Moist, chewy and bursting with goodness! These nutty oatmeal cookies are the best kind of dessert for breakfast… healthy AND delicious!

“Wait a second, a cookie for breakfast?” my husband asked. I’m guessing some of you have the same thought… so here’s the basic concept:

It’s cookie in shape, BUT made with healthy ingredients that you can feel good about having for breakfast. It’s totally portable, so a great option for grab-and-go on busy mornings, or an easy snack to tuck in a lunchbox. And like regular cookies, they can be made in many different flavors.

Do a quick search on the internet, and they are usually found on vegan and health food websites. Some use applesauce or bananas, many use oats or alternative flours, and lots include nuts and dried fruit.

My issue with the recipes I’ve followed is that I always want them to taste more like a cookie and less like a dense, oversized energy bite.

So I set out to create a breakfast cookie that is good for you, is easy to make, that is of course more “cookie-ish” than the others I’ve come across, and with a little bit of a treat baked in (enter the mini chocolate chips:)

Mission accomplished. We haven’t been able to stop munching!

Almond butter is a healthful stand-in for regular butter, and bananas add flavor and moisture. Since we are not vegan, I add an egg to soften the texture, however, a “flax egg” can be substituted (see note below).

I toyed with using whole wheat flour, but opted for grinding the rolled oats to a powder in a food processor instead. The oat flour keeps these cookies light, yet chewy, and gluten-free, if that’s important to you.

BONUS: they are simple to put together as most everything can be mixed in your food processor, save the chocolate chips, which you’ll add at the end so they don’t get broken down.

The “add-ins” are totally customizable. I use dates to give the cookies a little more sweetness without adding refined sugar, but other dried fruit can be substituted such as raisins or dried apricots. The chocolate chips keep my kids happy, but leave them out if you’d prefer. Walnuts can be swapped for your favorite nut… you see there’s no limit to YOUR cookie. You’ll never be bored of this breakfast!

Are there substitutions?

• I haven’t tested them with peanut butter, but imagine it would work well instead of the almond butter.
• Try a different dried fruit instead of the dates, such as golden raisins, dried cranberries, apricots or cherries.
• A “flax egg” can be subbed to make these vegan. Combine 1 tablespoon ground flax seed with 3 tablespoons of water and let it sit for 10 minutes until softened, and use in place of the regular egg.
• Any sort of nut can be used. Try chopped or sliced almonds, pecans, cashews or pistachios.
• Don’t sub for the maple syrup. Use pure maple, otherwise the flavor will be cloying.

Print Recipe

5 from 2 votes

Oatmeal Chocolate Chip Breakfast Cookies

Prep Time10 mins

Cook Time18 mins

Servings: 16 cookies

Ingredients

• 2 ½ cups rolled oats
• 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
• ½ teaspoon baking powder
• ½ teaspoon baking soda
• ½ teaspoon kosher salt
• ½ cup smooth almond butter
• 1 large banana mashed
• 1 large egg
• ⅓ cup maple syrup
• 1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
• ¼ cup hemp seeds or use sunflower seeds
• 2 dates pitted and chopped
• ¼ cup heaping chopped walnuts
• ¼ cup chocolate chips optional

Instructions

• Preheat your oven to 325 F. Line two baking sheets with parchment.
• Place 1 cup of the oats in a food processor and grind for 1 minute to a fine powder. Add the baking powder, baking soda and salt and pulse.
• Mix the remaining 1 ½ cup oats, baking powder, baking soda, salt and hemp in a small bowl.
• Add the almond butter, banana, egg, maple syrup and vanilla to the processor and blend for 30 seconds, scraping the sides as needed, so that it is thoroughly combined. Add the remaining oat mixture, the dates and the walnuts and pulse to combine. Don’t overmix, you don’t want the oats or walnuts to break down too much. Finally, stir in the chocolate chips.
• Use a 1 ½-inch cookie scoop to portion out the dough, and place on the prepared baking sheets 1-inch apart. Press down on the dough to flatten to ½-inch rounds. Place the sheets in the oven and bake, rotating halfway through, for 20 minutes.
• Remove and let cool. Cookies keep for 3-4 days at room temperature.

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