lemon to the dry mix. You can use any other citrus fruit you like - orange, clementine, lime, etc.
-
- Try other glazes - A simple melted chocolate drizzle is the easiest and quickest way to dress up these cookies. I also like to make a quick lemon juice and powdered sugar glaze, especially if I'm making these as lemon shortbread cookies, to drizzle on top.
-
- Add-ins - You can try other add-ins to these cookies other than citrus zest! Try chopped chocolate or cocoa nibs, finely chopped almonds, chopped shredded coconut, and whatever else you can think of.
-
- Colors - If you want to make pretty pink Valentine cookies, add dried strawberries to the dough (make sure to process them to a fine powder in a food processor first) and cut the dough into hearts. You can also add food coloring if you wish to color your dough another shade of the rainbow.
-
- Flavors - Easy flavor additions include vanilla, almond, orange, or peppermint extracts.
Kim Fink says
Hello! Could this shortbread recipe be used to make a shortbread crust? Thank you!
Nicole Spiridakis says
Yes absolutely!