Gluten-Free Vegan Lemon Blueberry Cookies - Rhian's Recipes (2024)

Last updated - ; Published - By Rhian Williams 14 Comments

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TheseGluten-Free Vegan Lemon Blueberry Cookies are soft and chewy, fluffy and studded with juicy blueberries. They're covered in a creamy, tangy lemon frosting, are refined sugar free, and taste like Blueberry Muffins! They're also super easy to make as they come together in one bowl and the dough doesn't require chilling.

Gluten-Free Vegan Lemon Blueberry Cookies - Rhian's Recipes (1)

How to make the cookies

Scroll down to thebottom of the post for the full recipe.

Tip: If the dough looks too wet: place it in the fridge for an hour to help it firm up. If it looks too dry: add a splash of any type of plant-based milk.

Gluten-Free Vegan Lemon Blueberry Cookies - Rhian's Recipes (2)
  • Use your hands to shape the cookie dough into patties - you should be able to make 7 large cookies.

Tip: To make super fluffy cookies, I like to make sure the centre part of the cookie is slightly thicker than the rest, like in a dome shape. And don't worry, unlike traditional cookies, these ones won't spread as they bake.

Tip: Line the baking tray with greased baking paper to make sure the cookies don't stick.

Gluten-Free Vegan Lemon Blueberry Cookies - Rhian's Recipes (3)
  • Bake in oven for around 15 minutes, until very lightly browned - be careful not to over-bake!
Gluten-Free Vegan Lemon Blueberry Cookies - Rhian's Recipes (4)
  • They will be slightly soft when you remove them from the oven - leave to cool completely to let them harden before applying the frosting.
  • Don't worry about the cracks on top - I found it was impossible to make these vegan and gluten-free lemon blueberry cookies without the cracks forming on top. The cracks don't affect the taste or the texture at all, and the yummy frosting will completely cover them up!

How to make the frosting

Gluten-Free Vegan Lemon Blueberry Cookies - Rhian's Recipes (5)
  • Whizz until completely smooth, adding some plant-based milk or water to thin out if necessary.
  • Taste and add extra lemon juice and/or maple syrup if necessary.
Gluten-Free Vegan Lemon Blueberry Cookies - Rhian's Recipes (6)
  • Use a knife to spread a bit of frosting over each of the cookies.
Gluten-Free Vegan Lemon Blueberry Cookies - Rhian's Recipes (7)

How long do these keep for?

These do taste best when fresh, but keepcovered in thefridge for up to afew days.

Substitutions you can make

  • You can replace thecoconut oilwithcoconut butter.
  • You can use any type of liquid sweetener: maple syrup, agave syrup, brown rice syrup etc.
  • You can replace thegluten-free flourwith rice flour.
  • If you don't need the cookies to be gluten-free,you can replace the gluten-free flour with plain flour.
  • The ground almonds can be replaced with ground walnuts.
  • For a nut-free version, use ground sunflower seeds instead of ground almonds and omit the frosting or make a different frosting.
  • You can use fresh or frozen blueberries.
  • The blueberries can be replaced with raspberries, blackberries or cherries!

Tips for baking with lemons

  • For optimum lemon flavour, I would recommend using fresh lemons (not ones that you've had sitting in your fruit bowl for weeks!) and organic ones if possible.
  • You have to be careful when baking with lemon juice as the acidity and lemon flavour can really vary depending on the lemons you use.
  • For the cookies, I would recommend tasting the lemon juice you're using and adjusting the amount of lemon juice you use accordingly.
  • For the frosting, I would recommend tasting it as you're making it and adding extra lemon juice if necessary.
  • For the lemon zest, make sure you use unwaxed lemons.
Gluten-Free Vegan Lemon Blueberry Cookies - Rhian's Recipes (8)

More gluten-free vegan cookie recipes

  • Chocolate Chip Cookies
  • Oatmeal Raisin Cookies
  • Peanut Butter Cookies
  • Oatmeal Cookies
  • Lemon Cookies
  • Snickerdoodles
  • Chocolate Cookies
  • Carrot Cake Cookies
  • Millionaire Shortbread
  • Orange Cookies
  • Lemon Poppy Seed Cookies
  • Pumpkin Cookies
  • Thumbprint Cookies
  • Linzer Cookies
  • Oatmeal Chocolate Chip Cookie Bars

If you try out this recipe or anything else from my blog,I’d really love to hear anyfeedback! Please give it a rating, leave a comment, or tag a photo @rhiansrecipes #rhiansrecipes onInstagram! Thank you.

Gluten-Free Vegan Lemon Blueberry Cookies - Rhian's Recipes (9)

Gluten-Free Vegan Lemon Blueberry Cookies

TheseGluten-Free Vegan Lemon Blueberry Cookies are soft and chewy, fluffy and studded with juicy blueberries. They're covered in a creamy, tangy lemon frosting too!

4.32 from 16 votes

Print Pin Rate

Course: Dessert

Cuisine: American

Keyword: blueberry cookies, gluten-free vegan cookies, vegan cookies

Servings: 7 large cookies

Calories: 411kcal

Author: Rhian Williams

Ingredients

For the cookies:

  • 30 g ( cup) coconut oil (or sub coconut butter)
  • 10 tablespoons maple syrup (or sub any other similar sweetener)
  • 6 tablespoons lemon juice
  • 2 tablespoons lemon zest (make sure lemons are unwaxed)
  • 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
  • 150 g (1 ¼ cup) ground almonds (almond meal) *
  • 150 g (1 ¼ cup) gluten-free flour blend (or sub rice flour, or plain flour if not gluten-free)
  • 1 teaspoon baking powder (ensure gluten-free if necessary)
  • 100 g (1 cup) fresh blueberries

For the frosting:

  • 75 g (½ cup) raw cashew nuts soaked in cold water overnight or in hot water for 15 minutes
  • 5 tablespoons maple syrup (or sub any other sweetener)
  • 3 tablespoons lemon juice

Instructions

For the cookies:

  • Preheat oven to 180 degrees Celsius (350 degrees Fahrenheit).

  • Place the coconut oil in a large bowl and melt over a saucepan of boiling water or in the microwave.

  • Add the maple syrup, lemon juice, lemon zest and vanilla, and mix well.

  • Measure out the dry ingredients (ground almonds, gluten-free flour and baking powder)and mix well.

  • Add the dry ingredients to the wet ingredients and mix well until you get a soft dough but one that’s firm enough to mould.

  • Carefully mix in the blueberries, making sure not to crush them, otherwise they will ‘bleed’ into the cookie dough.

  • If the dough looks too wet, placing it in the fridge for an hour will help it firm up. If it looks too dry, add a splash of any type of plant-based milk.

  • Use your hands to shape the cookie dough into patties – you should be able to make 7 large cookies. To make super fluffy cookies, I like to make sure the centre part of the cookie is slightly thicker than the rest. And don't worry, unlike traditional cookies, these ones won't spread as they bake
.

  • Transfer the cookies onto a baking tray/baking sheet lined with greased baking paper.

  • Bake in oven for around 15 minutes, until very lightly browned – be careful not to over-bake!

  • They will be slightly soft when you remove them from the oven – leave to cool completely to let them harden before applying the frosting.

For the frosting:

  • Drain the soaked cashews and add to a food processor or blender with the maple syrup and lemon juice.

  • Whizz until completely smooth, adding some plant-based milk or water to thin out if necessary.

  • Taste and add extra lemon juice and/or maple syrup if necessary.

  • Use a knife to spread a bit of frosting over each of the cookies.

  • Taste best when fresh, but keep covered in the fridge for up to a few days.

Notes

*You can alternatively use almond flour.

Don’t worry about the cracks on top – I found it was impossible to make these vegan and gluten-free lemon blueberry cookies without cracks forming on top. The cracks don’t affect the taste or the texture at all, and the yummy lemon frosting will completely cover them up!

Nutrition Facts

Gluten-Free Vegan Lemon Blueberry Cookies

Amount Per Serving

Calories 411Calories from Fat 180

% Daily Value*

Fat 20g31%

Saturated Fat 5g25%

Sodium 6mg0%

Potassium 256mg7%

Carbohydrates 54g18%

Fiber 5g20%

Sugar 30g33%

Protein 9g18%

Vitamin A 8IU0%

Vitamin C 11mg13%

Calcium 135mg14%

Iron 2mg11%

* Percent Daily Values are based on a 2000 calorie diet.

Made the recipe?Tag @rhiansrecipes on instagram and use the hashtag #rhiansrecipes!

Disclosure: This posts contains affiliate links to Amazon. If you purchase any of these products, a small percentage will come to me with no extra cost to you! This income will go towards the running of this blog – thank you.

More Baking & Dessert Recipes

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  • Gluten-Free Vegan Raspberry Cake
  • Gluten-Free Vegan Orange Poppy Seed Muffins

Reader Interactions

Comments

    Leave a Reply

  1. Duha

    In love with your recipe. I made it twice, the second time I modified it a little and reduced vanilla to 1/2 tsp and added lavender. It was the bomb! Thank youuu ♥️

    Reply

    • Rhian Williams

      Thank you so much, so happy to hear that!

  2. Diane

    Gluten-Free Vegan Lemon Blueberry Cookies - Rhian's Recipes (14)
    Delicious, but the frosting was way too thin. The only way I could think to thicken was powdered sugar. Other suggestions?

    Reply

    • Rhian Williams

      Hello sorry to hear you had that experience! Did you blend the frosting for a long time until completely smooth and use a high-speed blender? The frosting can appear thing if not blended until completely smooth.

« Older Comments

Gluten-Free Vegan Lemon Blueberry Cookies - Rhian's Recipes (2024)

FAQs

How do you keep gluten-free cookies from falling apart? ›

Chilling helps the flours and xanthan gum absorb liquid, which makes the dough sturdier and easier to handle. Without a proper rest, your cookies are likely to crumble. Think of mix-ins as the Spanx of the cookie world. They are a sly way to ensure that your cookies look like cookies, not misshapen gluten-free blobs.

Why are my gluten-free cookies so dry? ›

Gluten-free baked goods have earned the reputation of being dry and gritty. That grit—that evil grit! —is the result of gluten-free flours that are often high in starches and rice flour, which take longer to absorb moisture than regular “gluten” flour.

How does gluten free flour affect cookies? ›

They may absorb more liquid, for example, which can result in dry or crumbly cookies. Finally, some people find that gluten-free baked goods lack the flavor and taste of traditional baked goods.

How to make gluten-free cookies not dry? ›

Use a Binder. Binders like xanthan gum and guar gum provide structure in gluten-free baking to make up for the missing gluten. This prevents cookies from being too crumbly plus it also helps with freshness.

Should I add xanthan gum to gluten-free cookies? ›

Using xanthan gum helps provide some of the stickiness that gluten free goods lack, replacing some elasticity. Xanthan gum mimics some of gluten's most essential properties by sticking to flour and its moisture. This helps create moist goods that hold their shape after being baked.

What holds gluten-free cookies together? ›

Binding agents (such as xanthan gum, guar gum, or flax) help give gluten-free baked goods the elasticity needed to create structure — so if your favorite gluten-free flour mix doesn't contain one, you'll probably want to add one.

What is the secret to moist gluten-free baking? ›

Moisture – for some reason gluten-free cakes tend to get a little dry. Any gluten-free cake will dry out super-fast and get hard on the outside if it's not properly refrigerated and covered. I swear by always using buttermilk and adding a little more fat into the batter to compensate for the dryness.

What is the trick to gluten-free baking? ›

Gluten-free flours often contain fine starches, so they absorb more liquid than conventional flour. To address this, gluten-free recipes usually call for more liquid and produce looser batters. They may also call for a larger quantity of leavening, like baking powder, to help add volume and lighten the texture.

How do you thicken gluten-free cookies? ›

Add oats or nuts: Adding oats or nuts to the dough can add texture and help it hold its shape better. Use a different type of liquid: Substituting a different type of liquid, such as milk or cream, for some or all of the water or other liquid called for in the recipe can help the dough thicken and hold together better.

What is the best gluten-free flour for cookies? ›

What's the best gluten-free flour for baking? Bob's Red Mill gluten-free 1-to-1 baking mix is my favorite gluten-free all-purpose flour blend for baking. It has a mild texture and plenty of "stick" thanks to a blend of sweet rice flour, brown rice flour, and sorghum flour, plus some starches and xanthan gum.

Which gluten-free flour works best in cookies? ›

Almond flour is a grain-free, protein-rich flour that lends well to cookies, cakes, and more! Almond flour is made from blanched almonds, meaning without skins (as opposed to almond meal, which is made from raw almonds with skins). This is why it has a fluffy, light texture and pale golden color.

Can I just replace flour with gluten-free flour? ›

If the original recipe calls for 260 grams of all-purpose flour, substitute with 260 grams of your blend. Beat the batter more. Because gluten-free flours provide less structure than all-purpose, the batter or dough you make with them may require more beating than that which you are accustomed.

What is the best flour for cookies? ›

All-purpose flour is the most commonly used flour in cookie recipes due to its moderate protein content (usually around 10-12%). This balanced protein level makes it versatile enough to produce both soft and chewy cookies as well as slightly crisp ones.

Does oatmeal have gluten? ›

Yes, pure, uncontaminated oats are gluten-free. The U. S. Food and Drug Administration considers oats a gluten-free grain under its gluten-free labeling regulations and only requires that packaged products with oats as an ingredient contain less than 20 parts per million of gluten overall.

Are M&Ms gluten-free? ›

The following Mars candies have no gluten-containg ingredients: M&Ms (except pretzel, crispy, and potentially seasonal items) Milky Way Caramel Bars (not the original Milky Way Bar) Snickers Bars.

How do you keep cookies from being crumbly? ›

If your cookie dough is too dry and crumbly, you can try adding more fat to it. This could mean adding more butter, shortening, or oil to the dough. If you're using a recipe that calls for melted butter, you could also try using cold butter and grating it into the dough.

Why do my no bake cookies fall apart? ›

Boiling too long will cause the cookies to be dry and crumbly. However, if you don't boil long enough the cookies will not set and will be runny. Some folks say bring the mixture to a rolling boil and then count to 60, while others swear by counting to 90.

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