Oatmeal Breakfast Cookies

oatmeal breakfast cookie with raisins and corner broken on brown wax paper bag

4.99 from 55 votes

Prep Time : 10

Cook Time : 16

These hearty, tender whole grain oatmeal breakfast cookies are sweetened with honey and applesauce, and no refined sugar at all!

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These easy, grab-and-go oatmeal breakfast cookies are sweetened only with honey and a bit of applesauce. Make your breakfast oatmeal into tasty cookies, and watch them disappear in the morning!

two oatmeal cookies with chocolate chips on brown wax paper, one cookie with a bite removed and crumbs

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What makes these oatmeal breakfast cookies special?

These cookies are chewy and soft, and not too sweet. They're made with a combination of certified gluten free oats and oat flour, so they hold together beautifully even though they're completely whole grain—and free of refined sugars.

Since they're relatively low in fat and low in sugar, they're not really crispy. Plus, there's moisture in the honey that keeps them soft.

They're a true alternative way to eat oatmeal in the morning. In fact, the only ingredient that's in these cookies that you wouldn't find in a bowl of oatmeal is the eggs!

large metal mixing bowl with soft brown oatmeal cookie dough with chocolate chips

How to make oatmeal breakfast cookies

Similar to our gluten free monster cookies, these are made with oats and oat flour, and no rice flour blend. To make these lightly sweet breakfast cookies, you only need a bowl, a spoon, and a whisk.

Whisk together oats, oat flour, baking soda, and salt in a large mixing bowl.
Create a well in the center of the dry ingredients and add virgin coconut oil that’s been melted and cooled, honey, smooth applesauce, and beaten eggs. Mix to create a very soft cookie dough.
Add chocolate chips and/or raisins and mix until the pieces are evenly distributed throughout the soft cookie dough.
Using two spoons or a spring-loaded ice cream scoop to create mounds of dough each with about 2 tablespoons of cookie dough.
Place them about 1 1/2 inches apart on a lined baking sheet, and spread the mounds gently into a disk of dough. They will spread some during baking, but not that much. If you’d like to make sure your cookies stay very thick but shaped properly, chill the dough before baking it.
To bake, place in a 350°F oven for about 16 minutes. They’re done when they’re lightly golden brown on the edges and set in the center. You shouldn’t see them glistening like they’re wet.
Allow them to set at room temperature before you attempt to move them! After they set, they’re quite stable and can be stored at room temperature, stored in the freezer or eaten right away.

This cookie dough is really soft! It's made with melted coconut oil, and it doesn't have any starches to stiffen the dough.

They're not the sort of gluten free cookies that you can roll and shape. It's best to scoop it while it's soft, using a spring-loaded ice cream scoop and just pat it into a disk using the scoop.

Then, chill the dough for a bit after scooping it, just to ensure that the cookies are thick and hearty enough after baking.

two mounds of pale brown raw oatmeal cookie dough on white parchment paper

Can you make these into oatmeal raisin breakfast cookies?

Yes, easily! These lightly sweet, chewy cookies taste just like a bowl of oatmeal, but in a neat little cookie package.

I often make them using chocolate chips as a mix-in, but you may prefer small pieces of dried fruit. Raisins are a classic choice, but I actually like currants even better here.

Chopped, dried apricots are really good, too. Just make sure they're fresh when you mix them into the raw dough, since they'll dry out a bit in the oven.

I used to make them with miniature chocolate chips, since just a few go a long way. But I prefer the taste of regular-sized, semi-sweet chocolate chips.

6 brown round oatmeal cookies on white parchment paper on a gold rimmed baking sheet

Popular ingredient substitution suggestions

Egg free

As always, eggs are a tough substitute as they serve so many functions (moisture, structure). I have not tried making these oatmeal breakfast cookies egg-free.

My educated guess is that 2 “chia eggs” (each chia egg is made by mixing 1 tablespoon ground white chia seeds with 1 tablespoon lukewarm water and allowing it to sit until it gels) might work.

Dairy free

These cookies are already dairy free, as the recipe is written. Just be sure that, if you use chocolate chips as a mix-in, they're dairy free chocolate chips.

If you don't need to be dairy-free, and you can use interested in making them dairy-full, unsalted butter (melted and cooled) works as a perfect substitute for virgin coconut oil, gram for gram. Your cookies will brown more and taste richer.

If you're very sensitive to the taste of coconut, you can use triple-filtered virgin coconut oil. It has no coconut aroma at all.

stack of 2 large brown oatmeal cookies with chocolate chips with the cookie on top missing a bite

Add banana

In place of the smooth applesauce in this recipe, which is neutral in flavor after baking, you can make the breakfast cookies with mashed bananas, gram for gram.

Be sure to use very ripe, peeled bananas. They should be mashed very well, until as smooth as applesauce.

Oat-free

But if you're feeling adventuresome, you can try replacing them with some of our recommended substitutes for oats in baking. The oat flour should be easy to replace, with quinoa flakes.

The rolled oats are much harder to replace. You can try replacing them with beaten rice, but that can be difficult to find.

If you can find buckwheat flakes, which are chewier and more substantial than quinoa flakes, try those. Please click through to the substitution post above for full details.

one large broken light brown oatmeal breakfast cookie on a torn white brown wax paper bag

FAQs

What type of oatmeal is best for cookies?

These oatmeal breakfast cookies have both old fashioned rolled oats, and oat flour. The rolled oats are pressed thinner than steel cut oats, so they're flexible and soften when baked. We also add oat flour, which is just made of ground rolled oats, to help bind everything together well so the cookies don't fall apart.

Why can't you use instant oats for oatmeal cookies?

You can use instant oats, which are more processed than rolled oats and less processed than old fashioned rolled oats, to make oatmeal cookies, but you won't have the larger pieces of rolled oats that lend structure to your oatmeal cookies.

What makes oatmeal breakfast cookies different from regular oatmeal cookies?

Oatmeal breakfast cookies have almost no refined sugar, as they're sweetened with a combination of honey and applesauce, and they don't have any refined grains as they're made with only rolled oats and ground oats. Regular oatmeal cookies are much sweeter and are made with oats, but also with refined grains like white rice flour.

Can you freeze these breakfast cookies?

Yes! They freeze beautifully. Just bake and cool the cookies completely. Then, place them in a single layer on a flat surface like a baking sheet and freeze them completely.
After the cookies are fully frozen, you can pile them into a sealed freezer-safe container or bag. Defrost them at room temperature, if you have time, or in the microwave. If you'd like something that's a bit more stable so it's easier to stash in your bag, try our homemade protein bars.

How to make oatmeal breakfast cookies, step by step

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Oatmeal Breakfast Cookies Recipe

These hearty, tender whole grain oatmeal breakfast cookies are sweetened with honey and applesauce, and no refined sugar at all!

Course: Breakfast

Cuisine: American

Prep Time: 10

Cook Time: 16

Chilling time: 10

Yield: 10 cookies

Author: Nicole Hunn

Ingredients

1 ¼ cups (125 g) old-fashioned rolled oats gluten free if necessary
1 ½ cups (180 g) oat flour gluten free if necessary
½ teaspoon baking soda
½ teaspoon kosher salt
5 tablespoons (70 g) virgin coconut oil melted and cooled
5 tablespoons (105 g) honey
½ cup (122 g) smooth applesauce at room temperature
2 eggs (100 g (weighed out of shell)) at room temp beaten
3 ounces chocolate chips or raisins

Instructions

Preheat your oven to 350°F. Line a rimmed baking sheet with unbleached parchment paper and set aside.
In a large bowl, place the oats, oat flour, baking soda and salt, and whisk to combine well. Create a well in the center of the dry ingredients, and add the oil, honey, applesauce, and eggs, and mix to combine well.
The dough will be very soft. Add the chips or raisins, and mix until evenly distributed throughout the dough.
Divide the dough into 10 equal portions on the prepared baking sheet, about 1 1/2 inches apart from one another. I used a medium ice cream scoop.
With wet fingers or the underside of the ice cream scoop bowl, pat down each piece of dough to spread into a disk.
Chill the shaped dough for about 10 minutes until firm. This keeps the cookies from spreading too much during baking.
Place the baking sheet in the center of the preheated oven and bake until lightly golden brown around the edges and set in the center (about 16 minutes).
Allow the cookies to cool for at least 10 minutes on the baking sheet, or until they're firm.
Transfer them to a wire rack to cool completely.
Serve immediately, or place them back on a baking sheet and freeze completely. Place in a sealed freezer-safe container until ready to serve.
Defrost the cookies one at a time at room temperature or in a low-power microwave before enjoying.

Notes

Nutritional information is approximate, per cookie, using chocolate chips (not raisins), and is for informational purposes only. It should not be relied upon.