Oatmeal Breakfast Cookies

Oatmeal Breakfast Cookies are an EASY grab-and-go breakfast, made with simple ingredients like gluten free oats, banana, peanut butter, maple syrup, and spices, with minimal prep time and ready in under 30 minutes!

For more quick and easy breakfast ideas, check out these Peanut Butter Oat Balls, and one of my all-time favorites Gluten Free Pumpkin Bread!

These breakfast cookies are a really easy meal prep you can grab on your way out the door in the morning! These are different from regular oatmeal cookies because they are made with wholesome ingredients, higher in protein, and don’t contain any refined sugar.

We’re still using maple syrup and bananas for some sweetness, so they’re not considered low carb. But when I make cookies for breakfast, I like to think about getting more nutrition for natural energy, without the sugar crash from traditional cookie ingredients!

If you want the dessert version, check out my Gluten Free Oatmeal Cookies, or Gluten Free Chocolate Chip Cookies!

Ingredients You’ll Need

Gluten Free Flour. I use a gluten free cup-for-cup flour, which means that it is interchangeable with regular flour (if you’re not gluten free). It’s important for the flavor and texture of baked goods made with a gluten free flour blend to have the right balance of starch and protein, and I find that the leading brands with 1:1 flour have a good blend. 

GF Oats. These wouldn’t be breakfast cookies without some breakfast ingredients! Oats help make the cookies chewy, and add some fiber. I like to use old fashioned rolled oats because of the texture. Instant oats would work, but the texture would be softer.

Make sure the oats you’re using say “certified gluten free oats”. If you’re really sensitive to gluten or celiac, you may want to make sure the manufacturer is following something called “purity protocol”. You can ready more about that over at the Gluten Free Watchdog.

Bananas. Bananas add sweetness and flavor to these cookies, and also provide some moisture for a nice texture. Use ripened bananas, which have a stronger flavor, sweetness, and are easier to mash (just like the ones you’d use for banana bread). You can put the banana in a paper bag with an apple the day before using it to help ripen it faster. 

Creamy Peanut Butter. I like to use regular peanut butter. You can use natural peanut butter, but the oils can separate out more and the cookies have a chance of spreading or falling apart. They’d both work in a pinch but regular peanut butter will be a little better. I also prefer creamy peanut butter, but you can use crunchy if you want peanut pieces in the cookies.

Maple Syrup. We’re adding this for sweetness and flavor. 

Raisins or Dried Cranberries. We’re adding a nice chewy sweetness with the raisins or dried cranberries. Either one will work in this recipe.

Almond Milk. This is to help add a little liquid to the cookie dough. You can use any type of milk. I like using non-dairy milk because it’s what I usually have on hand, but regular milk will work, too.

Baking Soda. This helps give the cookies a little rise and chewy texture. 

Vanilla Extract. We’re adding a teaspoon vanilla extract just for flavor. You can also try swapping this for almond extract for a different version. 

Spices. I like to add cinnamon and allspice to these cookies for flavor, but you can try other combinations like pumpkin pie spice or apple pie spice. 

Kosher Salt. Just a pinch of salt will help balance out the sweetness of the cookies without making them salty. 

How to Make Oatmeal Breakfast Cookies

1. Preheat the oven to 350°F. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper. In a medium bowl, whisk together flour, oats, raisins, salt, cinnamon, allspice, and baking soda.
2. Add peanut butter, milk, maple syrup, mashed bananas, and vanilla to the mixing bowl.
3. Mix all of the dry ingredients and wet ingredients together until well combined.
4. Use a cookie scoop to measure 1 1/2 – 2 inch pieces of cookie dough onto the prepared baking sheet, leaving some space between each cookie. Use the back of a spoon or the bottom of a measuring cup to flatten the cookies until about 1/2-inch thick.
5. Bake 10-15 minutes in the preheated oven, or until cookies are golden brown around the edges and just firm on top.

Frequently Asked Questions

More Breakfast Recipes

• Peanut Butter Protein Balls
• Gluten Free Blueberry Muffins
• Apple Banana Smoothie
• Green Monster Smoothie

Storage

Refrigerate oatmeal breakfast cookies for 4-5 days in an airtight container. 

Freeze leftover cookies for 2-3 months in an air-tight container. 

Recipe Variations

• You can substitute the peanut butter with creamy almond butter, cashew butter, and sunflower seed butter. The flavor of the cookie may change depending on what you use. 
• Instead of mashed banana, try using pumpkin puree with pumpkin pie seasoning. 
• You can add other ingredients to make this breakfast cookie recipe different each time! Try dark chocolate chips and flaky sea salt, white chocolate chips, fresh blueberries, shredded coconut, chopped almonds or walnuts, or roasted pumpkin seeds. 
• The spices can be changed based on your taste. Try adding you favorite blend, like pumpkin pie spice or apple pie spices. 
• You can substitute honey for maple syrup, but the flavor will be different. 

Cooking Tips

• The secret to making the cookies all a uniform size is to use a cookie scoop to help you measure how much dough per cookie you’re using. You can also use spoons to scoop about 2 tablespoons of dough per cookie, but the scoop is more accurate.
• These cookies should take 10-15 minutes to bake. If they’re taking a lot longer, try using an oven thermometer to check that your oven is cooking true to the set temperature. This is a really common issue with ovens, and you can adjust the temperature and bake time to fix it temporarily. 
• If your cookies are burning on the bottom or around the edges, this could be due to the oven cooking too hot, or the metal on the baking sheet being a lower quality. Try to keep your cookie sheet on a rack in the middle of the oven.

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