Oatmeal breakfast cookies are the kind of grab and go breakfast that makes busy mornings a little easier. Made with wholesome ingredients and plenty of texture, breakfast cookies are great for meal prep and to keep on hand throughout the week. They pair perfectly with coffee, tuck neatly into lunchboxes and make mornings feel a lot less rushed.
I love the idea of cookies for breakfast, but most cookies have way too much sugar for anything but a dessert. These oatmeal breakfast cookies keep things a little more balanced with maple syrup, dried fruit and chocolate chunks instead of cups of white or brown sugar. Between the oats, flaxseed and pumpkin seeds, they're hearty enough for breakfast yet easy to meal prep for the week ahead. They also travel well, which is why they're the first thing I make before a camping trip. I love berry yogurt parfaits and protein powder bites for breakfast too, but there's something super fun about starting the day with guilt-free cookies.
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Ingredients
- Flaxseed meal
- Water
- Oat flour
- Baking powder
- Cinnamon
- Salt
- Almond butter
- Maple syrup
- Old fashioned oats
- Dried cherries
- Chopped dark chocolate
- Green pumpkin seeds or pepitas
See recipe card for quantities.
Instructions
Step 1: Mix the flaxseed meal and water and let the mixture sit for 10 minutes until it's gooey.
Step 2: Add the oat flour, cinnamon, baking powder and salt to a medium to large bowl and stir well.
Step 3: Add the flaxseed meal mixture, almond butter and maple syrup and mix well.
Step 4: Add the oatmeal, pumpkin seeds, dried cherries and chopped dark chocolate to the mixing bowl.
Step 5: Mix just until the ingredients are evenly distributed.
Step 6: Using a ¼ cup cookie scoop, add the dough to a cookie sheet lined with parchment paper. Press down on the mounds with the bottom of a measuring cup or a spoon. Bake at 350 degrees for 14-15 minutes.
Substitutions and Variations
- Gluten free - these breakfast cookies are naturally gluten free. Make sure that the oats and other ingredients that you choose are gluten free.
- Vegan - to make these breakfast cookies vegan, use a vegan chocolate.
- Maple syrup - you can substitute your favorite liquid sweetener such as honey or agave syrup for the maple syrup. However, if you are making vegan cookies, don't use honey.
- Dried cherries - you can substitute another dried fruit for the dried cherries. Some dried fruits, especially dried cranberries, have a lot of added sugar, so just check the nutritional label first.
- Green pumpkin seeds - you can substitute pepitas which are very similar or another favorite seed.
- Almond butter - you can substitute peanut butter or another favorite nut or seed butter.
- Oat flour - you can substitute another type of non-gluten flour or even protein powder for the oat flour.
- Chocolate chunks - I love the flavor of dark chopped chocolate but you can substitute semi-sweet or other chips if you like those better. Chocolate chips are the easier route as there is no chopping, and you may already have those on hand.
Protein Powder Breakfast Cookies
I often make these with protein powder instead of the oat flour. It works really well. I would only caution you to pick a protein powder that has a flavor that you like. I find that many protein powders have a very strong flavor, even the vanilla flavored ones. So be aware that the protein powder flavor can overwhelm the more subtle flavors in these breakfast cookies.
Equipment
No special equipment is needed for oatmeal breakfast cookies. A ¼ cup cookie scoop is helpful, but you could use a measuring cup instead as well.
Storage
Store in an airtight container for up to 3 days at room temperature or up to 7 days in the refrigerator. You can also freeze these breakfast cookies. Allow frozen cookies to sit at room temperature for 30 minutes before eating.
Next Level Tips
- These breakfast cookies can handle an additional ½ cup of other add-ins. I've made them with chia seeds, walnuts, carrots and mashed banana as add-ins too. You can also interchange more seeds, nuts, dried fruit and chocolate.
- I highly recommend using a ¼ cup cookie scoop to portion out these cookies! It goes fast that way!
- You can also bake these cookies in other shapes. If you use a cookie scoop to portion out the cookies, you can leave them in the mounded scoop shape just as they dropped or roll them into a ball. We're not baking these breakfast cookies to set them, not to cook them. So shapes like bars work too!
FAQ
Ground flaxseed is an easy way to make breakfast cookies a little more filling and nutritious without changing the flavor much. It adds fiber, healthy fats and a small boost of protein, which can help keep you satisfied longer. Ground flaxseed mixed with water also helps hold the cookies together so it blends right in with the other ingredients.
Breakfast cookies are usually made with more wholesome, filling ingredients than traditional cookies. Regular cookies are often designed as a sweet dessert, whereas breakfast cookies typically include oats, seeds, nut butter and dried fruit. Breakfast cookies are also lower in sugar and are intended to be a convenient but healthy grab and go breakfast or snack.
Related
Looking for other recipes like this? Try these:
Breakfast Cookies
Ingredients
- ¼ cup ground flaxseed
- ¾ cup water
- ½ cup oat flour
- ½ teaspoon baking powder
- ½ teaspoon cinnamon
- ½ teaspoon salt
- ¼ cup maple syrup
- 1 cup almond butter
- 1 ½ cups old fashioned oats
- ½ cup dried cherries
- ½ cup green pumpkin seeds or pepitas
- ½ cup chopped dark chocolate (or chips)
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 350°F. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper.
- In a small bowl, stir the ground flaxseed and water together. Let sit for 10 minutes, or until thicker and gel-like.
- In a large mixing bowl, mix together the oat flour, cinnamon, baking powder and salt with a spoon or spatula.
- Add the flaxseed mixture, almond butter and maple syrup. Stir until well combined.
- Add the oats, green pumpkin seeds, dried cherries and dark chocolate chunks. Mix just until evenly distributed throughout the dough.
- Scoop the dough into ¼ cup portions onto the prepared baking sheet. Gently flatten each mound with the bottom of a measuring cup or spoon. Bake for 14 to 15 minutes, or until the cookies are set. Let cool on the baking sheet for 5 minutes before transferring to a wire rack.
- Makes 12-14 cookies.
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