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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 this healthy breakfast disappear in the morning!
What makes these 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!
Ingredients
Recipe Ingredients
- Oats & oat flour: Old-fashioned rolled oats and oat flour form the base of these cookies. The rolled oats are chewy and hearty; the oat flour binds the cookies together when mixed with the wet ingredients.
- Salt: Brightens the other flavors.
- Baking soda: Helps the cookies brown in the oven.
- Honey: Sweetens the cookies and adds some depth of flavor. These are very lightly sweet cookies. You can add up to 2 tablespoons (42 g) more honey for sweeter cookies.
- Applesauce: Adds some natural sweetness and moisture for tender cookies without adding more oil.
- Virgin Coconut oil: This is the kind of oil that is soft-solid at cool room temperature. It's melted to make it easier to mix into the cookie dough, but if you chill the raw dough it will become firm and help the cookies hold their shape during baking.
- Eggs: Add structure and rise during baking.
- Raisins: For texture and flavor. You can replace all or some of the raisins with chocolate chips, or other dried fruit mix-ins, like dried cranberries or chopped dried apricots.
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 this lightly sweet breakfast cookie dough, you only need a bowl and a spoon.
Make the cookie dough
- Mix together the dry ingredients (oats, oat flour, baking soda, salt) in a large mixing bowl.
- Add the wet ingredients (beaten eggs, applesauce, honey, and melted coconut oil), and mix to combine. If you'd like some extra flavor, mix in 1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract here.
- Add raisins or chocolate chips, and mix until they're evenly distributed.
- The cookie dough will be soft, especially if you've used finely ground oat flour.
Portion and bake the cookies
- Using two spoons or a spring-loaded ice cream scoop, create mounds of dough each with about 2 tablespoons of cookie dough.
- Place them about 1 1/2 inches apart on a baking sheet with parchment paper.
- Spread the mounds gently into a disk of dough. They will spread some during baking. For thicker cookies, chill the dough before baking it.
- To bake, place in a 350°F oven for about 16 minutes or until 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 moving them.
What is the texture of the raw cookie dough?
This cookie dough is really soft! It's made with melted coconut oil, and it doesn't have any starches to stiffen the dough. If you've used finely ground oat flour, rather than grinding it yourself, the dough will be even softer.
They're not the sort of gluten free cookies that you can roll and shape. Scoop the dough while it's soft, using a spring-loaded ice cream scoop, and just lightly 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.
Substitutions
Popular ingredient substitutions
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.
Coconut-free
If you don't need to be dairy-free, you can use unsalted butter (melted and cooled) in place of virgin coconut oil, gram for gram. Your cookies will brown more and taste richer. If you can have coconut but just don't like any coconut taste, just be sure to use triple-filtered coconut oil.
Honey
If you don't like the taste of honey, I don't think you'll mind it here since there isn't enough to add a prominent flavor to the cookies. For a flavor variation, try adding up to 2 tablespoons smooth peanut butter, almond butter, or sunflower seed butter to the raw dough.
If you can't have honey, you can replace it with pure maple syrup, but chill the cookies for a bit longer before baking since it will make the raw dough even softer and more prone to spreading.
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.
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.
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, and I love dried cranberries.
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.
FAQs
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.
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.
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 gluten free oatmeal cookies are much sweeter and are made with oats, but also with refined grains like white rice flour.
Make ahead/leftovers
Storage instructions
These cookies freeze beautifully. Just bake and cool them 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.
Oatmeal Breakfast Cookies Recipe
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; see recipe notes
- 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 temperature, beaten
- 3 ounces raisins, or chocolate chips
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.
Video
Notes
Nutrition
Nutrition information is automatically calculated, so should only be used as an approximation.
Nicole, I have been gluten free on and off for 50 years. Your recipes are just about the best I’ve even found. I could LIVE on these cookies. It’s so nice to have a cookie that is “legal” to eat and is healthy too. I often grab one or two when I have to skip breakfast or lunch. I add lots of chopped walnuts and sliced apricots (the puffy ones not the dry ones). I also switch out some of the oatmeal flour for almond flour to add some extra protein. Oh, I also make a double batch, shape them, freeze them raw, and bake about 6 at a time. My will power doesn’t exist so it’s easier to stop when there aren’t too many around.
That’s so great to hear, Robin. Thank you for sharing those variations. Oddly, oat flour and almond flour do sometimes substitute for one another successfully, although it can be hard to predict when it will work and when it won’t. I think the fact that you’ve made them a number of time as written before making the substitution made you more successful when you played with it, since you knew what to expect. Thanks for sharing your experience—and for the kind words. I’ve been baking gluten free for 20 years, but you’ve got me beat with 50 years being gluten free!!
Can you use egg beaters instead of whole eggs? Trying to watch our cholesterol. Thanks
Egg beaters are really just egg whites with some added ingredients, not whole eggs, Mia, so the texture and appearance won’t be the same. I really recommend using whole eggs.
I haven’t tried this recipe yet but I am wondering if it would work to make bars instead of cookies. So put the dough in either an 8”x 8” or 9”x 13” pan and bake then cut into bars.
Hi, Amy, I’m afraid I really don’t think that will work with this recipe. The dough is really too wet to bake into a stable form without being separately baked as smaller portions. I do have a recipe for oatmeal breakfast bars that should be able to be baked as a whole and then portioned afterward.