The best recipe for Gluten Free Snickerdoodles — made healthier! While made with healthier ingredients, these cookies are chewy in the center and crisp around the edges, just like a traditional cookie. They are so delicious and simple, you’ll make them over and over again!
My Favorite Snickerdoodle Cookie Recipe
When I went gluten free, cookies were a challenge.
I wanted to make my cookies from whole foods, not starches and gums, like so many gluten free recipes are based on. Swapping wheat for starches hardly makes baked goods any healthier! These, like all of my healthy cookie recipes, are gluten free snickerdoodles with no xantham gum.
When I discovered baking with nut flours (and butters!), my gluten free cookies improved! Because nuts have a natural sweetness, using them gives cookies a great texture, similar to a regular wheat-based cookie, and lessens the amount of sugar needed.
You’ll love these Gluten Free Snickerdoodles Because:
- The have the best chewy interior, and are crisp with a delicious cinnamon topping on the outside. They taste just like a classic snickerdoodle, while being made with wholesome ingredients!
- The recipe calls for just tablespoons of sugar, not cups! I do use organic white granulated sugar here, rather than coconut sugar or honey — it’s the only way I found to give them the same chewy texture as regular cookies.
- This recipe uses just 1 bowl — mix your baking powder and soda, salt, and cinnamon directly into the wet ingredients before adding the dry ingredients. Because we don’t need extra dishes to do!
How to Make Gluten Free Snickerdoodles
Step 1: Into a medium sized mixing bowl, add the cashew butter, egg, coconut oil, and vanilla. Mix until it’s creamy a and smooth, and then add the baking powder and soda, salt, cinnamon, and cream of tartar, then mix to combine.
Step 2: Add the oat flour and arrowroot powder, and stir to combine into a sticky cookie dough. Refrigerate the cookie dough for about 30 minutes so that it’s easier to roll into balls. If you need to refrigerate it for a longer period of time (like overnight), cover it with plastic wrap to keep it from drying out.
Step 3: Mix 3 tablespoons of organic coarse sugar with 1/2 teaspoon of cinnamon in a small bowl.
Scoop the cookie dough with a tablespoon or a tablespoon sized cookie scoop, and roll into balls. Roll the balls of cookie dough in the cinnamon sugar mixture, and place them on a lined cookie sheet.
Step 4: Press the cookies down using a fork. See below for variations on the shape of the cookies. These do not spread very much so if you’d like a flatter, crispier cookie, they need to be partially shaped prior to baking.
If you like your cookies thicker and softer, you can just bake the cookies in balls, without pressing them down. They will end up looking like this:
Step 5: Bake the cookies for 9 minutes. When you take the cookies out of the oven, they will be very soft and crumbly. As they cool, they will become more firm. I don’t put them on a wire rack to cool because they will break if you move them before they completely cool.
After the cookies cool, put the cookie sheet in the refrigerator or freezer (wherever you have room) to fully chill them. I promise — once the cookies are chilled, they have a very firm, chewy texture, and are not crumbly at all! This is the price to pay for having a healthy gluten free snickerdoodle cookie, without using weird starches or gums.
The cookies have the best chewy texture right out of the freezer! Store leftover cookies in the refrigerator or freezer, wrapped tight, based on your preference.
Tips for the Perfect Gluten Free Cookies
Skip the arrowroot starch: I don’t mind using small amounts of arrowroot starch, because it’s less processed than other starches and has more nutrients, like B vitamins, potassium and iron.
I buy this arrowroot starch from Bob’s Red Mill because it’s consistent, a good price, and doesn’t have a strong flavor like some other brands.
I tested these gluten free snickerdoodles with no arrowroot starch, and they are delicious. The cookies are slightly more crumbly, but once they are frozen, there is almost no difference in the texture. Simple substitute 2 additional tablespoons of oat flour for the arrowroot.
No Cream of Tartar: No problem! Instead of baking soda and cream of tartar, sub 1 teaspoon of baking powder. Alternatively, use the baking soda as directed, and add 1/2 teaspoon of lemon juice to the batter.
Make them Bar Cookies: This snickerdoodle cookie recipe is perfect baked as bar cookies! Press the chilled dough into a parchment-lined 8×8 inch baking dish, and sprinkle the top with cinnamon and sugar. Bake the cookies for 14 minutes. Allow to fully chill, refrigerate to cool further, and then slice into bar cookies.
Other Delicious Gluten Free Cookie Recipes:
- Vegan Oatmeal Cookies, by Sunkissed Kitchen
- Gluten Free Oatmeal Raisin Cookies, by Sunkissed Kitchen
- Vegan Double Chocolate Chip Cookies, by Sunkissed Kitchen
- No Bake Almond Joy Cookies, by Sunkissed Kitchen
If you make this recipe, be sure to share it with me! Find me on Facebook or Instagram and be sure to tag #SunkissedKitchen @SunkissedKitch
Gluten Free Snickerdoodles
Ingredients
- 3/4 cup cashew butter I make homemade or use Artisana raw cashew butter
- 1/4 cup coconut oil
- 1 egg
- 1 teaspoon vanilla
- 3 tablespoons organic cane sugar not coconut or molasses sugar
- 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
- 1/4 teaspoon cream of tartar
- 1/4 teaspoon sea salt
- 1/4 teaspoon cinnamon
- 1/2 cup oat flour*
- 2 tablespoons arrowroot powder
Topping
- 2 tablespoons organic cane sugar coarse sugar (sometimes called turbinado)
- 1/2 teaspoon cinnamon
Instructions
- In a medium sized mixing bowl, combine the cashew butter, coconut oil, egg, and vanilla. Stir to mix well.
- Into the cashew butter mixture, add the sugar, baking soda, sea salt, cinnamon, and cream of tartar. Stir to mix these ingredients in.
- Add the oat flour and arrowroot flour, and stir until it forms a sticky dough. Refrigerate the cookie dough for about 30 minutes. If you need to refrigerate the dough overnight, cover it so that it does not dry out.
- Preheat the oven to 350º F.
- Mix the coarse sugar and cinnamon together in a small bowl.
- Use a 1 tablespoon measuring spoon to scoop the dough out. This measurement will yield 24 cookies. The cookies rise and spread while baking so they end of being nice sized cookies. Form the cookie dough into a ball, and roll it in the cinnamon and sugar mixture.
- Add the cookie dough balls to a baking try with room around each to allow for spreading. Use a fork to press down the cookie dough balls into a flattened round shape. If you prefer pillowy, thick cookies, skip this step and just bake them as balls. You can see the difference in the photos above between the pillowy cookies and the flattened cookies.
- Bake for 9 minutes.
- The cookies will be very soft when they come out of the oven. Allow the cookie sheet to completely cool, and the refrigerate or freeze the cookies on the cookie sheet to fully chill. Store the cookies in the refrigerator or the freezer and enjoy them chilled. I think the cookies have the best chewy texture when frozen!
Delicious and perfect with a cup of tea. I have never used cashew flour how brilliant is that! I so need to get a vitaminx! How are you feeling little mama? Sending a virtual hug your way. Pinning and sharing, of course!
Thanks Bobbie. They are delicious… and yes, a Vitamix opens up new worlds in the kitchen 🙂 They are quite an investment in Asia though!
ahh these look delicious and I LOVE that you made your own cashew flour too
Thanks Arman. They are pretty delicious. Nice to have a different kind of cookie from the normal oatmeal types I usually make.
Yum! I’m not gluten free, but I can definitely see myself making these 😀
I love gluten free baking because #1- more nutrients than wheat flour– and #2- nut flours are naturally sweet, meaning less sugar is needed 🙂
Must eat ALL THE COOKIES!