Guaranteed to be love at first bite! You won’t believe these old fashioned, soft and chewy peanut butter cookies are actually made with oat flour and naturally gluten-free. Peanut butter oat flour cookies have that old school taste and texture thanks to two simple baking tricks anyone can pull off. Let’s make this super-dooper easy recipe together!
absolutely perfect Peanut butter oat flour cookies
Making recipes with 1-minute homemade oat flour has been my jam for a few years. If you’re able to tolerate oats on a gluten-free diet, it’s more affordable than GF flour blends, plus has more consistent results. Instead of varying mixes of starches across brands, making gluten-free cookies with oat flour has one ingredient in the flour – 100% oats.
Plus, you can’t beat the slightly sweet, nutty taste of oatmeal blended up into a fine powder. I’ve become such a fan, I’ve created all kinds of baked goods using oat flour – from a fluffy oat flour cake with brown sugar frosting, fudgy oat flour brownies, and even Belgian-style oat flour waffles.
When making oat flour peanut butter cookies you can streamline the recipe so it’s mix, scoop, and bake, but I have a hard time leaving well enough alone, especially when making my favorite gluten-free cookie recipes. As I created this peanut butter cookie recipe I experimented with chilling versus not chilling, different baking temps, and varying the amount of oat flour to create an old fashioned cookie with an identically classic taste and texture.
Let’s learn what easy tweaks work best, how to create a crispy cookie, if that’s your thing, and fun additions to take these GF peanut butter cookies to the next level.
Ingredient highlights
- Peanut Butter – For all of my peanut butter desserts, I like to use old school, creamy peanut butter, like Jif or Skippy brand. If you prefer natural peanut butter, or another nut butter, just be sure it’s well blended with the oils before using in the recipe.
- Butter – If you are looking for a dairy-free modification, this would be the only ingredient to make an adjustment on. Use plant-based, vegan butter sticks and cut the amount of salt added in half.
- Oat Flour – While you can use premade oat flour, if you have gluten-free oats and a high-powered blender on hand, I beg you to make your own! Place 2 cups of rolled or quick oats in the blender and process until very, very fine and powdery, about 1 minute.
- Sugars – I use a combo of granulated or packed light brown sugar for a little caramel taste and to build structure. I have not tested the recipe with sugar alternatives, but let me know in the comments if you do!
Let’s Make This Together!
(Below shows step-by-step photos and modified instructions. For the complete recipe, along with ingredient amounts, scroll down to the recipe card.)
cream butter and sugar
Place room temperature butter, creamy butter, brown sugar and granulated sugar in a large mixing bowl. Mix until creamy and smooth, about 2-3 minutes. Then add the egg and vanilla extract.
mix in remaining ingredients
Now it’s time to mix in the dry ingredients – oat flour, baking soda, and salt. Mix until well combined and a thick cookie dough is formed. That’s it. Your hardest part is done!
Drop and bake
The texture comes out better if the dough is chilled first (more on that below). However, if you find yourself in a cookie emergency, you can also drop and bake the dough before chilling. I used a medium cookie scoop, which is about 1.5 tablespoons dough per cookie.
crispy or or chewy – you choose!
For other gluten-free cookie recipes, I’ve found that baking at a slightly lower oven temp improves the texture, so I decided to give it a try for peanut butter cookies made with oat flour as well. I REALLY loved the softer ridges and chewy, soft batch crumb when they were baked in a 325ºF oven. However, if you are on team crispy cookie, I recommend baking at 350ºF and extending the baking time 1-2 minutes.
chilling dough versus not chilling
Usually chilling cookie dough helps with shaping because chilled dough is easier to work with. This dough was easy enough to work with without chilling, especially if you use a cookie scoop, so I almost skipped the test of chilling. So glad I saw the experiment through.
Chilling oat flour peanut butter cookie dough makes a smoother, less granular texture with smooth, puffy undulations along the top. First-class-tickets-to-cookie-heaven kind of stuff.
If you are short on time, you could skip this step, buutttt, maybe just don’t. You can always pop the dough in the freezer for 30 minutes to speed up the chilling process as well.
fun additions!
You could just stop at a great tasting cookie. Or not? Here’s some mix-in ideas, along with other ways to use the dough.
- Sprinkle on flaky sea salt before baking.
- Mix in chopped peanuts or roll the cookie ball tops in crushed peanuts before baking.
- Stir in 3/4 cup chocolate chips. I like to use a mixture of semi-sweet chips and miniature baking chips.
- After the cookies have baked and cooled, dip half in melted chocolate.
- Use a small cookie scoop to portion out smaller cookies. Once they come from the oven place an unwrapped Hershey Kiss in the middle to make gluten-free peanut butter blossoms.
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Soft Batch Oat Flour Peanut Butter Cookies
Ingredients
- ½ cup (113 g) unsalted butter
- ¾ cup (194 g) creamy peanut butter
- ½ cup (117 g) packed light brown sugar
- ½ cup (100 g) granulated sugar
- 1 large egg
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- 2 cups (190 g) oat flour see recipe notes for making your own
- 1 teaspoon baking soda
- ½ teaspoon salt
Instructions
- First, make your oat flour if you don't have some on hand. Place 2 cups old fashioned or quick-cooking oats into a food processor or high-powered blender. Blend until the oats until it turns into a fine, powdery flour (about 1 minute). Check to make sure you don't have any larger flecks of oats, and if so, blend again. Set aside.
- In a large mixing bowl or stand-mixer, mix together on medium high speed the softened butter, peanut butter, brown sugar, and sugar until light and fluffy, about 2-3 minutes. Add the egg and vanilla extract and combine well.½ cup (113 g) unsalted butter, ¾ cup (194 g) creamy peanut butter, ½ cup (117 g) packed light brown sugar, ½ cup (100 g) granulated sugar, 1 large egg, 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- On low speed mix in the oat flour, baking soda, and salt until well combined.2 cups (190 g) oat flour, 1 teaspoon baking soda, ½ teaspoon salt
- Although this step may be skipped if you're in a hurry, I recommend chilling the dough for best results. (See post for why!) Cover and chill for at least 1 hour, up to overnight.
- When ready to bake, preheat oven to 325℉ for soft batch cookies, 350℉ for a crispier cookie. Use a medium cookie scoop or drop 1 ½ – 2 tablespoons onto the sheets about 2 inches apart. Bake for 12-14 minutes, turning and rotating pans halfway through. Be careful to not over bake, especially if making soft batch cookies. If making crispy cookies, bake 14-15 minutes. Cool on the baking sheets for 5 minutes before transferring to cooling rack.
Nutrition
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