Gluten Free Vegan Breakfast Cookies
Start your day off with these superfood-packed gluten-free vegan breakfast cookies. Made in just 30 minutes for a breakfast or snack that will fuel you up all morning long.
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Originally published 1/13/2017. Last updated 9/23/2019
The first time I heard of a breakfast cookie was when working as a baker at Whole Foods.
One of our most popular in-house items was the gluten-free vegan breakfast cookie. I guess that should be no surprise. I mean, when given the opportunity, who wouldn’t choose to eat a cookie for breakfast?
I first published this recipe several years ago when I set out to recreate those sweet superfood-stuffed morning pastries. Since then, these vegan breakfast cookies have become one of the most popular recipes on the blog and, for that reason, I figured it was time to give them a little makeover.
I think you’re going to love these cookies. They are filled with healthy fats, lots of protein, some of the best superfoods, and sweet delicious flavor. All in all, not a bad way to start the day.
See the recipe in action:
What is a breakfast cookie?
A breakfast cookie is a sweet and hearty cookie that is filled with protein, superfoods, healthy fats, and whole grains. There are endless variations and they make a perfect vegan breakfast when you are in a hurry.
How to make vegan breakfast cookies
These cookies are very straight-forward to make and the recipe is highly versatile. So while you will see that there are a lot of ingredients, the mixins, nut butters, and sweeteners can all be swapped out for what you have on hand. A few easy substitutions to keep in mind:
- Replace almond meal for any other kind of nut meal or ground oats
- Sub any nut or seed butter for the peanut butter
- Mix and match the mixins with a variety of nuts, seeds, and dried fruit
- Replace the chia egg with a flax egg, puréed banana, or apple sauce
To start, let’s first combine our dry ingredients. The base of this recipe is made with old fashioned oats, almond flour, and coconut for a gluten-free base. At this point also add baking powder, soda, and salt. Mix them together in a large mixing bowl until they are well combined.
Next, we combine our wet ingredients. Before adding together all our wet ingredients (that’s the chia egg, peanut butter, coconut oil, maple syrup, and vanilla extract), let’s take a look at how to make a chia egg.
How to Make a Chia Egg
There are several different egg replacers that would work for these breakfast cookies but, because I wanted to add extra nutrition to these cookies, I decided to go with the chia egg. Chia eggs work perfectly for most baked goods where a little extra texture is an added bonus.
To make a chia egg, whisk together 1 tablespoon of chia seeds with 3 tablespoons of water. Once the chia seeds are fully submerged, they will start to hydrate. As they hydrate, the chia egg will get thick and gelatinous – this takes 3-4 minutes.
With your wet and dry ingredients combined, it’s time to turn towards the mix-ins
Gluten-Free Breakfast Cookie Mix-Ins
To finish off these cookies, I add a variety of mix-ins. You can add mix-ins from the following categories:
- Dried fruit such as raisins, cranberries, or cherries
- Nuts such as walnuts, pecans or hazelnuts
- Seeds such as pumpkin, sunflower, or flax
- Chocolate Chips
Feel free to mix and match this recipe as you please, but aim for about 2 cups worth of extras. Add them to the dough and mix it all together until they are evenly disbursed.
Baking the gluten-free breakfast cookies
To bake these cookies, scoop about 1/4 cup of dough and place on a parchment-lined pastry sheet. This dough is quite soft so a large cookie scooper works best. Press the cookies down so that they are about 1/2″ tall and about 3″ in diameter.
Bake for 12-15 minutes until the cookies are golden brown. Remove from the oven and let the cookies cool 10 minutes before transferring them to a wire cooling rack to cool completely. It’s important not to skip this step. When the cookies are still warm, they will likely fall apart.
Serving and storing vegan breakfast cookies
These cookies can be eaten immediately or stored in an airtight container at room temperature for up to 5 days. You can also place them in the freezer for up to 2 months.
If you want to freeze them, for best results, scoop the dough onto baking trays. Rather than baking the cookies, place them in the freezer to let the dough freeze completely. Once they are frozen, transfer the frozen cookies to a plastic zip bag. When you are ready to eat, bake a few cookies at a time for fresher results.
More vegan breakfast bars and cookies
Breakfast cookies and granola bars are one of my favorite grab-n-go breakfasts for busy mornings. Here are a few of my other favorite granola bar and cookie recipes:
- 5-Ingredient Chewy Peanut Butter Granola Bars
- Grain-Free Granola Bars
- 4-Ingredient Chocolate Chip Banana Cookies
- Raw Banana Bread Breakfast Bar
Never skip breakfast. Grab a cookie instead!
Start your day off with these superfood-packed gluten free vegan breakfast cookies. Made in just 30 minutes for a breakfast or snack that will fuel you up all morning long.
Cuisine: American
Keyword: Vegan Breakfast Cookies
Servings: 12 cookies
Calories: 235 kcal
Author: Sarah McMinn
- 1 cup gluten-free rolled oats
- 1/2 cup almond meal
- 1/2 cup unsweetened shredded coconut
- 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
- 1/2 teaspoon baking powder
- 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
- 1/2 teaspoon salt
- 2 chia eggs
- 1/4 cup melted coconut oil
- 1/3 cup natural peanut butter
- 1/3 cup pure maple syrup
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- 1/4 cup pumpkin seeds
- 1/4 cup cranberries or raisins
- 1/4 cup chopped walnut
- 1/4 cup mini chocolate chips
Preheat the oven to 350 F. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper and set aside.
To start, make the chia eggs. In a small bowl whisk together 6 tablespoons of water with 2 tablespoons of chia seeds. Set aside for 10 minutes until the mixture becomes thick and gelatinous.
- In a medium-sized bowl combine oats, almond meal, shredded coconut, cinnamon, baking powder and soda, and salt.
In a small bowl combine chia eggs, coconut oil, peanut butter, maple syrup, and vanilla extract. Add the wet ingredients to dry and stir to combine.
- Fold in pumpkin seeds, cranberries, walnuts, and chia seeds.
Round 1/4 cup of dough into a ball and place on a baking sheet. Repeat until dough is gone. Press down lightly and bake for 12-15 minutes until lightly browned.
Remove from oven and let cookies cool for 10 minutes on a baking sheet before transferring them to a wire rack to cool completely.
Store in an airtight container for up to 5 days.
Recipe Video
To make 1 chia egg: whisk together 1 tablespoon of flax seeds with 3 tablespoons of water until mixture is thick and gelatinous.
Tanyah says
OMG! They’re like a super food oatmeal cookie. So freaking good! I didn’t use a chia seed egg, but red mill egg replacer and they were the bomb! The only thing, I did not realize this was suppose to make 12 lol I made 7. But my portion sizes were probably way off because they were a little thick. Definitely becoming a staple at my place.
Kristi says
I followed the recipe exactly because I wanted to know how this will turn out without changes that I inevitably make the recipe. I didn’t have any cranberries so those were not added. Everything else remained the same. These have a delicious flavor and they smelled delicious while they were cooking. Unfortunately they fell apart completely even though we let them cool as instructed. I know it’s because that it does not contain any eggs or other binding ingredients other than that chia eggs which don’t always do their job. They are good but hard to eat. I would make some other changes the next time around if I make this again.
BetteJ says
To make this keto friendly what can I use in substitution for the gluten free oats?
Sarah says
You could try shredded coconut or perhaps mixing coconut with flax seeds.
Tessa says
What could you see I instead of coconut oil. WOULd EVOO work?
Sarah says
Yeah, it should work fine. It will just change the flavor a little bit.
Meg says
I’m going to make these today! Thank you for sharing a gluten free recipe!
Monica says
Love these. Great for road trips and early morning flights. Easy to make and vegan to boot. Tried to give a 5* but did not work. Thanks for sharing .
divya marwaha says
These are delicious!! I substituted Almond butter instead of Peanut butter, and they were scrumptious!