Healthy Breakfast Cookies
These healthy breakfast cookies are chewy, sweet, soooo delicious and packed with nutrient dense ingredients to keep you going all morning long!
Healthy Breakfast Cookies
Yes it is true – there is such a thing as a healthy cookie for breakfast! These breakfast cookies are packed with whole grains, fruits and veggies to keep you and your kids satisfied and nourished all morning long. Whole grains and fruits and veggies are a great sources of fiber which helps keep you feeling full. They also pack slow releasing carbs which help keep kids fuller for longer and stabilize blood sugars. Plus, your body is getting lots of vitamins and minerals that nourish your body and give it a balance so help you feel great!
It can be tough to get kids (and adults!) to eat fruits and veggies in the morning and these healthy breakfast cookies are a fantastic way to do that in a portable on-the-go breakfast option. Plus they are chewy and SOOO delicious that it won’t be hard to convince your kids to try them.
How to Make Healthy Breakfast Cookies
You just need a bowl and a spoon to whip these cookies up!
- Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Line a cookie sheet with parchment paper.
- In a large bowl mix together the flour, oats, baking powder, baking soda and cinnamon.
- In a separate smaller bowl beat the egg. Add the melted coconut oil, honey and vanilla extract and stir well. Add this mixture to the large bowl with the dry ingredients and mix until well combined.
- Add the grated carrot, grated apple and mashed banana and again stir until everything is well mixed together. If using the chocolate chips, add now.
- Roll the cookie dough into 1 inch sized balls. The dough should make approximately 20 balls. Place each on the cookie sheet and press down lightly with a fork.
- Bake in the oven for 13-15 minutes. Allow to cool on a wire rack.
- The cookies can be stored in an airtight container for up to 3 days. They can also be frozen for up to 3 months.
Ingredients in Healthy Breakfast Cookies with Carrots, Apples, and Oats
- Oats – oats give these cookies all the benefits of whole grains like fiber, vitamins and sustainable carbs. Plus they give that amazing chewy texture to the cookie.
- Carrots – carrots are sweet and subtle but add vitamin A, and other nutrients.
- Apple – apples give these cookies a refreshing tangy bite and subtle crunch.
- Banana – bananas are naturally super sweet. I like to use really ripe bananas in my breakfast cookies.
- Coconut Oil – I love the flavor coconut oil gives baked goods. You can use canola or avocado in these cookies also as a substitute.
- Honey – honey adds sweetness but is also a binder that holds everything together.
Best Tips for Making Breakfast Cookies
These cookies are a great cookie to experiment with different add-ins or substitutions. Here are some tips and ideas:
- Chocolate Chips. Instead of mini chocolate chips, you could use white chocolate chips for a totally different flavor. Or leave out the chocolate altogether and add in dried cranberries.
- Banana. If you don’t like the flavor of banana, you can use 1/2 cup of applesauce instead.
- Honey. You can use the same amount of maple syrup instead of honey in these cookies. The maple syrup does give a slightly different flavor.
- Oats. You can use either old fashioned oats or quick oats in this recipe. It really depends on what texture you like. Old fashioned oats will give these a more chewy texture.
- Apples/Carrots. When you grate these, I have found using the finest grate you can is best. It makes them almost melt into the cookies. If you prefer larger pieces of carrot or apple, then feel free to use a larger grate.
To Make Gluten Free
I get asked a lot what the best substitute for wheat flour is to make these cookies gluten free. I recommend using oat flour. You can easily make your own oat flour if you have gluten free oats. Just blend your oats in a blender until you get a fine crumb. You can also buy oat flour at most grocery stores.
More of our Favorite Healthy Breakfast Cookies
- Banana Oat Breakfast Cookie – these are a simple gluten free breakfast cookie option with raisins and walnuts.
- Sugar Free Cookies – these are one of the most popular recipes on my site! Sweetened only with fruit they are a really yummy breakfast option.
- Peanut Butter Chia Breakfast Cookies – These sweet and chewy cookies are packed with flavor and crispy chia seeds for your little peanut butter lovers!
If you are running late in the mornings then these cookies make the perfect grab-and-go breakfast and are also great for an after-school snack. They are super soft which makes them ideal for toddlers to munch on too!
Healthy Breakfast Cookies
Ingredients
- 2 cups flour
- 1 cup oats
- 1/2 teaspoon baking powder
- 1/4 teaspoon baking soda
- 1/2 teaspoon salt
- 1/2 teaspoon cinnamon
- 1 large egg
- 1/3 cup coconut oil melted
- 1/4 cup honey
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- 1 cup carrots grated
- 1 cup apple grated
- 1 medium banana mashed
Optional
- 1/3 cup mini chocolate chips
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Line a cookie sheet with parchment paper.
- In a large bowl mix together the flour, oats, baking powder, baking soda and cinnamon.
- In a separate smaller bowl beat the egg. Add the melted coconut oil, honey and vanilla extract and stir well. Add this mixture to the large bowl with the dry ingredients and mix until well combined.
- Add the grated carrot, grated apple and mashed banana and again stir until everything is well mixed together. If using the chocolate chips, add now.
- Roll the cookie dough into 1 inch sized balls. The dough should make approximately 20 balls. Place each on the cookie sheet and press down lightly with a fork.
- Bake in the oven for 13-15 minutes. Allow to cool on a wire rack.
- The cookies can be stored in an airtight container for up to 3 days. They can also be frozen for up to 3 months.
Nutrition
www.superhealthykids.com
Natalie Monson
I'm a registered dietitian, mom of 4, avid lover of food and strong promoter of healthy habits. Here you will find lots of delicious recipes full of fruits and veggies, tips for getting your kids to eat better and become intuitive eaters and lots of resources for feeding your family.
Learn More about Natalie
Could you add some rew cacao to make them chocolate? Rather than the chocolate chips?
Wondering if anyone has an idea for a sweetener other than honey? Maybe stevia or date purée?
Can I use some olive oil instead of coconut oil as I am allergic to nuts. All recipes I am seeing lately are using coconut or almond oil or milk but sound delicious.
Coconut aren’t nuts.
Neither (based on biological taxonomy) are peanuts, however, people can still have anaphelactic reaction to them as part of their general nut allegy. Perhaps spending a decade becoming an immunologist would be useful before commenting? Just a thought…
If I were to use butter instead of coconut oil, how much butter should I use?
I use the same amount melted ?
Are the oats quick cooking or old fashioned ? Thanks !
Could you use almond flour to make them gluten free?
Any suggestions for substitutions for the wheat flour?
I added a cup of fresh baby spinach leaves that I puréed. My kids can’t taste them. 🙂
To sub for the wheat flour, or just in addition to?
Can you use oat flour instead of whole wheat?
Any ideas for using GF flours?
Can these be frozen raw? I always make huge batches and bake 6 or so at a time for my kids.
Can I substitute almond or coconut flour for whole wheat? Any changes needed if I can?
Do we use a electric mixer to beat or just handwhisk will do?
The cooked cookies can be stored frozen for up to 3 months… may I know how do I reheat them for consumption? Thaw first and throw inside oven bake again? Or?? Please advice.
Thanks
Erm. Followed the recipe and as dry as old boots! Not right and now wasted all the ingredients. You measurements cannot be right
I was nervous to try these because of mixed/few reviews, but I made them for the first time tonight and thought they were great!! Followed the recipe exactly. They were nice and moist. (When I grated my apples I used the smallest grater, so my grated apples were pretty close to being apple sauce. That may have helped to keep them moist!)
I’m going to use apple sauce in mine then 🙂 Thanks for tip
I followed the recipe exact and the cookies are disgusting!!! They came out rock hard and bland, do not waste ur ingredients on this recipe!
Fabulous! Moist, soft, and just right amount of sweetness. I followed recipe to exact measurements.
Perhaps add gram measurements too. I think sometimes the way people measure can be different…..and result in too much flour.
Yum! Glad I made before reading posts- were hard or dry at all… And trust me you could usually build houses out of my attempts at biscuits?? hope toddler loves them!
Made these with mytwoand five yearold.Followed recipeexceptusedcanolainstead of coconut oil. Turned outgreat. Kidslovedthem.
Also I used applesauce because I saw other reviews saying they were dry. Mine came out moist. I plan on trying with chocolate chips next time. I did not have any this time. I think that would be yummy!!
Follow the recipe. They are just gross!
Yum yum
Made exactly as directed. Compared to other healthy baked cookies, I found them fairly bland. We ate them but they didn’t fly out of the cookie jar. They are fine. With all the work grating, I would not be inclined to make again or if I did I would use a little more sweet and add some salt. What I did like was the soft chewy texture.
Anyone know if a serving size is one cookie? Trying to do nutritional info for myself
I followed the recipe, using a 1 inch scoop to make them into balls, however they make a lot more than 20 (tiny) balls!!!! I am guessing this was supposed to be a much larger cookie than a 1 inch ball?!?!
Could use some salt and/or more sweetener. I did use beets instead of carrots to make them look upon request of my son. I also added blueberries because he also wanted purple in them.
How many in a serving please?
Amy thank you for this recipe. I get that I can sweeten it to my liking. And that you created a nice breakfast alternative. Not supposed to be treated like a standard cookie. And of course we can make it the size that we want which then of course affects the quantity of cookies made. And for those complaining about grating simply put it in a food processor. This recipe was fabulous, fun and easy for me and my 3 and a 1/2 year old son. baking together today and it is delicious and A-blast. Awesome keep posting!
So glad you liked it Kelly!
Quick and easy, nice soft texture (great for my 18 month old who is still struggling to grow teeth), a little bland but that’s probably a good thing to avoid a sweet tooth. Will be super convenient for day care days when breakfast is often on the run.
Can I make these without egg?
Yes you can, but the texture won’t be exactly the same.
Awful. Oven to garbage. Hate waste!
I’m sorry to hear you didn’t enjoy these!
I made these with my 4yo this morning. Everyone agreed that they were too bland, and I think they need salt, and maybe more cinnamon. Also, they make about twice as many as I expected. I used a 2tbsp scoop. Otherwise, the texture is excellent and it’s a great starting place. I usually love recipes from this site! This one just needs the flavor pumped up a bit in order to make them appealing to my kids. I used Granny Smith Apple and Nantes carrots, and chocolate chips. I have some chocolate flavored dry coconut shavings that I think would be delicious in these cookies next time.
My picky 7 year old didn’t like them at all, but doesn’t like anything so that’s not saying much. My 11 year old ate them and said they were ok, but doesn’t like them too much.
They were very dry. Had batter left over and added unsweetened apple sauce, which made them a little less dry. Not sure my picky Frenchy will eat them..
Hi! I’d like to use a little almond flour in the cookies for added protein. How much can I add and how would I do the substitution?
We haven’t tried this yet- I’d follow basic substitution measurements. Good luck! Let us know how it turns out!
These were pretty good. They were moist, not hard or dry at all. The flavour was a little bland, next time I will add way more cinnamon. I found the dough to be super sticky and so I wound up dropping them by spoonfuls instead of rolling. And as a couple others have stated, it made way more than 20 cookies. Overall, they’re not going to win any favourite cookie contests with my kids, but decent for a school snack.
Can I sub more flour for the oats? Here in NZ you can’t get gluten free oats very easily.
That should work, but we haven’t tried it! They might be too dry with an additional cup of oats. You might want to try just leaving the oats out, and then adding flour bit by bit until you reach the right consistency.
My entire family, including my 1 yr old loves these cookies. I use a mixture of apple, zucchini and carrot,mashed banana a tiny amount of mini dark chocolate chips, aoubt 1/4 c of either honey or maple syrup and then because I find the batter a bit dry I usually add a small pouch of kirkland apple sauce. I will continue to make these.
Kids love them. I add 125g Greek natural yoghurt and bake them for about 30 mins.
Great for lunchboxes. Keep fine for 5-6 days.
Thanks for sharing your feedback! So happy to hear that you like them!