Gluten-Free Monster Cookies! These fun healthy monster cookies are perfect for celebrating Halloween or for a birthday party! Each cookie expresses silly eyes and is filled with nourishing oats, sugar-free sugars, gluten-free flours, and chocolate covered candies! And as always, warmly handmade with love :-).
These gluten-free monster cookies are so much for your next kids birthday party, monster theme party, and for Halloween gatherings! They are made with healthier ingredients and much better for you than any store-bought monster cookies!
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Why this is the best Monster Cookies recipe
- Less sugar than traditional cookies and uses low glycemic sugars! Each monster cookie is filled with a mix of sugar-free brown sugar and monk fruit sugar with options for coconut sugar (details in substitutions below). Both are low glycemic sugars that do not spike sugar levels that you feel tired and crash. (please note the candies do have cane sugar)
- Healthier and bursting with mouth-watering taste! You still get perfectly textured cookies bursting with delicious flavor. With bursts of chocolate coated candies in every bite, each cookie is a treat for your tastebuds.
- They are gluten-free! Our monster cookies are gluten-free! Perfect for anyone with gluten allergies or a gluten food sensitivity.
Recipe Ingredients
- organic butter or coconut oil that is room temperature (for butter I recommend grass fed, ghee or vegan butter)
- organic brown sugar - We tested with SWERVE Brown Sugar Substitute, coconut sugar (see notes below on using coconut sugar), and turbinado sugar
- Monk Fruit
- large egg
- vanilla extract
- baking soda
- pink Himalayan salt
- gluten-free old fashioned rolled oats
- gluten-free flour - We tested with Bob's Red Mill 1-1 and Cup-4-Cup
- potato starch
- chocolate coated candies like the ones at Trader Joe's or M&M's
- silly monster candy eyes
How to make monster cookies
As always, please see full recipe instructions for these gluten-free monster cookies in the printable recipe area below.
Step 1: Preheat the oven and prepare a baking sheet with silicone baking mat or parchment paper if needed.
Step 2: In a large bowl, using an electric mixer on low speed, cream the soft butter (or coconut oil), brown sugar, monk fruit, egg, and vanilla extract together until combined. Add the dry ingredients and beat just until well combined then stir in the chocolate coated candies.
Step 3: Cover the bowl with plastic wrap and chill in the refrigerator for 30 minutes.
Step 4: Drop cookie dough using a cookie scoop about 2 inches apart on the prepared baking sheet. Use your hands and form into balls so they are compact.
Step 5: Bake and add monster eye balls right away after removing from the oven. Let the monster cookies cool on the pan for about 10 minutes before transferring to a cooling rack to finish cooling.
Healthy sugar substitutions and results
I made these gluten-free monster cookies about 5 times to perfect them with different healthy "brown" sugars to see what the difference is. Here are the results:
- Best option: SWERVE Brown Sugar and use Monk fruit for white sugar. When I made these gluten-free monster cookies using Swerve brown sugar it provided the best results! The cookies stay in-tact, do not crumble, are almost sugar-free (except the candy added), and provide the best taste.
- Coconut sugar tends to make them a bit more dry, but still good. They will need to be eaten in about a day after baking. You can simply bake batches at a time as needed. The raw dough will last in the refrigerator for 3 days.
- Turbinado sugar works fine as a substitution for brown sugar in these monster cookies.
- Demerara sugar is a dark sugar that is less processed than white and also works similar to turbinado sugar.
- Monk fruit can be substituted with organic sugar.
The sugar is what helps to make cookies gooey and bind together! In gluten-free baking it is essential for helping to bind flour with the oats without the use of gluten.
Expert Tips for perfect cookies
- The pan you bake cookies on matters. Use a light colored pan with bumps at the bottom which allows for air flow. This provides cookies to bake evenly. I highly suggest this baking pan for cookies.
- For darker cookie sheets limit baking time. If using a darker cookie sheet or pan, add a silicone mat, parchment paper, or if baking directly on the pan only bake for about 8 minutes as the edges will brown quicker.
- Form the dough balls with your hands after they are scooped. Use your hands to mold each ball into balls to compact the cookie dough. This helps the oats absorb liquid and gives these monster cookies beautiful flavor.
Storing and freezing cookies
How to store cookies at room temperature: You can store the cookies in an airtight container on the counter for up to 3 days. After about 2 days gluten-free cookies tend to dry out. To moisten them, add a damp paper towel over a cookie and heat it in the microwave for about 5-7 seconds to warm it slightly.
How to freeze cookies and cookie dough: Freeze the cookies in a sealed zip-tight bag in the freezer for up to 2 months. You can also freeze the dough by wrapping it in plastic then placing in a freezer storage bag with all the air removed. Thaw the dough then scoop into 1-inch rounds and bake as instructed. If the dough seems a bit dry, add about 1 tablespoon (at a time) of water and use an electric mix to mix it until it is softer.
Frequently Asked Questions
Typically when cookies are flat it is due to too much liquid and not enough flour. Make sure to remeasure correctly and try adding more flour to the dough next time, using the brands we suggest.
Some gluten-free flours do not absorb the liquid and can make baked goods flat and not rise properly.
Place the candy eyes right on the cookies as soon as they come out of the oven, pressing down gently. If they still do not stick you can add melted chocolate, icing, or frosting to the bottom of candies and then place them on the cookies to help them stick.
Yes! You can substitute in equal amounts the gluten-free rolled oats for quick cook oats.
More gluten-free cookies to love
More Halloween recipes
- Halloween Cookie Cake
- Ghostly Chocolate Rice Marshmallow Treats
- Hot Dog Mummies
- Candy Corn Martini
- Halloween Mandarin Pumpkins
I hope you enjoy this gluten-free monster cookies recipe! Follow along with me on INSTAGRAM, PINTEREST, FACEBOOK, YOUTUBE and TWITTER for a feature and for more recipe inspiration! And don't forget to give the recipe a star rating in the recipe area and leave a comment below.
📖 Recipe
Gluten-Free Monster Cookies
Ingredients
- ½ cup organic butter room temperature (recommended grass fed, ghee or vegan butter) or room temperature coconut oil
- ½ cup organic brown sugar We tested with SWERVE Brown Sugar Substitute, coconut sugar (see notes below on using coconut sugar), and turbinado sugar
- ⅓ cup Monk Fruit
- 1 egg large
- 1 teaspoon vanilla
- ½ teaspoon baking soda
- ½ teaspoon salt pink Himalayan salt
- 1 cup gluten-free old fashioned rolled oats
- ½ cup gluten-free flour tested with Bob's Red Mill 1-1 and Cup-4-Cup
- ½ cup potato starch
- 1 cup chocolate coated candies like the ones at Trader Joe's or M&M's
- silly candy eyes
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper.
- In a large bowl, using an electric mixer on low speed, cream the soft butter (or coconut oil), brown sugar, monk fruit, egg, and vanilla extract together until combined. Add the oats, gluten-free flour, potato starch, baking soda, and salt and beat just until well combined. Stir in the chocolate coated candies.
- Cover the bowl with plastic wrap and chill in the refrigerator for 30 minutes.
- Using a cookie dough scoop, drop cookie dough about 2 inches apart on the prepared baking sheet. Use your hands and form into balls so they are compact.
- Bake until slightly browned, about 8-9 minutes. Remove from the oven and press in the silly candy eyes right away so they stick. Let cool for 10 minutes, then transfer to a wire rack to cool completely.
Notes
Nutrition
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