I’m about to give you a great excuse to eat cookies for breakfast. Or any other time of day or night. Pack a cookie with enough protein and vitamins and you have yourself a respectable breakfast treat.
Several months ago, a friend asked me to deconstruct a “breakfast cookie” for another friend. She had eaten this “breakfast cookie” somewhere, and it was so good that she wanted to figure out how to make it herself. It seemed to have an endless list of ingredients, including 5 kinds of nuts and seeds, oats, and other stuff that I can’t quite remember off the top of my head.
Of course I recognized a brilliant idea when I heard it. I’ve had this recipe idea waiting in the wings. So here’s my current interpretation of a breakfast cookie.
You can add just about anything you like to the cookies, in moderation, so as not to make it too weird to eat. My favorite version has roasted walnut pieces, dried cranberries (juice-sweetened), dried cherries, and mini-chocolate chips – about 1/2 cup of each ingredient.
The cookies in the picture have dried cranberries, freeze-dried raspberries and blueberries, walnuts, and a few chocolate chips.
Breakfast Cookies
Updated on 5/22/13: Some readers have reduced the amount of sweetener or even left it out completely, and I have done the same. The texture changes slightly (I actually prefer it since it’s a bit less chewy). When I add a lot of sweet additions like raisins, cranberries and freeze-dried fruit I don’t notice the lack of or reduction in sweetener. As a result I too have reduced the sweetener by half and I’m really enjoying it this way. It you preferred it the old way, the original sweetener called for 1/2 cup of honey or maple syrup. I now use 1/4 cup of honey or maple syrup. Updated on 11/4/12: Changed the amount of baking soda and salt from 1/4 to 1/2 teaspoon each, and changed the technique for making it crunchy. Also, a reader suggested that it was easier to shape and place them on cookies sheets after placing the dough in the refrigerator for a few minutes. To have fresh-baked cookies any time: Prepare two sheets of parchment paper, each about 10 inches by 13 inches. Place the dough on one end of the parchment paper and use your hands and the paper to roll the dough into a log. Cover the dough and freeze it. To bake a fresh batch of cookies, take the dough out of the freezer, slice the cookies about 1/4 to 1/2 inch in thickness and bake at 350°F/175°C for about 12 minutes, or until they start to brown around the edges. If you want them slightly crunchier (these are on the soft side), turn the oven off and leave them in the oven for another 10 minutes or so, or place them in a dehydrator on a low temperature for about 20 minutes.- 2 1/2 cups blanched almond flour (or almond meal or other nut flour)
- 1/2 teaspoon salt
- 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
- 1/2 cup (8 tablespoons) unsalted butter, melted (or coconut oil, ghee, or vegetable shortening)
- 1/4
1/2cup of honey or maple syrup - 1 egg
- 1 tablespoon vanilla extract
- about 2 cups nuts, dried fruit, seeds
- Preheat your oven to 350°F/175°C.
- Combine all the dry ingredients in a bowl and whisk to blend.
- Add the wet ingredients and blend well with a spoon or fork.
- At this point you can either freeze the dough for a bit and then bake them, or place the dough on a piece of parchment paper, roll the dough into a log using the paper and freeze the dough for about an hour. Then slice the cookies from the log about 1/4 inch or so thick and following the baking directions.
- Place the cookies on a cookie sheet lined with parchment paper or a non-stick mat, such as a Silpat, to make it easy to release the cookies.
- Bake for 12 to 15 minutes, or until they start to brown around the edges.
Makes about 24 cookies/2 dozen
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They look good to me! I love a fruit, nut, and chocolate packed cookie.
These look so good!
Will be trying to make these within the coming week. I will be trying to add cranberries, almonds and macadamian nuts, cant wait. They look delicious!
I love the idea of cookies for breakfast and these sound great. It doesn’t hurt that there’s chocolate in them too!
These look wonderful! I always need something like this around for those snacky moments or quick breakfasts. Thanks for the recipe.
Thanks for the kind words. Love the idea of macadamia nuts.
I agree! Healthy cookies should be for breakfast! I wish I could reach right in the screen and eat one off the plate! What camera do you use?
Canon 10D (hand-me-down from my husband)
Should the recipe read when using coconut oil in place of butter 1/2 cup or is it really 1/4 cup?
Oh! Thank you!!! Yes, should be 1/2 cup – just changed it. Whew!
could avocado be used instead of butter?
I don’t know. Would be interesting to find out.
Mmmmm! Made these this morning and my kids and husband went gaga over them! I used about 1/8 cup molasses and the rest honey and mixed in dried cranberries, pecans, sunflower seeds and a tiny bit of chopped dark chocolate. My kids totally thought they were getting away with something really big by having “cookies” for breakfast.
These firm up wonderfully after they’ve cooled. I kept checking them while baking and they felt so soft so, I ended up over cooked mine a bit. Next time, I’ll go by time and not how they feel.
Thanks for an awesome recipe!
Your welcome. Love your combo of nuts, seeds, and fruit. Delish!
I have been looking for a nice gluten free biscuit recipe for a while. Looks good. Thanks.
Cookies for breakfast? You sold me! I love that there’s not flour in these and that you can replace the butter with coconut oil too, there’s really a lot of nutrient rich ingredients in these cookies.
Thanks. Yes, I rarely use “flour” anymore. There’s so much else out there
Love cookies for breakfast!
Thanks Carol! Love your blog!
I finally made this using sliced almonds, partically crushed macadamian nuts, dried cranberries and some carob chips. It taste wonderful and could work for a breakfast or dessert! If i could do it over again i would have left out the carob chips becasue the flavor kind of takes over, but this recipe was wonderful and delicious!
Yum! I’m thinking about trying hazelnut flour – making my own and baking it using this recipe.
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Very good! Made w/coconut flakes and apricots w/ a hint of cinnamon! Love them! I let my daughter put chocolate chips on the top of some as well. There are a lot of variations for this!
Mmm. I made these with the coconut oil and 2 cups mix of dried cranberries (sweetened with apple juice instead of sugar), golden raisins, diced dried papaya, chopped walnuts, pumpkin seeds, and vegan unsweetened carob chips. Fantastic! I’m bringing them along to a 3-day conference and will be enjoying them very much in lieu of the standard conference breakfast fare. Thank you!
Wow – I love reading the additions and changes that everyone is putting together. This is very creative Nancy! Love it.
… made these with coconut flakes, pecans and chocolate chips.. SOOOOO GOOOD!!!
Yum! I just made these with roasted walnuts and fruit juice sweetened cranberries and a touch of cinnamon. They are just what I’ve been looking for for a long time! Thanks! YUM!
I love your cookie recipes! My problem is… they bake perfectly except for the bottom, which always burn. Any suggestions?
Try lowering the heat in the oven, using parchment paper or another non-stick layer, or trying another type of cookie sheet.
I am making these now. I’m confused on the directions for “if you want them crunchier”. Do you ONLY bake them for 15 min at 200 or is that after you have baked them at the 350 you turn down to 200?
I changed the directions a bit, hope that helps. You want to bake them an extra 15 minutes on top of the baking time, but bring the oven temp. down to 200 degrees F.
I made these today. YUM!!! So glad to have a grain free breakfast cookie recipe (used to make some with wheat and oats). Thanks for sharing.
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I’m going to try making these later today, but don’t have almond flour or almond meal. I plan on making cashew meal and using some coconut flour as well. Any thoughts on whether that will work?
Cashew meal or flour will work. The coconut flour is questionable since it requires a lot more moisture/liquid ingredients than nut flour.
Thanks! I’m going to do 80% cashew meal, 20% coconut flour and see how it goes. I will let you know!
I made a half recipe and used one cup of cashew meal and 1/2 cup of coconut flour. I substituted maple syrup for the honey and used flax gel as an egg substitute (1 tbsp flax meal, 3 tbsp boiling water. I also used coconut oil and added some chocolate chips. Amazing!!!
that is amazing! Thanks for sharing your tips!
DELICIOUS! My 11 year old daughter said that these cookies (and the almond crackers) are way better than the real thing! We made them with half butter/half coconut oil, sunflower seeds, pecans, dried apricots, and raisins. I also added just a touch of pumpkin pie spice. They reminded me so much of an old family recipe for mincemeat cookies which were fruity and cake-y. I might just adapt this recipe using mincemeat for Christmas. Thank you for a great recipe.
wow, those sound great!
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Hi…i made these and LOVED them. I found that they may have a bit too much butter in them (I used 8 tbl) do you know if that can be reduced without ill effects? thanks so much for a great blog!
Uh, someone else mentioned that as well. I haven’t found that it’s too much but you can certainly reduce the amount of butter. It will just be a bit drier.
Why not add some apple sauce or banana instead?
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My family thanks you for the recipe; I make these once per week, but as a different variation each time. I now have worked it into scones, a “butter” cookie version, and a more classic drop cookie. Oh, and did I mention that I use no sweetener (aside from dried fruit) and no dairy? My family’s current favorite version uses 1/2 coconut oil and 1/2 earth balance (vegan) for the oil. Favorite blend ins in our house include dried pomegranate seeds and unsweetened coconut flakes, as well as whatever dried fruit and random nuts we have in our snack bins. No matter what I throw in or what I do to the basic recipe, it seems to work. Love it!
Thanks Regan! Good to hear
(I love it too!)
These turned out really well. I used 1/4 cup honey 1/4 cup molasses with sultanas, macadamias, pecans, pepitas and sunflower seeds. So good!
I am new to grain free baking and am learning so much. I am also a diabetic and am wondering if I can replace the honey with something else? Can I use a dry ingredient like cup for cup raw stevia? Any suggestions helpful. Love your recipes!
Yes, folks sometimes use liquid stevia and glycerin, but the amount is less than the measurement for honey.
Just came across these cookies in my search for baking with almond meal. Just made them tonight and they are so yummy! Used sunflower seeds, pumpkin seeds, dried cranberries and choc chips! Thanks for the great recipe!
forgot, also mixed in some ground flaxseed.
Do you have nutrition information for your posted recipe? I realize that with all the variables, it could change significantly, but I would like to know calories per serving and serving size at the least for your original recipe.
Am loving your blog! I just recently started experimenting with almond flour & it has to be my happiest discovery ever. These cookies are definitely making an appearance at our breakfast table very soon.
These are fabulous! I added cocunut and hemp seeds to the dried fruit and nuts! I am new to your web site and am so grateful for some new and fab recipes. Thanks!
Thank you! I could not do the SCD without something baked. These were my first experiment and they are delicious!
Do you think this would work with coconut flour? My little guy has nut allergies, but other than that, this would be a great recipe for him because lately he asks for a cookie every morning when he wakes up. How great would it be to say, “Yes! You MAY have a cookie for breakfast!”
Thanks!
The ratios of ingredients would differ so no, I don’t think you can follow this recipe and replace coconut flour.
Oh My! I made these… and forgot to put the melted butter in!! Believe me, they are still really delicious. I used chopped pecans and dark chocolate. Great without the butter; can’t wait to try them with butter!!
good to know
– great combination!
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These look great – cookies for breakfast! Can’t wait to make them for the kids. Thanks!
I made these using half almond flour and half pecan flour. They were delicious!
Yum. thanks for sharing. This recipe is a chameleon!
Has anyone tried freezing these great cookies?
Thanks,
Aukje
Yes-I freeze mine all the time!
Thanks!
Awesome!
LOVE these cookies! Tried them w/honey and a little bit of molases, coconut oil, 1 cup walnut pieces, 1/2 cup shredded coconut, 1/2 cup Enjoy Life chocolate chips. AMAZING! Thank you so much!
Yum. Love your mix. I do miss molasses.
I made these today and instead of 2.5 c. of almond flour I used 1.5 c.millet flour and then 1 c almond flour, 1/2tsp.salt and 1/2tsp baking soda. I did use salted butter (what I had). I would stick with the 1/4 tsp. salt next time. They are very yummy
Oh, yes, if you use salted butter, definitely reduce the salt in the recipe. I’m not sure by how much though. In any case, I’m very interested in millet flour myself, so thank you for trying this. So good to know.
I love this recipe! Make these weekly. I add soaked sunflower and pumpkin seeds and chopped pecans. A perfect recipe as written – thank you!
Are molasses and carob chips SCD legal? Also could i use cashew flour??
thxs
no, molasses and carob are not SCD legal. Yes, I think you can use cashew flour or other nut flour. I just haven’t tried it yet.
These are excellent and I now bake them weekly! Thank you for your wonderful recipes – the banana bread is a hit in our house as well.
I’ve used this recipe for over a year and it is by far my favorite cookie recipe! It so versatile and great for snacking. Yesterday I made them with chocolate chips and raisins. This morning I only used raisins, then crumbled the baked cookie in a bowl and added coconut milk. Instant cereal and the kids loved it!
what a great idea! thanks for sharing your cereal trick!
I love these! I have made something very similar in the past using chopped dried figs and pistachios, so delicious!
I am going to try these out on my son who is normally not keen on eating breakfast. Might just be the thing to change his mind!
I just made these and they taste really good. The only problems I encountered were in them holding together enough to slice into cookies and also when removing from the baking sheet. Next time I may reduce the seeds/nuts/berries just slightly. Good news is that the kids seem to like them! I used cranberries, slivered almonds, chia seeds, cacao nibs, dark choc., and rolled oats.
And, I used coconut butter.
Good to know. Yes, I’m thinking it might be easier to tell folks to use parchment lining or non-stick mat on the baking sheet. These stay together quite easily in general, so not sure what your problem was there. Thanks!
Hi! Thank you for this recipe!!! I saw the comment where the lady said she used a flax egg successfully so I went ahead a made these. I changed up the recipe a bit. I used some coconut flour instead of the whole 2.5 cups almond flour so I used your original amount of honey in order to increase the liquids a bit and used a flax egg since we have an egg allergy in our home. This came out beautifully the first time!!! I will definitely be adding this to our regular rotation of snacks! I think they’ll work great for on the go, too! That excites me as the kids are ALWAYS hungry when we’re in the middle of a store
So good to know that flax eggs work! thanks for reporting back! yes food shopping is quite dangerous on an empty stomach.