Healthy Breakfast Cookies

Cookies for breakfast?! That’s right, these Breakfast Cookies are easy to make and great for a make ahead breakfast or afternoon snack. They are packed with healthy oats and a variety of healthy additions, like nuts and seeds.

What are Healthy Breakfast Cookies?

I like to think that breakfast cookies are cookies that are a little healthier than regular cookies so that we can eat them for breakfast. These breakfast cookies do contain similar ingredients to regular cookies, but they are they are also packed with healthy oats and a variety of healthy additions, like nuts and seeds.

Healthy Breakfast Cookie Ingredients

Quick Oats – I use quick oats for this recipe but feel free to use old fashioned oats. I would avoid using steel cut oats.

Oat Flour – I prefer to make my own oat flour. Actually, most of the recipes I make that call for oat flour I use homemade oat flour. It’s cheap and easy to make. Take quick oats, place them in a blender or nutibullet and pulse until the oats are a fine texture. There you have it, oat flour! Feel free to replace the oat flour with AP flour or almond flour.

Baking Powder – Leveling agent, don’t skip out on this ingredient.

Cinnamon and Vanilla Extract – Both add flavor to the cookies.

Bananas – This recipe is great if you have a few ripe or overripe bananas and don’t know what to do with them. If they have spots. use em! A simple fork works just fine to mash the bananas, but a potato masher is my go-to kitchen tool for this step.

Peanut Butter – I prefer to use creamy peanut butter but you could use crunchy peanut butter. If you’re not a peanut butter fan, almond butter, cashew butter or sunflower seed butter are other options.

Coconut Oil – Gives the cookie some flavor and prevents a dry cookie.

Water – Just adds some moisture to the cookies.

Brown Sugar – A cookie needs some sort of sweetener added to it.

Dried Cranberries – Feel free to use any dried fruit you like, just make sure the dried fruit is chopped into small pieces. I’m a fan of dried cranberries but raisins and dried blueberries also work well.

Nuts & Seeds – Nuts and seeds are packed with vitamins, minerals, fiber and protein! This recipe calls for pumpkin seeds, chia seeds, ground flax seeds, hemp hearts, sunflower seeds and pecans. Feel free to switch things up! Use chopped walnuts or almonds or use a combination of them all!

Optional – What kind of cookie doesn’t have chocolate chips? I choose not to add chocolate chips to this recipe to keep the sugar content down but feel free add 1/4-1/3 cup of mini chocolate chips to the recipe.

How to Make Healthy Breakfast Cookies

1. Get Prepped – Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper.
2. Mix the Dry Ingredients – In a large bowl combine, quick oats, oat flour, baking powder, cinnamon, and salt.
3. Whisk the Wet Ingredients – In a separate bowl combine, mashed banana, vanilla, creamy peanut butter, coconut oil, water, and brown sugar.
4. Combine – Add dry ingredients to wet ingredients and stir until well combined. Fold in nuts and seeds; dried cranberries, chia seeds, flax seed and hemp hearts, pumpkin seeds, sunflower kernels, and pecans. Don’t over stir the batter at this point.
5. Scoop – Using a cookie scoop, scoop and drop balls of cookie mix dough onto the prepared cookie sheet. Press down lightly with a fork. Make sure to squish together any loose bits for a cohesive cookie. 
6. Bake and Enjoy – Bake for 12-14 minutes or until lightly golden. Enjoy them warm or cooled. Perfect for a make ahead breakfast or afternoon snack.

How to Store and Freeze

One of the great things about this Healthy Breakfast Cookie Recipe is that they can be made ahead of time and easily stored in the refrigerator or freezer!  When storing in both the refrigerator and freezer, I recommend storing in an airtight container, such as a ziplock bag or Tupperware container. Try to get as much air out of the ziplock bag as you can.  Breakfast cookies stay good for about 4-5 days in the refrigerator and up to 6 months in the freezer.