Breakfast Cookies
Breakfast cookies may look like ordinary oatmeal cookies, but they’re free of refined sugar, oil, and butter; and loaded with nutrient-dense ingredients, making them a wholesome way to start the day. So yes, it’s cookies for breakfast, but it’s not exactly dessert for breakfast!
Servings: 24 cookies
Ingredients
- 1 cup mashed banana, from 2 large bananas (227g)
- 1/3 cup unsweetened applesauce (85g)
- 1/2 cup tahini (128g)
- 1/4 cup honey (84g)
- 1 large egg
- 1 1/2 cups old-fashioned rolled oats or quick oats (150g)
- 1 cup whole wheat flour (113g)
- 1 teaspoon ground cardamom
- 1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
- 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
- 1/2 teaspoon kosher salt
- 3/4 cup chopped pitted dates (113g)
- 1/2 cup chopped walnuts (57g)
- 1/4 cup pepitas (pumpkin seeds) (40g)
Instructions
- Get ready. Preheat the oven to 350°F (175°C). Line two baking sheets with parchment paper.
- Mix the wet ingredients. In a large mixing bowl, whisk together the banana, applesauce, tahini, honey, and egg until smooth.
- Add the dry ingredients. Add the oats, flour, cardamom, cinnamon, baking soda, and salt. Mix with a silicone spatula just until combined. Add the dates, walnuts, and pepitas, and mix until evenly distributed through the cookie dough. The dough will seem loose.
- Scoop the cookies. Scoop the cookies with a medium cookie scoop (about 2-tablespoon portions) onto the lined baking sheets, spacing them at least 1 inch apart. You should get 12 cookies per baking sheet, for a total of 24. Use the back of a spoon to slightly flatten each mound into a cookie shape. The cookies will not spread in the oven.
- Bake. Bake the trays, one at a time, for 11 to 13 minutes, or until the cookies are set and the edges are lightly browned.
- Cool. Allow the cookies to cool on the pan for 10 minutes. Transfer the cookies to a wire rack to cool to room temperature before serving.
Notes
- Shop this recipe: Visit our shop to browse quality Mediterranean ingredients, including the tahini paste, cardamom, and honey used in this recipe.
- Flavor Variations: I recommend sticking with 1 1/2 to 2 cups of total mix-ins for this batch size. I prefer adding equal parts dried fruit and nuts or seeds for a balanced mix of sweet and crunchy. If using chia seeds or shredded coconut, I wouldn’t add more than one to two tablespoons of chia seeds or more than 1/2 cup of shredded coconut, since they will affect the thickness of the batter. Here are some of my favorite mix-ins you can try:
- Dried fruit: raisins, dried cranberries, chopped dried apricots, chopped dried mango, dried blueberries.
- Nuts: pecans, almonds, pistachios, cashews, macadamia nuts.
- Seeds: sunflower seeds, sesame seeds, hemp hearts, chia seeds.
- Other: chocolate chips, unsweetened shredded coconut, toasted coconut flakes.
- To make vegan breakfast cookies, you’ll need to swap the honey and the egg. In place of honey, try your favorite liquid sweetener, such as maple syrup, agave nectar, or date syrup. A flax egg works just as well as a regular egg in these cookies. To make a flax egg, mix 1 tablespoon of flaxseed meal with 2 1/2 tablespoons of water. Let it rest for 5 minutes to thicken, then use it in place of the egg in the recipe as written.
- For gluten free breakfast cookies, use certified gluten free oats and replace the whole wheat flour with either a 1-to-1 gluten free flour or certified gluten free oat flour.
- To freeze cookies after baking: Let the baked cookies cool completely. Freeze the cookies in a single layer on a baking sheet before placing them in an airtight container or zip-top freezer bag. The frozen cookies will last for up to 3 months. They only take about 15 minutes to defrost on the counter, so they’re usually thawed by the time the coffee is ready. Or you can warm them in the microwave for a few seconds.
- To freeze unbaked, scooped cookies: Scoop the cookies onto a parchment-lined tray that fits in your freezer. Because the cookies won’t spread in the oven, you can press them into a flat disk for a more cookie-like shape, or leave them be if you don’t mind tall, mounded cookies. Freeze the cookie dough balls on the tray until solid, then transfer to an airtight container or zip-top freezer bag. I bake them from frozen, but find that they need an extra minute or two in the oven.
Nutrition
Calories: 119.3kcal | Carbohydrates: 16.8g | Protein: 3.2g | Fat: 5.2g | Saturated Fat: 0.7g | Polyunsaturated Fat: 2.7g | Monounsaturated Fat: 1.5g | Trans Fat: 0.001g | Cholesterol: 6.8mg | Sodium: 76.5mg | Potassium: 136.3mg | Fiber: 2.1g | Sugar: 7g | Vitamin A: 19.9IU | Vitamin C: 0.9mg | Calcium: 18.3mg | Iron: 0.9mg
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