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
LOVE LOVE LOVE this recipe! I make them on repeat, freeze individually, and take out each morning for breakfast. The only thing I did differently is add almost a whole cup of blueberries…delicious!
Great recipe! I struggle with how sweet and sugary everything is in the US, so I decided to make these cookies for an airport snack. They are delicious and I will certainly be making more in the future! Next time I will probably add more lemon zest, and maybe slightly more blueberries.
Hi Laini, I’m so glad you loved the breakfast cookies!
super tasty, not the most filling
Glad you enjoyed the cookies, Bernard!
Removed lemon and blueberries and added chocolate chips. Removed Almond Butter and replaced with Peanut butter. Baked in an 8X8 pan and made bars. Pretty nifty!
Sounds delicious! Thanks for sharing your variation.
Could you substitute a banana for the blueberries, and possibly walnuts for the lemon?
Hi Robin, I’d just skip the lemon—these cookies already have walnuts in them. You could substitute diced banana pieces for the blueberries if you like. If you’re thinking of adding mashed banana, you could add 1/2 cup. Reduce the maple syrup to 1/4 cup and the coconut oil to 2 tablespoons in that case.
Further to my previous question regarding nutrition information, and I note other people have asked this too. I made the recipe exactly as it was and added all the ingredients which came to 3,366 calories, so divided by 12 = 280 calories each, which is not too bad as one was enough for me for breakfast with a cup of coffee, they are delicious, my son (adult) even ate one and he doesn’t normally eat this sort of thing, he usually eats something very unhealthy like chocolate for breakfast, so at least with these you are getting some goodness inside, therefore, I plan to make more variations of these in future. Thanks for the recipe.
Hi, please could you add nutritional information to this recipe – ie. how many calories per cookie? Thank you
Is there a way to see the nutritional information for this recipe? Thank you!
I’d love to see that too! I believe maple syrup has about 106g of sugar per half cup. Divided by 12 cookies is 8.83g of sugar per cookie, or just over 2 tspns of sugar per cookie….ah dang it i forgot to calculate the sugar for the blueberries.
What could I use instead of coconut oil?
Hi Dee, melted butter would work well.
Do you think these could be made into cookie bars in an 8×8 pan instead of individual cookies?
Hi Melissa, I think they could work as bars but without trying it myself, I’m not sure of the quantity vs. the pan size. If you give it a go, I’d just bake them longer and watch them in the oven for doneness.
Hi Jeanine, she does mention this in her recipe.
Please note only certified gluten free oats, oatmeal and oat flour is Celiac safe. Please mention this in your recipes if you are going to be calling them gluten free.
I’ve made this recipe a couple of times. This time I omitted the lemon, and added macadamia nuts, white chocolate chips, and cranberries. Very good combination of oatmeal/ oat flower, and oils. Very versatile recipe.
Hi Victoria, I’m so glad you love the cookies! The macadamia/chocolate/cranberry combo sounds great.
Very good! Lemon zest and the two types of flour really make those cookies interesting and super delicious. I’m really glad I fell on that recipe. Thanks for sharing.
Hi Red, I’m so glad you enjoyed them!
Very excited to try these! Do you think replacing the blueberries with chopped dried figs (or dates) would work?
Hi Cattie, yes! I think that swap would be delicious. I might use 1/2 cup instead of 3/4 cup because the dried fruit will be sweeter than the fresh berries.
Turned out great! Delicious!!
Can you provide nutritional information for the oatmeal breakfast cookies?
Any substitute recommendation for the almond flour for someone with a nut allergy?
Turned out great
Do you have a substitute for the coconut oil?
Hi Amanda, melted unsalted butter would be a good substitute. A neutral oil like vegetable or avocado oil could potentially work as well.
i made this recipe, doubled 2x and I love it! The 2nd time I did not have any blueberries, but I did have some dried cranberries. Delicious also!
My question though, is do you think tahini would work in place of the almond butter, if I used a powdered sweetener instead of the maple syrup? I’m asking because I hurt my knee and am having trouble getting to the store, and I have some tahini, but no almond butter.
I’m unable to eat chia or flax seeds. Ideas?
Use an egg or two instead. Or vegan egg replacement (you can buy in a bottle from the health food store). Or, possibly, maybe aquafaba (chickpea juice)