Your favorite chocolate chip cookies, but easier? We had to do it, friends! These vegan, gluten-free chocolate chip cookie BARS have all the flavor, but there’s no chilling, no scooping, and no hand mixer involved! Just stir, spread, and bake.
Plus, just 8 ingredients and 1 bowl required! They’re so easy it almost seems wrong…but they’re so right: perfectly sweet, chewy, buttery, and studded with melty chocolate chunks. Grab your favorite mixing bowl and let’s bake!
How to Make Vegan Gluten-Free Cookie Bars
These vegan + gluten-free cookie bars start with a flax egg for binding, brown sugar for its sweetness and ability to create crispy edges, and melted vegan butter and vanilla for classic cookie flavors!
After whisking them together, we transition to the dry ingredients! Our gluten-free flour blend is the gluten-free G.O.A.T. for mimicking the texture of all-purpose flour, while baking powder adds some lift and sea salt enhances all the flavors.
Then there’s just one more required ingredient — arguably the most important of them all: chocolate chips or chunks! We also like adding walnuts for a little crunch, but if you’re not a nuts-in-cookies person, just do you.
We hope you LOVE these cookie bars! They’re:
Chewy
Buttery
Tender
Perfectly sweet
Studded with chocolate
& Undetectably vegan + gluten-free!
Pair with a glass of dairy-free milk and you’ll be in cookie magic land. Or if the weather is chilly, try them with our 5-Minute Vegan Hot Cocoa or 5-Minute Caffeine-Free Chai.
More Recipes for Chocolate Chip Cookie Lovers
- Classic Vegan Gluten-Free Chocolate Chip Cookies
- Oatmeal Chocolate Chip Cookies (Vegan + GF)
- Fluffy 1-Bowl Banana Chocolate Chip Cookies
- Double Peanut Butter Chocolate Chip Cookies
If you try this recipe, let us know! Leave a comment, rate it, and don’t forget to tag a photo @minimalistbaker on Instagram. Cheers, friends!
Gluten-Free Chocolate Chip Cookie Bars (Vegan)
Ingredients
- 1 Tbsp flaxseed meal (to make flax egg)
- 2 ½ Tbsp water (to make flax egg)
- 3/4 cup packed brown sugar (or sub coconut sugar with different results — see notes)
- 1/2 cup melted vegan butter (we used Miyoko’s)
- 1 tsp vanilla extract
- 1 ⅓ cup MB 1:1 GF Blend* (or another gluten-free blend)
- 3/4 tsp baking powder
- 1/2 tsp sea salt
- 1/2 cup semi-sweet chocolate chips or chunks (ensure dairy-free as needed // we like Enjoy Life)
- 1/2 cup chopped walnuts (optional but recommended)
Instructions
- Preheat your oven to 350 degrees F (176 C) and line an 8 x 8-inch baking pan with parchment paper. Set aside.
- To a medium mixing bowl, add flaxseed meal and water and let rest for 5 minutes to thicken. Next, add brown sugar, melted vegan butter, and vanilla. Whisk well to combine — the mixture should become cohesive.
- Next, fold in the GF flour blend, baking powder, and sea salt. Finally, stir in the chocolate chips and optional walnuts until just combined.
- Pour the mixture into the lined baking pan and bake for 25-28 minutes until the edges are golden brown and the center is golden. Let cool at room temperature for at least 20 minutes before slicing into bars. The longer they sit, the better they will hold their shape…although we do love to enjoy them slightly warm!
- Store in an airtight container at room temperature for up to 3-4 days or in the freezer for up to 1 month.
Video
Notes
*If not gluten-free, you can try all-purpose flour in place of the gluten-free flour blend. We recommend starting with 1 ¼ cups, adding more as needed to achieve the consistency of the batter in the video.
*Nutrition information is a rough estimate calculated without optional ingredients.
Kela says
Can kamut flour be used instead of the blend and can aquafaba be used instead of the flax egg?
Thank you
Hmm, we’re not sure! We haven’t experimented with kamut flour. Aquafaba might work, though the bars may be a bit crumbly.
Donna Schaffer says
WOW these are absolutely delicious!!
Followed the recipe exactly and they are the best bars ever!!!
We’re so thrilled you love them, Donna! Thank you for sharing! xo
Isabelle says
Okay, I made these today for the first time and they are wonderful. I followed the recipe exactly, including making the recommended 1:1 MB flour blend. The only thing I did differently was that I used real butter instead of vegan butter, as I am allergic to eggs and gluten but I’m not vegan. They’re rich and buttery and sweet. I only needed two small bars to feel satisfied. Much richer than chocolate chip cookies in my opinion. In fact, closer in richness to a brownie, closer in taste to a chocolate chip cookie. I think these could probably pass for non-gluten free.
I let them cool for 20 minutes before cutting them and they were quite crumbly. After another 45 minutes of cooling they firmed up nicely and were no longer crumbly. Next time I’ll wait a full hour or a bit more to cut into them. Also, I they took closer to 32 minutes to bake (although I think my oven runs a bit cool.) Will make these again for sure. Thank you for the wonderful recipe!
Amazing! We’re so glad you loved them, Isabelle. Thank you for the helpful review! xo
Stine says
This was easy and so tasty, like the perfect vegan blondie. I substituted the GF blend with spelt flour. The batch size made 12 small squares and not 16.
Thank you for sharing! We’re glad you enjoyed it!
Leah says
I am Gluten-Free but not completely vegan. Would this work with margarine instead of vegan butter?
That should work!
prashanthi atluri says
Hi I was wondering if a chia egg could be used instead of flax!
That should work!
a Jacob says
Another hit! I used coconut oil since I don’t have vegan butter, chunky brown sugar and almond flour. I think I need to use more almond flour next time there was a big hole at the top of the bars. I would cut the sugar down next time. I did find them too sweet. But they were delicious I am making them again this morning! Yum 😋
Thank you for sharing! We’re glad you enjoyed them overall! xo
Michelle W says
I love all things MB and was excited to give these a whirl, but theh were a big miss. I did opt for walnuts. Maybe it would be better without. Texture was fine, easy to make, but they were not a winner in our house.
Oh no! We’re so sorry this recipe didn’t work out for you. Would you mind sharing what you disliked about them? What brand of GF blend did you use? We’d love to help troubleshoot and figure out what might have gone wrong!
Michelle W says
I make/use the MB 1:1 flour blend because it’s the absolute best for baking. So that’s what I used. The walnuts were really overpowering and I like walnuts. That said it did not have enough sweet, maybe? When my whole family disliked them I felt compelled to comment. We’re pretty easy.
Thank you for this additional info and we appreciate your honest feedback! That’s interesting! Is it possible the walnuts are old/rancid? We ask because they shouldn’t add an unpleasant flavor.
The Vegan Goddess says
Yum! We enjoyed them!
I swapped coconut oil for vegan butter with success with some modifications. It was a bit too oily so I drained the extra oil off the batter before baking it.
I made sure the oil was fully baked into the cookies and there was no oily residue on top. Then I stuck them in the fridge to firm up a little more.
I used brown coconut sugar instead of regular brown sugar.
I added walnuts. I could have sprinkled some salted flakes on them for extra pizzazz. Maybe next time. Anyway, they were delicious.
Yay! Thank you for sharing your experience and modifications! xo
Laurie Hoffman says
Could coconut oil replace the vegan butter?
Hi Laurie, another reader reported using coconut oil with success! Just know there may be a slight coconut flavor unless using refined coconut oil. Hope that helps!
Amber says
Ooohh these are GOOD. I subbed almond flour for the gf flour, coconut oil for the vegan butter, and used coconut sugar. I added a bunch of half eaten chocolate bars (how those were still in my cupboard I truly have no idea). Will make another batch for coworkers but keeping this one allll to myself.
Whoop! We’re so glad you enjoy the cookie bars, Amber. Thank you for the lovely review and for sharing your modifications! xo
Karen says
I had more success with these than the giant pan chocolate chip recipe. I used one small/maybe medium local organic egg instead of the flax substitute, and added cinnamon and left out the walnuts.
It came together very quickly! If you start melting the vegan butter on a low heat as you put it together I had it in the oven in 5 minutes!
I liked them much more after they had cooled/been in the freezer which might be a personal thing- usually you’d want to dive right in while still warm and I was afraid they weren’t great. But they are!
Thanks for another tasty and fast treat!
Amazing! We’re so glad you enjoyed them, Karen. Thank you for the lovely review and for sharing your modifications! xo
Heather says
My husband is dairy free but still eats eggs, how many eggs would I substitute for the flaxseed meal?
Hi Heather, we think 1 egg would work in place of the flax + water. Let us know if you try it!
Joey says
Thank you….I will!
Dorota Liczbińska says
Hi, would plain flour work as well – I mean non-GF?
Thx,
Dorota
Hi Dorota, yes! See the recipe notes for details.
Dorota says
Thx😍
Joey says
I would like to substitute egg vs/ flaxseed. How many eggs would I use.
Thank you!
Hi Joey, we haven’t tested it that way, but we think it would work! We would recommend using 1 egg in place of the 1 Tbsp flaxseed meal + 2 1/2 Tbsp water. Let us know how it goes!
angie says
Love the looks of this cookie bar, but can that nutrition data be correct?
1 bar = 148 Carbs? HOPE not!
Oh that’s definitely not correct! It looks like we input calories twice. We’ll get it updated. Thank you for mentioning it and sorry for any confusion!
angie says
TY ; ) That’s what I suspected.
Natalie says
These are AMAZING!!! I’ve been craving cookies and when this popped into my email I made it immediately. So easy and so delicious! I didn’t have walnuts but I had brazil nuts and they taste lovely in this. YUM YUM YUM!
YAY! We’re so glad you made and enjoyed them, Natalie! xoxo
Mrs E says
Can almond flour be substituted for the gluten-free flour
Hi! It would change the texture. If you wanted to try it, we would recommend using 1 1/2 – 2 times as much almond flour because it’s not as absorbent as a GF blend. Keep in mind they won’t be the same though!
Janice says
Do you think buckwheat flour (with no further adjustments) would work instead of the GF blend? Thanks.
We don’t think it would work, unfortunately! It would likely be dense and have a strong flavor. Maybe 1/3 cup though?
The Vegan Goddess says
Ooh, these look good! Have you tried brown coconut sugar? That might be similar to brown sugar.
Hi! Is there a difference between the two? We thought it was just the way it was marketed!
The Vegan Goddess says
One says “brown coconut sugar” and the other just says “brown sugar”. Maybe the process of browning the sugars yields a similar result.
Upon research, brown sugar is usually white sugar + molasses.
https://www.verywellhealth.com/coconut-sugar-8407729
Brown coconut sugar is usually coconut sugar + maple syrup.
https://larenascorner.com/homemade-coconut-brown-sugar/
I think the coconut version is worth a try if you can find it or make your own.
Interesting! We have used brands that say “brown coconut sugar” and didn’t find the result to be different compared to ones called “coconut sugar,” but it might be worth experimenting more closely. In our experience, coconut sugar has a stronger flavor than brown sugar and adds more moisture, so we’re not sure maple syrup would fix that. We’d love to hear if you play around with it!
Nicole says
Sounds yummy. Could I maybe add peanut butter?
Ooo love that idea! Maybe in place of some of the vegan butter. We’d love to hear if you try it!