“Mrs. Fields” Gluten Free Chocolate Chip Cookies

“Mrs. Fields” gluten free chocolate chip cookies are made with half all purpose gluten free flour, half oat flour for the perfect crisp chewiness.

Why is there oat flour in this chocolate chip cookie recipe?

The gluten free cookie recipe collection on this blog is vast, but chocolate chippers are my absolute favorite—and this may be my most favorite recipe for them of all. They’re just like the kind Mrs. Fields first made in her kitchen, except none of the gluten.

The ground oats lend a really nice chewiness but keep in mind that I never buy or bake with actual oat flour. Instead, I take certified gluten free old-fashioned rolled oats and grind them into a flour quickly and easily with a food processor or blender.

Not only is certified gluten free oat flour super expensive, but it’s so simple to grind your own—and I usually leave a few slightly larger pieces. If you’re making something with oats, you generally want some chew to the recipe.

If you can’t have oats, don’t worry! I’ve got you completely covered in my full discussion about how to substitute oats in baking. See the “Ingredients and substitutions” section below, right above the recipe, for a full explanation of what to do—or click through to the substitution post.

What to expect of this cookie dough

Whenever you’re making thick chocolate chip cookies, expect the dough to just barely come together when you mix it. Resist the urge to add water to it, though! You’ll end up with cookies that don’t hold their shape.

When you start mixing the wet ingredients (butter, egg, vanilla) into the dry (flours, baking soda, salt, sugars—although the sugars are technically “wet” but you know what I mean), you’ll find that you really have to work to bring them together.

Just keep mixing, and press down on the back of the spoon to spread the wet ingredients and press them into the dry. Turn the dough over with the bowl of the spoon, and press down with the back of it. Repeat!

How to shape the cookie dough

There are two ways to shape this raw cookie dough for baking. One is the usual way that I make drop cookies like our thick and chewy gluten free chocolate chip cookies: shape the dough into a round, then press into a disk, chill and bake. That way of course works fine.

The second method is to roll the cookie dough into a ball, and then bake it from a ball shape without pressing it into a disk. You don’t chill the dough, either. Just bake for about 8 minutes, remove the tray and bang it flat on a heat-safe flat surface a few times to make the cookie spread a bit, then return it to the oven to finish baking.

Using the ball-shape dough method is easier to shape, doesn’t require chilling, and still makes perfectly shaped cookies. But it does require more hands-on baking.

Ingredients and substitutions

Dairy

I’ve successfully made these cookies dairy-free for my oldest, who can’t have dairy, using my favorite butter substitute: Melt brand VeganButter. It’s dairy and soy free, and it behaves the most like “real” butter of any I’ve tried.

If you’d like to try using Earth Balance buttery sticks, try using half Earth Balance and half shortening to create the right moisture balance. And of course be sure to use dairy-free chocolate chips!

Egg

Since there’s only one egg in this cookie dough, you should be able to use a “chia egg” (1 tablespoon ground chia seeds + 1 tablespoon lukewarm water, mixed and allowed to gel). I haven’t tried it, though, so you’ll have to experiment!

Oats

Well, now that I’ve fully explored whether oats are gluten free, and how to substitute oats in your gluten free baking, I can suggest with confidence that you try replacing the oat flour in this recipe with quinoa flakes. I have a feeling you could also use cream of buckwheat, but that one I haven’t experimented with myself.

Sugars

I recommend trying Lankato brand monkfruit or Swerve brand granulated sugar substitute for the granulated sugar, and Swerve brand brown sugar replacement for the brown sugar. I haven’t made this recipe with any sugar substitutes, so you’ll be experimenting.

Alternative granulated sweeteners tend to be drying, though, so you might have to add a bit of water to the dough to get it to come together properly. Be very careful, though, and only add as much as is absolutely essential, or the cookies will spread a ton.