Need and easy breakfast idea your kids will love? You are going to love this oatmeal breakfast cookie recipe. They are simple to make and you can easily double the batch and freeze them! Now, that’s ultimate convenience right there!
Don’t they look amazing? I mean, what’s not to love about oats, peanut butter honey… yum. I will tell you that while the original recipe calls for 1/2 cup of honey, you can cut it down to 1/4 and still achieve a delicious cookie.
This recipe is also in my cookbook, The Best Homemade Kids’ Lunches on the Planet along with other breakfast favorites.
If it looks like a cookie, tastes like a cookie, then it must be a cookie! Said Cookie Monster on Sesame Street. It is… sort of. This is a breakfast favorite in our house. Little does my family know that these cookies have protein, fiber, vitamins, minerals, and omega 3s. Sssssshhhhhhhhh! Don’t tell them!
Yes, I let my kids have a “cookie” for breakfast but you know… it’s way better than some of the processed breakfast foods found at the store. At least I know it’s made with real ingredients and they are filling.
- ½ cup mashed banana (about 1 large)
- ½ cup natural peanut butter (or non peanut)
- ½ cup honey*
- 2 tsp vanilla
- 1 cup rolled oats
- ¼ cup whole wheat flour*
- ¼ cup ground flax seed (or an add’l ¼c flour)
- ¼ cup nonfat milk powder or vanilla protein powder (+2TB of water if dough is too thick)
- 2 tsp ground cinnamon
- ½ tsp baking soda
- ½ cup dried cranberries or raisins
- Preheat oven to 350°F. Lightly coat two cookie sheets with cooking spray; set aside.
- In a large bowl, stir together banana, peanut butter, honey, and vanilla.
- In a small bowl, combine oats, flour, ground flax, milk powder, cinnamon, and baking soda.
- Stir the oat mixture into the banana mixture until combined. Stir in dried cranberries.
- Using a ¼-cup measuring cup, drop mounds of dough 3 inches apart on prepared cookie sheets. With a thin metal or small plastic spatula dipped in water, flatten and spread each mound of dough to a 2¾-inch round, about ½ inch thick.
- Bake, one sheet at a time, for 14 to 16 minutes or until browned. Transfer to wire racks to cool completely.
- Store in an airtight container or resealable plastic bag for up to 3 days or freeze for up to 2 months; thaw before serving.
Big thanks for this post! I’m crazy low on groceries and will go shopping tomorrow, but needed something to pack in my 6 year olds lunch box in the morning. This will pair great with the last apple and a few other little things we have left. You saved me from having to grocery shop at midnight. Thank you!
I hope they enjoy it!
This is a great idea. Definitely going to try it this week. Should be great for those mornings we are literally running out of the house!
Hello..I am from India..so the cup sizes in measurement varies..It will be great help if you share the ingredients in gm..also can ¼ cup nonfat milk powder be omitted and replaced by oatmeal or oat flakes?
We only publish in US cups. Perhaps you can convert online. I have never tried replacing it.
I use convertit.com if I need to make conversions. Great website.
I have a daughter allergic to bananas. I was wondering if I could sub pumpkin? Any suggestions on how to go about this?
Use 2 eggs.
I’m glad I found this recipe! I had to switch out the flaxseed and protein powder for coconut flour, if you heat flaxseed above 250 degrees the nutritive value starts to break down. it turned out well but a tad dry. I think next time I’ll try adding coconut oil or even some butter. Thanks for posting this!
Just finished making these…. wow, delicious!!!
I made these gluten free by using almond flour in place of the wheat flour. I also used almond butter rather than peanut butter and used pure maple syrup in place of 1/2 of the honey. These turned out great! I’m looking forward to playing with it and creating different variations.
great substitutions Nellie!
My son is allergic to peanuts and tree nuts. I am planning on substituting the PB with sunflower seed butter, which is his favorite. It has a similar taste and consistency to PB, so I think it should work. I’ll let you know how they turn out. Thanks!
Sunflower butter should work fine.
I’m trying to eat better and these are awesome! These will keep me from hitting the supersized muffins and the convenience store next to my office!
These turned out great! I have been trying countless breakfast cookie recipes and LOVE this one. Thanks for a great recipe!
I woke up this morning and looked for a breakfast cookie recipe and found this. Yes I am nuts at 6am just finding a recipe and chancing making it before I have to get the kids up AND while I’m making and packing lunches. But it was SO quick and easy and filling, definate hit! I will def keep this one and play around to see what other combos of stuff I can come up with for it. :) I’ll try a version with sunbutter and applesauce for my son as well.
So glad everyone enjoyed it!
Just made these for breakfast and they were so good! Even my picky two year old ate one and said it was “so yummy”! Love that these are so portable, too. I know these will become part of my regular rotation. Thanks for such a great recipe!
Can I omit the milk powder? We are dairy and egg free. I’m on the hunt for the perfect breakfast cookie! :-)
I haven’t made it without any protein. I’ve done soy protein instead and they came out great.
I finally made these tonight. I used 1/4 c of almond milk instead of the milk powder bc of food allergies. I was afraid it would be too runny but they turned out just fine. Next time I might do as you suggested with another commenter about adding a little more oats if using liquid milk. But they turned out great. I also can’t have cinnamon due to a sensitivity and subbed 1/2 tsp of nutmeg and 1/2 tsp of allspice. It turned out fine but I think I’ll add a little more spice next time. The best part, I told my toddler I made her a cookie and she gobbled it up!!! Thanks for the recipe!!!
You could use a hemp or pea protein instead of whey :)
Another great hit with my family. Had them for breakfast today for the first time. All 3 kids gave them a thumbs up. My hubby even took one to work for an afternoon snack. Thanks so much for the recipe.
So glad this was a hit Netty!!
Great breakfast cookie. I made the recipe without the milk powder and they turned out great! Love MOMables!
These are delicious and I am so thankful to have found this recipe. My daughter loves them, I love them, and my husband who doesn’t like 99% of the ingredients loved them! Thank you for sharing!
awesome!! it’s such a versatile recipe too!
My boys loved these! Me too! One asked me to put more raisins in it, so will go with a little more on the next batch.
Thanks!
so glad! i make a batch every other week or so. I love that this recipe is very giving and you can add all sorts of dried fruits and nuts! I made them with blueberries and lemon zest two weeks ago. came out delicious!
I can’t stop making these! I wanted to let you know that I was almost done putting together the ingredients in a bowl today and realized I had bought quick oats instead of rolled oats. The recipe still turned out. I did end up adding 2 TBSP of water so it wasn’t too thick. But the texture was slightly different. Hmm, less body or texture and instead just soft? It’s hard to describe. Still tasted delicious!
What is the best way to freeze these? Just put them in a ziploc? Or should I wrap them in plastic wrap individually and then put in ziploc? Any advise? I made a double batch today and want to freeze some. Thank you!
So glad you love these! There are two ways of freezing these. 1) mix dough, make cookies lay on cookie sheet and place uncooked cookie sheet in freezer for one hour. then, transfer to zip bag. this way you can pop them in the oven anytime you want (this is what i do most of the time). 2) make cookies. let cool then transfer to cookie tray, freeze and transfer to zip bag. when you need them, pull out, defrost by warming 30sec in microwave.
Thanks so much for the info!
anytime!
This recipe is so awesome! My kids are so picky and breakfast always stresses me out because they need good nutrition to start the day. They LOVED this recipe!! I used a jar of baby carrots and plum baby food that I had left over instead of the banana. YUmmm!! Thanks for the recipe!!
what a great idea of substituting carrots!!! thank you Cara for letting us know that your kids loved it!
I love the sounds and idea of this cookie, but can not sent nut products to my son’s school, so no good for his breakfast and/or snack there. We have almond butter…but alas…still nut. Any ideas on non-nut substitution for the pb?
Cindy, you can use sunbutter with this recipe! :)
Thanks, never heard of sunbutter before. Just looked up a recipe and have a good use for those raw sunflower seeds in my fridge now too! :) Do you think subbing the milk powder with more ground flax, wheatgerm or bran would be okay?
Cindy, Leave it out completely. if dough is too “wet” then add a bit of extra ground flax. -1TB at a time. :)
Thanks for the tips! Thinking of giving this a try on the weekend, to prep for the crazy weekdays – would be a nice change from muffins I think!
If I don’t have the ground flax can I just add more flour? What about adding nuts? Would that effect the dough in a negative way?
if you omit the flax add the same amount in flour. nuts sure! just no more than 1/4 cup per recipe. enjoy! :)
I’m confused! Is the nonfat milk dry? and If using the protein powder – do you use it dry or as a liquid? thanks
Hi Lisa! yes, it’s dry milk powder. if you use it liquid it will make the recipe too runny. you can always use the liquid and add 2-3 TB more oats to thicken it up if you don’t have powder around.
Hey, thanks for this recipe! Its the closest recipe I’ve found to make what I’m currently craving. I’m curious….I have no vanilla extract, but a whole bunch of vanilla whole-milk yogurt. If I added more oats like you suggested above, do you think that would work? I’m asking, but I’m going to go ahead and try it, just because they sound so good. I’ll keep you posted. Thanks for all the suggestions! :)
Kimmie- I’m not sure! Since you went ahead and tries it… Would you let me know how they come out and what you substituted?
I’m not a big banana flavor fan. Do these have much of a banana flavor to them? What would you recommend adding instead of banana?
Jenny, I don’t think they have a strong banana flavor but you can substitute 1/2 cup apple sauce.
Any mashed fruit (or veggie.) Zucchini, squash or pumpkin might be fun too. Or carrots. It substitutes for the oil, so these would work in cake mixes, muffins, and other cookie recipes as well.
If it’s a chocolate flavored mix or recipe, you can add virtually anything! I used peas and spinach baby food in my daughter’s chocolate cake mix instead of oil and *no one* noticed. Not even AFTER being told it was in there!
No way!!!! What great tips, thank you!
You just made our morning so much simpler. They are delish and the kids can even eat them in the car. & nutritious too! Thanks!
THANK YOU Myrna! Love to hear that!!
I love breakfast cookies! And so do my kids. Can’t wait to try this recipe – It sounds delicious!
Do you have any nutritional info on these? How many cal, fat g, protein, etc Thx!
We used fresh pb (no sugar)but as follows here is what our chef calculated: Per cookie: calories 180, 6.8g fat, 7g protein, 23g carbs 3g fiber 10g sugar. Note: the recipe is loaded with good for you things (like omega 3s & 9s) from the ground flax seed. Definitely a winner!
BTW, the cookies are BIG. so you can make them half the size too.
Discovered this recipe yesterday and just so happened to have all the ingredients so I made them this morning for breakfast. Enjoying now with my coffee and SO happy I tried. These are SO tasty and I can’t believe there is no butter or added sugar. Thank you MOMables!
Awesome! I always have a batch hanging around during the school year because they make the perfect on-the-go breakfast. Hey, if it’s a “cookie” they eat it! LOL Thanks for letting us know you enjoyed them!