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
- ⅓ 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
I make these every couple of weeks, from Love and Lemons Everyday. This is just a fabulous, not-too-sweet, very forgiving recipe. But DOUBLE it. I add currants, and for one of the cups of oatmeal add Bob’s Red Mill Muesli. You can do almost anything to this recipe. Next I might try swapping pumpkin for the bananas, pumpkin pie spice for the cinnamon, and see how it turns out.
Thank you for a great new staple in our house! (And yes, they do take about 22 minutes in my convection oven.)
Did I miss the nutritional information? I don’t see it?
I’m sorry, I don’t calculate nutrition facts, but you can plug the ingredients into a site like my fitness pal.
Love this Oatmeal Breakfast Cookies, it will be my first time to make cookies . Thanks for sharing recipes with us.
These Oatmeal Breakfast Cookies seems so delicious and now I have ingredients and recipes too ,will surely gonna try this one, thanks for sharing
Our local health food store makes blueberry flax seed cookies that I absolutely love. I was very happy when I made these and found they taste just like them! I cut the maple syrup in half and added some applesauce instead of oil. They are so good! Will be making these again.
Good recipe to make with toddlers, since there’s no raw egg haha. Did 1/4 c. mashed banana and 1/4 c. maple syrup and they turned out wonderful! Added pecans instead of walnuts as well. Toddler loved them and I loved them too! This recipe is a keeper!
I’m so glad you all loved them!
I made a batch of these with Montana gluten free oat flour, cut the syrup in half and used 1/4 cup oat milk and they were amazing! Very light but moist. I hardly ever bake so it was nice to have something turn out.
I’m so glad you enjoyed them!
Awesome recipe! I didn’t feel like nut butter so used same ratio of creamed dates instead of almond butter and then only 1/2 the maple syrup. Delish!! Perfect texture and taste! Definitely a keeper 🙂
I’m so glad you loved them!
My cookies burnt! I cooked them for 22 minutes on the temperature you mentioned in the recipe and they burnt! Get your recipe perfected next time! For all the people looking to try I suggest starting with 18 minutes although I am yet to confirm this as I haven’t actually tried it thanks to average baking directions!!!
I am yet to try them though and think they will taste good, however the cooking directions error is poor
Hello, did you scoop the batter with a 1/4 measuring cup? We find that these oversized cookies take 20-24. Oat flour takes longer than regular flour to cook through and the 4 minute range is because ovens can vary,
Can you make these with eggs instead of flax? If so, how many eggs would be used and/or could you use applesauce as a substitute?
Thanks.
Hi Jan, you could use 2 eggs instead – the cookies will be more cakey and less chewy. Substituting with applesauce would cause them to fall apart.
Thanks for your reply. We have a family member with a sensitive tummy and flax/chia type fiber is upsetting. Looking forward to making them this weekend!
We loved these cookies. Tasted delicious with the lemon zest and held together beautifully. Will definitely make again!
I’m so glad you loved them!
I just made these and they are excellent! For those of you who are not vegan, eggs will always bind better than flax eggs. I doubled the recipe and used 4 eggs as well as butter instead of coconut oil because butter just tastes sooo good. I used half a cup of maple syrup for a double batch and made up the rest of the liquid with almond milk. Definitely not a sweet treat but perfect for breakfast. I used frozen blueberries and it worked fine, just don’t over mix (and use them straight from freezer). This is a keeper!
I made these today and they are great! Wondering what the calories are in each serving?
You, my friend. You. Absolutely fabulous!!!! Delish and crunchy and chewy!!! Almost scone-like. swapped the 1/2 cup of Almond butter for half almond half peanut butter, added almonds, and chia seeds vs lemon and blueberries and toasted all the nuts before adding to the batter.
thanks @loveandlemons.com
easy and thorough instructions, including being patient to eat! Turned out well.
Very flavorful. Didn’t have fresh blueberries so used dried and only had “chunky” almond butter other than that made exactly as written. Delicious! Will be making again.
I’m glad you enjoyed them!
I made these this weekend without knowing what to expect as I had to make a couple substitutions. I used an egg instead of a flax seed, canola oil instead of coconut, and Jif peanut butter instead of almond butter. They turned out great! I split the batter in half and added the lemon zest and blueberries to half and chocolate chips to the other half. My kids demolished these. I will be making a double batch next time to freeze for breakfasts.
We have to make a double batch every time now, too! So yummy!
I’m glad they’ve been a favorite!
Hi Jeanine and Jack,
Could you please share how much fiber are in these cookies? Thank you,Ann
These are delightful. I made them for my son, who’s not a huge fan of breakfast, and added chocolate as the mix in so I could easily freeze some for next week. They got a thumbs up from him.
Oh my goodness, these are delicious…