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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.
Can I substitute the coconut oil with butter, clarified butter or something else? My daughter has a major sensitivity toward anything coconut. Thanks for your reply!
Please see the Substitutions section for that information, Jean! It’s all there.
I have been making the oatmeal banana breakfast cookies for a few years now and always have some in my freezer. 20 seconds later in the microwave and it is seemingly fresh baked. I will try these applesauce ones and hope they are as satisfyingly yummy! Thanks for the recipes!!
You’re so welcome, Donna. If you love those banana breakfast cookies, I’m sure you’ll love these. They’d be great in your freezer rotation!
Thanks for a perfect road trip breakfast.Made them this morning and will get an early start tomorrow.McDonald’s 99cent coffee,oatmeal cookie and grapes.A beautiful fall drive.
I LOVE McDonald’s coffee!! It’s my absolute favorite. Sounds perfect, Carol.
I made these this week just as written and they are absolutely delicious! These are definitely going in our breakfast rotation. Thank you for the wonderful gluten free and dairy free recipe!
Certified gluten free oats (like Bob’s Red Mill’s) are gluten free, but if they are not labeled certified GF, then they are probably contaminated.
You and your breakfast cookies, it’s just one of many reasons why I adore you! Thanks for another winner :)
I made these yesterday. I only had enough oats for the whole once, so I substetuted the ground oats with brown rice flour. Also, my four year old is on a low fodmap diet due to IBS, so I used ripe banana instead of applesauce, and reduced the hony to 30 g by using 50 g raw cane sugar and 20 g maple sirup. I made half the cookies with dark chokolate and the other half with rasins. Also, I made them smaller, and got about 30 cookies. And my god, they are so good! I just had two for brakefast, with a cup of coffee :D I like that they are so healthy and use fruit for some of the sweetnes. Also, the sugar/ maple sirup/ honey gave them a complex kind of sweetnes, very different from the kind you get in store bought-cookies, and so much better. The kids will be so happy to find these in their lunchboxes!
Thank you, and thanks for posting it on your blogg, I would have missed it if it was just on facebook
I just love the idea of eating cookies at breakfast.yum!
I am very interested in trying this recipe to see if I can get some oats into my kiddos’ diets. My husband will love them too. I think I use recipes on a blog and Pinterest more.
And of course, from your cookbooks. Just finished a turkey sandwich on Oatmeal Bread. That stuff rocks!!!
Will have to get the ingredients for these cookies this week!
I’m happy to be able to pin it. I appreciated seeing it on Facebook, and making it from a Facebook post. But I’m a hoarder, and I like to keep track of successful recipes. Sometimes simplest can be best!