Gluten-Free Cowboy Cookies with pecans, shredded coconut, and oats are a mouth-watering cookie recipe the whole family will love! A great family tradition, these crowd-pleasing cookies are perfectly buttery with amazing chewy texture.
After posting my Keto Cowboy Cookies last year, I’ve had numerous requests for a version using a gluten-free flour blend (instead of almond flour) and regular sweetener instead of sugar-free sweetener.
So here we are, revisiting the Cowboy Cookie, and BOY does it feel GREAT!
Classic chocolate chip cookies have always been a long-time favorite, but Cowboy Cookies are their own special breed.
In case you’re new to them, Cowboy Cookies (sometimes known as ranger cookies) are standard chocolate chip cookies, upgraded to include rolled oats, pecans (or walnuts), shredded coconut, and a touch of cinnamon, a similar concept to kitchen sink cookies.
The origin of the name comes from the old legend that cowboys used to eat loaded cookies like during a long day of work. While there isn’t any evidence of the folklore, the name has nevertheless stuck and everyone loves a cookie with a little tall tale attached to it, am I right?
Former first lady Laura Bush made cowboy cookies a household name when during the presidential campaign in 2000, her classic recipe for cowboy cookies won a bake-off designed by First Circle Magazine over the competing potential first lady, Tipper Gore who entered her Ginger Snaps.
It is said that these bakeoffs are a predictor of which candidate will win the election and so far, the results have followed suit.
Nevertheless, here we are celebrating Laura Bush’s Cowboy Cookies in gluten-free fashion.
Essentially, I’ve taken The BEST Gluten-Free Chocolate Chip Cookies and infused them with these goodies.
They give off a rustic, no excuses, all action no talk vibe, which is ideal for those of us who love a little spice in our lives.
One of my favorite parts about these delicious cookies is you don’t need to chill the dough before baking. Simply preheat that oven and get to baking!
Let’s dive right into the details of this amazing cowboy cookie recipe!
Cowboy Cookies Ingredients:
Butter: Unsalted butter is the fat portion of this recipe, making the cookies have that iconic buttery flavor with soft texture for chewy cookies.
If you follow a dairy-free diet, you can easily swap the butter for softened (not melted) coconut oil or ghee.
If you’re familiar with the process of making brown butter, feel free to do so for these cookies to give them even more richness.
Sweetener: You’ll need a granulated sweetener in order to sweeten the cookies. My top recommended options are regular granulated cane sugar (or white sugar), brown sugar, maple sugar, or coconut sugar.
Do note that maple sugar and coconut sugar will make the cookies refined sugar-free, a great option for those who are looking to keep their desserts slightly lower on the glycemic index.
Egg: We just need one egg to help fluff up the cookies and keep them held together in a cohesive unit. For the best result, bring the egg out of the refrigerator 10 to 15 minutes before baking to bring it to room temperature.
I haven’t tested these cookies with an egg replacer like flax eggs, but please do drop a comment below letting me know if you try it.
Vanilla Extract: That warming ingredient that brings an intoxicating depth of flavor to any baked good. If you don’t have any on hand, feel free to skip it.
Gluten-Free Flour: In order to make these cookies gluten-free, we use a gluten-free flour blend. I use Bob’s Red Mill’s Gluten-Free 1-to-1 Baking Flour, but King Arthur and Pamela’s will work just as well. Just be sure you go with a blend that can be used as a 1:1 replacement for regular all-purpose flour.
And that said, if you don’t follow a gluten-free diet, feel free to use regular all-purpose flour for these tasty cookies.
Baking Powder: The leavening agent that helps keep the cookies held together nicely! Be sure you don’t skip it and always look to be sure your baking powder isn’t expired before using it.
Sea Salt and Cinnamon: A little salt enhances all of the individual flavors and also brings everything together in a cohesive whole.
If you ever feel like a cookie tastes flat, it is likely because someone forgot to add the salt. Cinnamon brings a subtle warming essence that is just so remarkable.
Goodies: Raw pecans, old fashioned rolled oats, chocolate chips, and unsweetened shredded coconut really set these chocolate chip cookies apart.
The oatmeal brings an oatmeal cookie vibe with its amazing flavor, the nuts bring that tasty crunch, the chocolate chips make these cookies so sultry and gooey, and the coconut flakes give them a lovely creaminess.
If you love butterscotch chips or white chocolate chips, you can use part chocolate chips and butterscotch or all butterscotch chips. You can also substitute the nut of your choice for the pecans.
Now that we’re experts on the ingredients for Cowboy Cookies, let’s bake a batch!
How to Make Cowboy Cookies:
Preheat the oven to 350 degrees Fahrenheit and line a large baking sheet with parchment paper.
Cream butter and sugar together in a stand mixer on medium high speed until very fluffy (note: you can also use a large mixing bowl and an electric mixer or hand mixer).
Scrape the sides of the bowl and beat in the egg and vanilla extract until well-combined (wet ingredients).
In a separate large bowl, stir together the gluten-free flour, baking powder, cinnamon and sea salt until combined (dry ingredients).
Beat the flour mixture into the wet mixture on medium speed until a thick dough forms and everything is well-combined.
Add the oats, pecans, shredded coconut and chocolate chips and mix until everything is well-distributed throughout the dough.
Note: if the cookie dough seems overly greasy, refrigerate it for 20 to 40 minutes prior to baking it. My dough turns out ready to bake and isn’t soft or greasy, but varying brands of gluten-free flour may yield different results.
Drop lumps of cookie dough onto the prepared baking sheet (note: the cookie dough will not spread very much and will maintain its form so be sure to make shapes you like for the final cookies).
I use a ⅓ cup measuring cup to scoop big cookie dough balls for large cookies, but you can also use a large cookie scoop if you have one.
Bake the cookies for 14 to 18 minutes, or until the edges are golden brown.
The baking time depends on the size of the cookies so for smaller cookies, bake 11 to 13 minutes, but stick with 14 to 18 for larger cookies.
Allow the cookies to cool for 10 minutes before serving. If you’d like to transfer them to a wire rack after 10 minutes to finish the cooling process, feel free to do so.
Store any leftover cookies in a zip lock bag or an airtight container on the counter for up to 3 days, or in the refrigerator for up to 7 days. These cookies also freeze very well! I recommend freezing them in a zip lock bag for up to 3 months.
If you’re a cookie monster like me, also try my Gluten-Free Peanut Butter Oatmeal Cookies, 6-Ingredient No-Bake Cookies and my 3-Ingredient Oatmeal Cookies.
Whip up a batch of these easy chocolate chip cookies to have them on hand throughout the week, or make them any time a special occasion arises.
Gluten-Free Cowboy Cookies
Equipment
Ingredients
- 12 Tbsp unsalted butter softened
- ¾ cup dark brown sugar* packed
- 1 large egg
- 1 ½ tsp pure vanilla extract
- 1 1/4 cups gluten-free all-purpose flour
- 1 tsp baking powder
- ½ tsp ground cinnamon
- ½ tsp sea salt
- ⅔ cup raw pecans chopped
- 2/3 cup old fashioned rolled oats
- 2/3 cup unsweetened shredded coconut
- 1 ½ cups chocolate chips
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 350 degrees Fahrenheit and line a large baking sheet with parchment paper.
- Cream butter and sugar together in a stand mixer on medium high speed until very fluffy (note: you can also use a large mixing bowl and an electric mixer or hand mixer).
- Scrape the sides of the bowl and beat in the egg and vanilla extract until well-combined (wet ingredients).
- In a separate large bowl, stir together the gluten-free flour, baking powder, cinnamon and sea salt until combined (dry ingredients).
- Beat the flour mixture into the wet mixture on medium speed until a thick dough forms and everything is well-combined.
- Add the oats, pecans, shredded coconut and chocolate chips and mix until everything is well-distributed throughout the dough.
- Note: if the cookie dough seems overly greasy, refrigerate it for 20 to 40 minutes prior to baking it. My dough turns out ready to bake and isn’t soft or greasy, but varying brands of gluten-free flour may yield different results.
- Drop lumps of cookie dough onto the prepared baking sheet (note: the cookie dough will not spread very much and will maintain its form so be sure to make shapes you like for the final cookies). I use a ⅓ cup measuring cup to scoop big cookie dough balls for large cookies, but you can also use a large cookie scoop if you have one.
- Bake the cookies for 14 to 18 minutes, or until the edges are golden brown. The baking time depends on the size of the cookies so for smaller cookies, bake 11 to 13 minutes, but stick with 14 to 18 for larger cookies.
- Allow the cookies to cool for 10 minutes before serving. If you'd like to transfer them to a wire rack after 10 minutes to finish the cooling process, feel free to do so.
Notes
Nutrition
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I’ve made these many times now! Added hard caramel pieces a few times. Recently became unable to eat oats in our house. Any ideas for subs? Was thinking more nuts or maybe hemp seeds. Or just more flour? Everyone loves these cookies! Would love to find a way to keep making them
Hi Jane! I’m happy to hear you enjoy the cookies! Caramel pieces sound like an amazing addition! I haven’t tested the recipe without the oats, but I imagine we could figure out a way of replacing them. If it were me, I would add an extra 1/2 cup of shredded coconut and an extra 1/2 cup of chopped nuts or hemp seeds. Let me know what you end up trying! I’m betting there are a lot of people in your same boat, so it would be super useful information if you do try replacing the oats 🙂 Happy baking! xo
Wow! Finally, a healthier cookie that rivals any store front!
I modified the recipe a bit. I cut the butter in half and used coconut oil (I can’t imagine how good they taste at full butter!) and I used Truvia granular sugar and sucanaut dried cane sugar (less processed) for the sugar. I am super happy with the outcome and the quantity of cookies it made was amazing! I got 17 cookies! 2 weeks ago I bought 12 cookies for a birthday party for $40. Next time I will make these and search for a GF sugar cookie based recipe. Thank you!
Thanks so much for sharing your experience, Diane!! All of this is super helpful. I’m thrilled you enjoy the recipe and thanks so much for the sweet words! xo
Can I use Almond flour?
Hi Janice! I actually have a different recipe for Cowboy Cookies that uses almond flour, and you can find it here: https://www.theroastedroot.net/keto-cowboy-cookies/. This recipe is also sugar-free so you can just use regular cane sugar instead of sugar-free sweetener if you’d like 🙂
Can you make these with regular flour? Thanks.
Hi Ann! I haven’t tested the recipe myself using regular flour but the gluten-free flour blend I use is designed to be a 1:1 replacement for regular flour. So with that in mind, I think the cookies should turn out great using regular all-purpose flour! Hope you enjoy! xo
I love the flavor of this cookie!! So yummy! I do have a question. The texture was more on the dry side. Anything I can do to make it a bit more chewy? Increase the sugar a bit? (I thought maybe it would work to increase the butter a bit but that didn’t do it. It made the cookies spread a bit more and the edges browned more.)
Hi Wanda! When you tried adding more butter, did you refrigerate the dough? I’m wondering if adding slightly more butter (say 1-2 Tbsp) then chilling the dough for 30 minutes in the refrigerator would do the trick? What brand of almond flour are you using?
@Julia, I did not refrigerate the dough. I did add 2 Tbsp. so we were thinking the same thing there.
The almond flour was HEB brand (a large grocery chain here in Texas). Seems to be a quality product.
Thanks for providing the additional information! I would say if you make them again, refrigerate the dough for at least 30 minutes and that should help! xoxo
Wow, this has been the best cookie recipe I’ve made ever! Although I used 3/4 cup of avocado oil in place of the butter and swapped cane sugar for coconut sugar… I don’t understand it but really, this has got to be the BEST cookie recipe online. You must have great taste, literally, haha! I’ll be sticking around for more of your recipes. Thank you so much. I see that you’re concerned with gut health and sharing information about it. That’s wonderful! I’ll be looking into purchasing a cookbook or two 🙂
I’m so thrilled the cookies turned out great with the avocado oil and coconut sugar substitutions! This is very helpful to others who want to try the same thing. So happy you enjoy them, and thank you for sharing! xoxo
You need to use gf oatmeal as not all oatmeal is cleared as gf. Relatives that are gf (celiac disease) have made a point of letting us (who are bakers/cooks) know during family gatherings. We try to have some foods that are available to them also.
Hi Pat! Thank you for pointing this out! This is very accurate – those who are GF need to make sure their oatmeal says “gluten-free” on the package due to potential cross contamination with wheat. 😀 xoxo