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stack of baked healthy breakfast cookies

Healthy Breakfast {or Snack} Cookies

Yield: 15 cookies
Prep Time: 15 minutes
Cook Time: 18 minutes
Total Time: 33 minutes

Ingredients

  • 2 ½ cups (250 g) oats (see note for quick vs old-fashioned)
  • ¾ cup (191 g) creamy peanut butter (see note)
  • ½ cup (113 g) mashed banana, about 1 medium (see note for substitutions)
  • ¼ cup (57 g) unsweetened applesauce
  • ¼ cup (24 g) flaxseed meal
  • ¼ cup (85 g) honey
  • ¾ teaspoon salt, I use coarse, kosher salt
  • ½ teaspoon ground cinnamon
  • 1 cup raisins, chocolate chips, craisins, chopped nuts or other add-ins

Instructions 

  • Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F. Line baking sheets with parchment paper and lightly grease with cooking spray. Set aside.
  • In a large bowl, combine the oats, peanut butter, mashed bananas or pumpkin, applesauce, flaxseed meal, honey or syrup, salt, and cinnamon. Mix until mostly combined.
  • Stir in any add-ins and mix until evenly combined.
  • Drop by large spoonfuls onto prepared baking sheets (I use a #20 cookie scoop which is about 3 heaping tablespoons). The cookies won't spread while baking so they can be spaced about 1-inch apart. Flatten each cookie dough mound into an even disc about 1/4-inch thick.
  • Bake for 15-18 minutes until golden but still soft. {You can bake longer for crunchier cookies.}

Notes

Oats: I prefer using half old-fashioned oats and half quick oats in this recipe. It yields the best texture, I think, but you can try using all old-fashioned oats or all quick oats.
Peanut Butter: I have used creamy and crunchy peanut butter in this recipe (traditional brands like Jif/Skippy). I haven't tried this with natural peanut butter or alternate nut butters, but I think it would be very adaptable. If using a thick, stodgy nut butter, you might want to decrease the oats to 2 cups. Also, the peanut butter amount is adaptable - I've used anywhere from 1/2 cup to a full cup. The amount listed in the recipe seems to be just the right.
Banana: the banana gives these cookies a slightly cakey, banana bread-esque texture. You can use an egg or canned pumpkin in place of the banana for an alternate substitution. The cookies will be slightly less sweet and not quite as soft if doing so and the dough will be stiffer (you can up the applesauce a bit if you'd like).
Nutrition Facts: the nutrition facts for this recipe were calculated based on the cookies without optional add-ins as those are added based on personal preference.