Cookies for breakfast? Yes, please! These oatmeal breakfast cookies are sweet, nutty, and filled with healthy ingredients like oats, nuts, and fruit.
Here’s how much I love these oatmeal breakfast cookies: after I finish typing this post, I’m going to head to the kitchen to make more. They’re vegan, gluten-free, and dairy-free, and they have fiber from the oats and protein and healthy fats from almond butter. Thanks to maple syrup, they’re naturally sweetened too. But these breakfast cookies aren’t just good for you. They’re also delicious! The same ingredients that pack them with nutrients give them a sweet, nutty flavor and soft, puffy texture. Who wants to eat a bowl of oatmeal when you can eat a cookie for breakfast!?
Breakfast Cookie Recipe Ingredients
This breakfast cookie recipe is a revamped version of my Carrot Quinoa Oatmeal Cookies. They have been a fan favorite (and family favorite) for years now. This time, I swapped the carrots and dried cranberries for a more summery combination of blueberries and lemon zest. Here’s what else is in them:
- Ground flaxseed: It acts as a binder and adds fiber and omega-3s.
- Oat flour, almond flour, and whole rolled oats: This combination is naturally gluten-free, and it gives the cookies a soft, oat-y texture.
- Baking powder and baking soda: To help them puff up in the oven!
- Cinnamon: For warm, spiced flavor.
- Maple syrup: It sweetens these cookies naturally.
- Coconut oil and almond butter: They bind everything together and make the cookies moist and tender.
- Walnuts: They add healthy fats and a delicious nutty crunch.
- And sea salt: To make the sweet, nutty flavors pop!
Find the complete recipe with measurements below.
These cookies get lightly crisp on the bottom, but as you’ll see, they’re pretty puffy – more like a muffin top than a flat/crispy oatmeal cookie. They’re big and substantial, but not too dense and not at all dry.
Oatmeal Breakfast Cookies Tips
- It’ll be tempting to underbake them. Don’t! When you’re working with oat flour, it can be tricky to gauge when baked goods are done. These cookies might look nicely puffed and ready to eat after just 18 or 20 minutes in the oven, but in actuality, they may need a few minutes more. The best indicator here is their coloring. Make sure that they’re beginning to brown around the edges before you remove them from the oven. If the breakfast cookies are underdone, they’ll end up very soft and crumbly.
- Leave them on the baking sheet for a few minutes to cool. Like many vegan cookies, these oatmeal breakfast cookies will be delicate when you take them out of the oven. It’s tempting to reach for one right away, but if you let them rest for 5 minutes on the baking sheet, they’ll have a more cohesive texture and richer flavor. After 5 minutes, transfer them to a wire rack to cool completely.
- Freeze the extras. If you plan to eat all these breakfast cookies within a few days, store them in an airtight container at room temperature. However, they also freeze really well. I love to make a double recipe to keep on hand for a quick healthy breakfast or snack! The freezer is also a great way to hide them from Jack, who would otherwise eat one every time he walks past the kitchen counter.
Transfer the frozen cookies to the fridge to thaw overnight, or pop one in the microwave for 30 seconds when you’re ready to eat.
Oatmeal Breakfast Cookies Variations
I love the blueberry and lemon zest combination in this healthy breakfast cookie recipe, but feel free to swap in whatever mix-ins sound good to you. Here are a few ideas to get you started:
- Switch the fruit. Replace the blueberries with your favorite dried fruit. Dried tart cherries or cranberries would be great!
- Spice it up. Cardamom, nutmeg, and/or ginger are delicious in addition to the cinnamon.
- Swap the nuts. Instead of walnuts, use pumpkin seeds, sunflower seeds, chopped almonds, or pecans.
- Add chocolate. Nix the lemon zest, and replace the berries with chopped dark chocolate or chocolate chips.
Let me know what variations you try!
More Favorite Breakfasts and Snacks
If you love these oatmeal breakfast cookies, try one of these healthy recipes next:
- Blueberry Baked Oatmeal
- Overnight Oats, Many Ways
- Perfect Steel-Cut Oatmeal
- Savory Porridge
- No Bake Energy Balls
- Homemade Granola Bars
Then, check out this post for 60+ Healthy Breakfast Ideas and this one for 47 more healthy snacks!
Oatmeal Breakfast Cookies
Ingredients
- 2 tablespoons ground flaxseed + 5 tablespoons warm water
- 1 cup oat flour, made from 1¼ cups whole rolled oats*
- 1 cup additional whole rolled oats
- ½ cup almond flour
- zest of 1 lemon, about ½ tablespoon
- ½ teaspoon baking powder
- ½ teaspoon baking soda
- ½ teaspoon cinnamon
- ½ teaspoon sea salt
- ½ cup creamy natural almond butter**
- ¼ cup coconut oil, melted
- ½ cup maple syrup
- â…“ cup walnuts
- ¾ cup fresh blueberries
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 350°F and line a large baking sheet with parchment paper.
- In a small bowl, combine the flaxseed and warm water and set aside to thicken for 5 minutes.
- In a large bowl, stir together the oat flour, the additional 1 cup rolled oats, almond flour, lemon zest, baking powder, baking soda, cinnamon, and salt.
- In a medium bowl, combine the almond butter, coconut oil, and maple syrup and stir well to incorporate. Stir in the flaxseed mixture.
- Add the wet ingredients to the bowl of dry ingredients and fold in just until combined. Fold in the walnuts and blueberries.
- Scoop ¼ cup of batter for each cookie onto the baking sheet. Bake 20 to 24 minutes, or until browned around the edges. Cool on the pan for 5 to 10 minutes and then transfer to a wire rack to finish cooling. If you take them off the sheet too soon, the cookies may fall apart.
- When cookies are completely cool, they can be stored in an airtight container or frozen.
Notes
These are delicious! Mine were definitely too crumbly to be eaten cookie-style so I’ll use an egg in place of the flax egg next time, but they were really good.
Hi Jana, I’m glad you enjoyed them – I’d bake them a little longer and let them sit on the baking sheet longer – that will help them hold together.
My daughter has been baking batches of these and we’ve been eating them faster than she can bake them – they are simply delicious! She adds raisins instead of the blueberries and I think she also adds nutmeg and cloves. My son just ran down in the middle of his online classes, grabbed the last two & ran up and my daughter is making another batch in the middle of her classes. I’m enjoying that they love this treat that is also _good_ for them! I’m definitely eating plenty of my share too??
Awwww, I love hearing this! I’m so glad your family has enjoyed them so much. xoxo
If I wanted to use eggs how many would you use?
I would use 1 plus 1 tablespoon of water (and omit the flax + 5 tablespoons water)
I made this twice with an egg and water instead of flax, they were great!These turned out like muffin tops, kind of cakey and very good, not crumbly when made with egg. They are very filling too, one or two keeps you full all morning. My kids like them too!
Hi Jessica, I’m so glad you loved them!
These are great! I’ve made them twice and both times everyone loved them (including my mother who is a very tough customer!). They fall apart easily, which makes them a bit more difficult to eat without wasting a morsel, but doesn’t take away from their deliciousness! Thanks so much for the recipe!
Hi there, these sound great! Just curious, would using eggs instead of flax work ok? 2 eggs I’m assuming? Thanks!
Hi Jessica, I haven’t tried it, but I would try 1 egg plus 1 tablespoon water.
I made this twice with an egg and water instead of flax, they were great!The first time I used quite a bit of water and these turned out like muffin tops, kind of cakey and very good. They are very filling too, one or two keeps you full all morning. My kids like them too!
These are delicious. My daughter made them yesterday and I was impressed by the moist texture mixed with pops of blueberries melting in my mouth. I’d love to know the nutritional value per serving..
Hi Ann, I’m so glad you both loved them! Oh, I’m not sure, I don’t calculate nutritional info, you could go to a site like my fitness pal and plug in the ingredients.
I made these with pecan, raspberry and white chocolate! Amazing
that sounds amazing! I’m so glad you enjoyed the recipe.
Look delish! Could whole wheat or coconut flour be subbed for almond flour?
Hi Hannah, almond flour is necessary for this recipe. WW and coconut flours are not a 1:1 swap here.
But you could probably use whole wheat flour (although a 50/50 mix of WW and AP would be best) in this other oatmeal cookie recipe: https://www.loveandlemons.com/oatmeal-cookies/
Delicious, my boys and I loved them; swapped to olive oil instead of coconut oil and they were scrumptious. thanks for the great recipes. off to try another recipe.
Thank you so much for all of the awesome delicious recipes. This is my second time making this breakfast cookie. This time, I used peanut butter instead of almond butter since I ran out of almond butter. I was having a hard time forming it into a ball shape vs late time. Also, when I baked it, it stayed in this round ball shape vs a slight flatten shape like you have in the photos. Is there a reason why it just stays in a round ball shape?
Still tastes amazing. Btw, I also made the bluebrrry scones with yogurt, soooo good and healthy! Thank you so much!!!
Hi Cindy, I haven’t tried these with peanut butter – is it possible that your peanut butter was thicker than the almond butter you used last time? I’m also assuming that you used natural peanut butter (if not, I could see processed peanut butters causing a thicker batter).
I’m so glad they were still taste and that you loved the scones too!
I don’t usually comment on recipe blogs, but since I loved these cookies so much and am back 6 days later to make another batch, I figured I should leave you a note to thank you for sharing this awesome recipe!
Ha ha, I’m so glad you loved them so much! Thanks for letting me know 🙂
Hi! This recipe sounds amazing! I just have a few questions before I try it. 1) Can you provide any nutritional information, such as amount of carbs, protein, sugars, etc? 2) About how many cookies does one bath make? On that note, how many cookies is one serving?
HI Jorgia, it makes 12 cookies, a serving is 1 cookie (they’re pretty substantial). I’m sorry, I don’t calculate nutritional info.
What’s the nutritional value of these cookies
Two questions!
1) How many eggs would I use to substitute the flax?
2) Can I use any other GF flour other than almond flour?
Thanks! I love your recipes 🙂
Hi Hilary, 1 egg and use 1 tablespoon water instead of 4 (use an extra tablespoon water if your dough seems very dry). Almond flour isn’t a 1:1 swap with other GF flours, so I would stick with that.
Hope that helps!
Mine came out extremely dry. The only thing I did different was replacing the flaxseed with one egg. Do you have any advice?
Hmm… I haven’t tried these with an egg, but it sounds like they might have just baked too long. I’d try with the flaxseed and a try baking a few minutes less.
Hello! These look delicious! Could I just use oat flour instead of oat flour and almond flour?
Hi Grace, I haven’t tried it with that ratio, so I can’t say how they’d turn out.
I just made these and they are awesome! They soft in the middle and the outside is a little crunchy. Instead of coconut oil I used avocado oil. The lemonyness and blueberries that pop in your mouth are amazing! Baki g it wasn’t even needed. The batter was equally amazing! Thanks for another awesome recipe!
Whoops… There’s no n I’m baking. Also, I left out the walnuts because my sister can’t stand whole nuts in stuff.
Hi Olivia, I’m so glad you loved them!
I made these and are delicious but they broke apart. Any suggestions?
Hi Andrea, I would bake them a little longer and then let them sit on the baking sheet until they’re cooled completely. I hope that helps!
These sound delicious! Quick question though, do you think this batter would work if baked in a loaf pan? Been craving some sort of Blueberry snack bread… 🙂
Hi Annette, I think it would be super dense and I’m not sure if it would bake all the way through. They’re delicious as cookies though!