Gluten Free Cowboy Cookies (Vegan!)

Prep Time: 5 minutes Cook Time: 13 minutes Total Time: 18 minutes Yield: 21 cookies

These Cowboy Cookies feature oats, desiccated coconut, pecans, chocolate chips and are topped off with flaky sea salt. They have the perfect amount of chewiness and balance of sweet and salty. These Cowboy Cookies are made entirely with out gluten, dairy or eggs, but no one will know!

Time for another cookie recipe! This time its the classic Cowboy Cookies but with a nice spin. These cookies are made entirely gluten free and vegan, but I promise you they are a crowd pleaser. My grandma even gives them her stamp of approval (hi Grandma!).

Legend has it that back in the day of the Wild West, cowboys would carry these cookies with them on their rides as a “power bar”. The combo of the oats, coconut, pecans and chocolate chips held them over and provided them lasting energy. How cool! But seriously these cookies do just that! They’re a delicious cookie but their main ingredients bring lasting energy, and since they can be made refined sugar free, no sugar crashes either. A healthy and delicious cookie?! Now that’s a win win.

We’re keeping the main ingredients in these classic Cowboy Cookies, but making them gluten free and vegan. We’re subbing almond flour for regular all purpose flour, vegan butter for regular butter and a flax egg instead of an egg. But seriously, you can’t even tell. All the flavor, the sweet and salty, the crunchy and chewy is still all there and better than ever. I’ve even made these cookies with slivered almonds instead of pecans and they are just as amazing. Almost like an almond joy cookie. Yum!

Want more cookie recipes?

Try out these Peanut Butter Chocolate Chip Cookies, or these Gluten Free Peanut Butter Cookies. You can’t go wrong with peanut butter! Now that summer is getting closer these S’more Cookies are a great option and perfect for the warmer weather.

Ingredients in these Cowboy Cookies:

Dairy Free Butter– my go to and all time favorite is Country Crock’s Plant Butter. I love it to cook with and bake with. I get it at my local grocery stores such as Tops or Wegmans.

Sugar– I prefer to use coconut sugar in these cookies to keep them refined sugar free, but regular granulated sugar should also work as well!

Flax Egg– combine 1 Tablespoon of ground flaxseed with 2.5 Tablespoons of warm water. Set aside in the fridge for 10 mins.

Vanilla Extract– using pure vanilla extract really makes a difference. This one is my favorite and is the best bang for your buck that I’ve found.

Almond Flour– I prefer to use blanched almond flour over unblanched because it’s ground almond without the skin so it’s a sweeter, cakier flour.

Rolled Oats– if gluten free, make sure to use certified gluten free oats. Bob’s Red Mill makes great Gluten Free Old Fashion Rolled Oats.

Baking Powder and Salt– helps in the rise and flavor of these cowboy cookies.

Desiccated Coconut– make sure to use unsweetened coconut, like Bob’s Red Mill unsweetened coconut. For some brands, shredded coconut differs from desiccated coconut in that shredded coconut is longer, grated strands of coconut and desiccated coconut is finer, smaller pieces. You can also lightly pulse unsweetened shredded coconut to achieve the same results. Just don’t over pulse or else you’ll end up with some coconut butter ha!

Pecans– I used raw, pecan halves in this recipe and roughly chopped them. I then topped each cookie with a pecan half before baking them.

Chocolate Chips– I used Hu’s Semi Sweet Baking Chocolate Chips to keep these cookies refined sugar free, but I also love Enjoy Life’s Semi-Sweet Mega Chunks and their Semi-Sweet Mini Chips!

Flaky Sea Salt– I sprinkle this on the cookies 10 minutes after they come out of the oven and mhmmm. It balances out the sweetness of the cookie and gives it a perfect sweet and salty balance. Highly recommend!

Tools needed to make these delicious Cowboy Cookies:

• Glass bowls
• Measuring spoons
• Measuring cups
• Fork or hand or stand mixer- we’re working with room temperature butter so I used a fork to blend the butter with the sugar, but if you want to save time and some elbow grease, you can use a hand or stand mixer.
• Wooden spoon
• Chef’s knife
• Cutting board– we’re roughly chopping the pecan halves that are going into the cookies and I used this specific cutting board. I love these cutting boards. They’re flexible yet sturdy and they don’t hold any scents or stains. Plus they’re super affordable.
• Cookie scoop– we’re using the medium scoop for these Cowboy Cookies.
• Cookie sheet– my very favorite- they’re sturdy and heavy duty. I got them as a wedding gift and I am never looking back.
• Parchment paper– I use these all the time they’re so, so convenient and you get a perfect rectangle every time.
• Cooling rack– these are the exact ones that I use. A multi-tiered cooling rack is a total game changer, especially when your cookie recipe makes more than a dozen cookies.

How to make this Cowboy Cookies Recipe:

Make the dough: Start by creaming the room temperature dairy free butter with the sugar in a glass bowl. Once a dough has formed, add the flax egg and vanilla and mix together. In a separate bowl, combine the dry ingredients and the mix-ins. Add to the wet ingredients and mix together until well incorporated.

Scoop and roll: Using a medium cookie scoop, scoop the dough and roll it into a ball in between your hands. Transfer the dough to a parchment paper lined cookie sheet, with about 2 inches in between each cookie dough ball. Repeat until all the dough has been rolled. I used 2 cookie sheets with 12 cookies on one (4 rows 3 columns), and the rest on the other one (about 9, so 3 rows by 3 columns).

Flatten and press: Place a pecan half in the center of each cookie, slightly flattening each cookie dough ball. Bake according to the directions in the recipe card.

How to store any leftover Cowboy Cookies (if there are any left!):

You can store these cookies at room temperature in an airtight container or a sealed bag for up to 3 days (mine have never lasted more than a day or two haha!). You can also store in the fridge for up to a week or freeze them in an airtight container for future enjoyment!

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Craving other delicious recipes? Take a look!

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  Hot Cocoa Cookies
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  Hot Cocoa Dip

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