These gluten-free snickerdoodles are made with a combo of almond and oat flour. They’re full of cinnamon flavor with the perfect chewy, but fluffy texture.
When brainstorming recipes for this holiday season, I knew I wanted to share some healthy holiday cookie recipe ideas. I love getting together with the ladies in my family for holiday baking. We make a point to do it every year and it’s such a fun tradition.
What I don’t love is having sugary, not so healthy treats all over my house after a day of baking. With that in mind, I’ve been determined to make upgraded versions of all of my faves. So far, I have created EBF-friendly versions for a bunch of holiday cookie recipes including these healthy no bake cookies and these almond flour crescent cookies.
Snickerdoodles are one of Isaac’s favorite cookies, so this year I decided to take a stab at making them a bit healthier, gluten-free and vegan!
Gluten-Free Snickerdoodle Cookies
When I looked up “gluten-free snickerdoodles” most were made with a gluten-free flour blend and loaded with butter and white sugar. Not exactly healthy… a good reminder that gluten-free or vegan doesn’t automatically mean something is healthy!
Gluten-free flour blends are often made with not so great ingredients like potato starch.
In this recipe, I used almond flour and oat flour which are a major upgrade. They’re packed with protein, fiber and healthy fats. Almonds and oats vs. white flour or potato? I’ll take the almonds and oats any day.
What is Cream of Tartar?
One ingredient that almost all snickerdoodle recipes call for is cream of tartar! If your brain is anything like mine, cream of tartar makes you think of tartar sauce or something tart… just me?! But really, cream of tartar is a dry powder that comes from fermenting grapes into wine. You can find it in the spice aisle near the baking soda and baking powder.
It’s the cream of tartar that makes a snickerdoodle different from a traditional sugar cookie. The acid gives snickerdoodles their distinct flavor and texture. Whatever you do, don’t swap out or skip the cream of tartar.
How to Make Gluten-Free Snickerdoodle Cookies
Snickerdoodle cookies are super easy to make! Start by mixing the almond flour, oat flour, cinnamon, cream of tarter, baking soda, baking powder and salt together in a large bowl.
Mix in the melted coconut oil, maple syrup, coconut sugar and vanilla extract. Stir until everything is combined.
In a separate small bowl, mix together the coconut sugar and cinnamon for your topping.
Roll out balls of cookie dough and then roll each ball in the cinnamon sugar mixture. Place on a baking sheet lined with parchment paper and flatten slightly. Bake for 10 minutes, in a preheated oven, until slightly golden and then transfer to a wire rack to cool completely.
These cookies are fabulous right out of the oven and have the perfect chewy, but fluffy texture. Isaac and I both loved them and I know you and your family will enjoy them as well!
If you try these gluten-free snickerdoodles, please leave a comment and star rating below letting me know how they turned out. Your feedback on my recipes is so helpful for the EBF team and other EBF readers!
These gluten-free snickerdoodles are made with a combo of almond and oat flour. They’re full of cinnamon flavor with the perfect chewy, but fluffy texture.
Ingredients
1 cup almond flour
1 ¼ cup oat flour
1 teaspoon cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon cream of tartar
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon sea salt
1/3 cup melted coconut oil
1/4 cup maple syrup
1/4 cup coconut sugar
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
Cinnamon Sugar Topping
¼ cup coconut sugar
2 teaspoons cinnamon
Instructions
Preheat oven to 350°F. Line a baking sheet with a silicone mat or parchment paper, set aside.
In a mixing bowl, stir together the dry ingredients: almond flour, oat flour, cinnamon, cream of tartar, baking soda, baking powder and salt. Add the coconut oil, coconut sugar, maple syrup, and vanilla extract and stir until combined.
In a separate shallow bowl, make your cinnamon sugar by stirring together the cinnamon and coconut sugar.
Using a cookie scoop or spoon, measure out about 1 heaping tablespoon of dough and roll into a ball. Roll each cookie dough ball into the cinnamon sugar mixture.
Place on prepared baking sheet about 2 inches apart. Flatten cookies slightly with your palm or the flat bottom of a glass. Bake for about 10 minutes, until golden brown.
Let cool for 10 minutes and then transfer to a cooling rack to cool completely.
Store leftover cookies in an air-tight container for up to 1 week.
This is a decent effort at a healthier snickerdoodle but it won’t be our go-to. The almond flavor was very strong, making it taste more like an almond-cinnamon cookie rather than a snickerdoodle. Not bad, but not a snickerdoodle. I decided to make a second batch with just oat flour, which definitely had a better flavor profile but did result in a slightly drier cookie. Overall both batches were not as moist and chewy as we would have liked – a little more soft/dry and cakey.
So sorry you didn’t love the taste of these cookies, Sara. Oat flour is definitely way more dense of a flour than almond so that’s probably why it turned out to be drier when you used oat flour.
Hey Dar! So sorry for the confusion and thanks for catching that. Yes, there is coconut sugar in the cookie recipe. You should add it in with the wet ingredients. I just updated the post! Let me know how these cookies turn out for you if you end up making them!
My comment is regarding the recipes running in the bavkground(when a recipe is being made). I LOVE this site and all the recipes. However I would like to make some of the recipes I see( running in the background) – while I have my other recipe up to make, but there are just ingredients without measurements AND NO NAME for the recipe so I am not even able to look it up. Please respond with assistance at your convenience. Ty.
Hey Dar – I’m assuming you’re referring to the video recipes that show up on the blog posts. If you click the button on the bottom right corner of the video that says “more videos” you’ll be able to see the name of the recipe in the video playing as well as other videos. Hopefully that helps and let me know if you aren’t able to figure it out. 🙂
Hey Maggie! I’m so sorry to hear that, they definitely shouldn’t have turned out dry. Did you change anything about the recipe? Normally if a cookie turns out too dry it means too much flour was added or not enough liquid or else they were cooked too long. Did they seem overcooked to you?
Hi Brittany, I wonder if you’ve ever considered adding weight measurements to your baking recipes? It would be so helpful, especially with the use of these alternative flours which can sometimes be a bit dense, to have the weight measurements. This reader may have followed your recipe exactly but if you fluffed your flours before scooping and she didn’t, her cup of flour could have contained more flour than your cup, for example. There can be such a huge difference when people are measuring by volume rather than weight! Not to mention how much easier clean-up is when you go by weight – just tare the scale and add ingredients to the bowl – no cups needed! I hope this is something you’ll consider adding going forward.
These cookies are so good! I like them better than traditional Snickerdoodles. Even my 15 year old loved them. Am planning to make again but a double batch.
Ahh that makes me so happy to hear, Lori! I’m glad these cookies were a hit! Thanks for trying this recipe and for coming back to leave a comment + star rating. I really appreciate it!
This is looks so good. I’ll definitely try this. I will share also some to my friends in Hawthorn Restaurants. Hope I can get the perfect blend because my friends thinking that I don’t know how to cook. I know they will surprise.
I tried these tonight and they came out tasting great! The only issue I ran into was that my dough remained quite crumbly and thus the cookies came tad fragile. Of course, I’m new to baking gluten-free, so this might be completely normal!
Hey Yolan, I’m so glad you enjoyed these cookies. Thanks for trying this recipe! The dough definitely shouldn’t be crumbly. Did it seem dry to you and did you change anything about the recipe?
Hey Tori! I haven’t tried it, but you could try using all oat flour instead of the almond flour. Again, I haven’t tried it so I’m not 100% sure the cookies will turn out the same, but definitely let me know how they turn out if you try the recipe without almond flour. 🙂
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This is a decent effort at a healthier snickerdoodle but it won’t be our go-to. The almond flavor was very strong, making it taste more like an almond-cinnamon cookie rather than a snickerdoodle. Not bad, but not a snickerdoodle. I decided to make a second batch with just oat flour, which definitely had a better flavor profile but did result in a slightly drier cookie. Overall both batches were not as moist and chewy as we would have liked – a little more soft/dry and cakey.
★★★
So sorry you didn’t love the taste of these cookies, Sara. Oat flour is definitely way more dense of a flour than almond so that’s probably why it turned out to be drier when you used oat flour.
RE: Snickerdoodle recipe
It is somewhat confusing. The dry ingredients don’t list the coconut sugar to add while mixing them together.
So, is there coconut sugar IN the cookies themselves or not. (I DO NOTE THAT coconut sugar & cinnamon is listed at the end again for rolling them in.
Please clarify this as I want to make them ASAP! They sound delicious!!!!
Hey Dar! So sorry for the confusion and thanks for catching that. Yes, there is coconut sugar in the cookie recipe. You should add it in with the wet ingredients. I just updated the post! Let me know how these cookies turn out for you if you end up making them!
My comment is regarding the recipes running in the bavkground(when a recipe is being made). I LOVE this site and all the recipes. However I would like to make some of the recipes I see( running in the background) – while I have my other recipe up to make, but there are just ingredients without measurements AND NO NAME for the recipe so I am not even able to look it up. Please respond with assistance at your convenience. Ty.
Hey Dar – I’m assuming you’re referring to the video recipes that show up on the blog posts. If you click the button on the bottom right corner of the video that says “more videos” you’ll be able to see the name of the recipe in the video playing as well as other videos. Hopefully that helps and let me know if you aren’t able to figure it out. 🙂
Yummy!
★★★★★
Very easy to make although they came out extremely dry!!!! Any thoughts as to why that happened??
★★
Hey Maggie! I’m so sorry to hear that, they definitely shouldn’t have turned out dry. Did you change anything about the recipe? Normally if a cookie turns out too dry it means too much flour was added or not enough liquid or else they were cooked too long. Did they seem overcooked to you?
Hi Brittany,
I wonder if you’ve ever considered adding weight measurements to your baking recipes? It would be so helpful, especially with the use of these alternative flours which can sometimes be a bit dense, to have the weight measurements. This reader may have followed your recipe exactly but if you fluffed your flours before scooping and she didn’t, her cup of flour could have contained more flour than your cup, for example. There can be such a huge difference when people are measuring by volume rather than weight! Not to mention how much easier clean-up is when you go by weight – just tare the scale and add ingredients to the bowl – no cups needed! I hope this is something you’ll consider adding going forward.
Hey Sara – Thanks for your feedback! I’ll definitely look into it. 🙂
These cookies are so good! I like them better than traditional Snickerdoodles. Even my 15 year old loved them. Am planning to make again but a double batch.
★★★★★
Ahh that makes me so happy to hear, Lori! I’m glad these cookies were a hit! Thanks for trying this recipe and for coming back to leave a comment + star rating. I really appreciate it!
These cookies were delicious!! Just sweet enough, and I loved the texture. I will definitely be making these again!
★★★★★
Ahh! I love hearing that, Christina! Thanks so much for coming back to leave a comment and star rating. I so appreciate it!
This is looks so good. I’ll definitely try this. I will share also some to my friends in Hawthorn Restaurants. Hope I can get the perfect blend because my friends thinking that I don’t know how to cook. I know they will surprise.
★★★★★
I tried these tonight and they came out tasting great!
The only issue I ran into was that my dough remained quite crumbly and thus the cookies came tad fragile. Of course, I’m new to baking gluten-free, so this might be completely normal!
Hey Yolan, I’m so glad you enjoyed these cookies. Thanks for trying this recipe! The dough definitely shouldn’t be crumbly. Did it seem dry to you and did you change anything about the recipe?
These look so good! Snickerdoodles are my fave!
Thanks Ali! I hope you get a chance to try them!
Oat flour has gluten, any suggestions of a gluten free substitute for this?
Hi Deanne. You can find certified gluten-free oat flour – Bob’s Red Mill makes it. Or all-purpose gluten-free flour will work too!
These look so good! I know almond flour can be a hard one to replace, but any sub ideas for someone who’s allergic to almonds? 😬
Hey Tori! I haven’t tried it, but you could try using all oat flour instead of the almond flour. Again, I haven’t tried it so I’m not 100% sure the cookies will turn out the same, but definitely let me know how they turn out if you try the recipe without almond flour. 🙂
These look so good! I need to make these for my sister over the holidays!
Paige
http://thehappyflammily.com
★★★★
Can oat flour be made in Vitamix using whole oats?
Yes! Just blend until the oats turn into a fine flour-like consistency.