Looking for the perfect gluten-free cookie? These cream cheese oatmeal cookies are rich and delicious. A perfect base for all sorts of different types of drop cookies.
The secret to the success of these cookies is letting the dough rest before baking. It’s even better if you ferment the cookie dough.
Fermented Cookie Dough?!
Yes! Pre-soaking and fermenting grains, especially oat flour, helps to break down complex carbohydrates. This greatly improves the texture and flavour of gluten free baked goods.
No more dry, crumbly cookies!
The recipe for fermented cookie dough is exactly the same as the regular cookie dough recipe. The only switch is to use homemade cultured cream cheese.
Store-bought cream cheese usually isn’t cultured, so it won’t ferment the flour. Homemade cheese is also softer than store-bought cheese, so it is easier to mix into the flour.
Here are three types of homemade cream cheese that are simple to make, and perfect for this recipe:
Types of Drop Cookies
I will admit that chocolate chip cookies are my FAVOURITE. I’m a not-so-secret chocolate addict. However, it’s fun to play with different flavours of cookies.
Each of the suggestions below are meant to be stirred into 1 batch of cream cheese oatmeal cookies.
- Chocolate chip: Add in 1 cup of chocolate chips or chopped squares of your favourite chocolate bar. I like to use a really dark chocolate bar for the chocolatiest cookie.
- Breakfast cookies: Skip the sugar and add in 2 tbsp of flax, 2 tbsp hemp hearts, 1 cup of raisins and 1 tsp of cinnamon.
- Energy cookies: For a cookie that will give you a long, slow source of energy, replace the sugar with date sugar, and add in 1 cup of mixed sunflower seeds and pumpkin seeds.
- Salty chocolate pecan: Always a favourite! Add 3/4 cup of chocolate chips and 1/4 cup of chopped pecans. Sprinkle each cookie with a tiny pinch of salt.
- White chocolate macadamia nut: This is my husband’s favourite… a classic mix of 1/2 cup of sweet white chocolate and 1/4 cup chopped macadamia nuts.
- Apple cinnamon: This is another healthy cookie option. You can decide to skip the sugar, and use 1 cup of dried apple for sweetness
with 1 tsp of cinnamon. - Chocolate coconut: Similar to a macaroon, though with much less sugar, replace 1/4 cup of oat flour with 1/4 cup of cocoa powder, and add in 3/4 cup of shredded coconut.
with 1 tsp of cinnamon.Cream Cheese Oatmeal Cookies
Looking for a soft and chewy gluten-free cookie? These cream cheese oatmeal cookies are a simple drop cookie and are perfect for all sorts of different added flavours. See the section above for 7 favourite options: apple cinnamon, salty pecan, chocolate chip and more.
- Prep Time: 10 minutes
- Cook Time: 12 minutes
- Total Time: 22 minutes
- Yield: 24 1x
- Category: Cookies
- Cuisine: Canadian
- Diet: Gluten Free
Ingredients
- 1/2 cup cream cheese
- 1/2 cup sugar (optional -see notes)
- 2 eggs
- 1 cup oat flour
- 1/2 tsp baking soda
- 1/2 tsp salt
Instructions
- Start with soft cream cheese. Either make your own (see above) or let a store-bought block of cream cheese come to room temperature before making these cookies.
- Cream the cream cheese and sugar until smooth and light. I usually don’t use any sugar (letting my added flavours provide the sweetness) however, most people are use to sweet cookies.
- Mix in the eggs, flour, baking soda and salt, mixing until smooth. Because oat flour is gluten-free, you can really mix everything together without worrying about making the cookie hard.
- When the cookie dough is smooth, mix in any added flavours (see above for suggestions).
- Chill the dough in the fridge for 30 minutes or up to 2 days before baking.
- When ready to bake, preheat the oven to 375 F.
- Drop balls of dough (about 2 tbsp each) on a cookie sheet, leaving 2″ between each ball as they will flatten as they cook.
- Bake for 8-12 minutes. The cookies are done when they start browning at the edges.
- Allow to cool for 2 minutes before removing from the cookie sheet.
Notes
- As I mentioned above, I usually don’t add any sugar to this recipe. However, we’re use to a zero-sugar diet. Feel free to use the full 1/2 cup of sugar (white or brown). You can also reduce the sugar to 1/4 cup or replace it with an alternative sweetener. I really like date sugar for added sweetness.
- See the section above for recipe additions to make one of our seven favourite types of drop cookies.
. You can also reduce the sugar to 1/4 cup or replace it with an alternative sweetener. I really like 
Keywords: soaked, pre-fermented, breakfast cookie, energy cookies, salty chocolate pecan, white chocolate macadamia nut, apple cinnamon, chocolate chip, gluten free, coconut
This looks amazing! Can’t wait to make this. Have you tried to use sourdough starter in place of cream cheese?
No… but what a good idea! Definitely on my to do list now. Thank you!