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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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. 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.
How to Make Vegan Breakfast Cookies {Video}
Recommended Ingredients & Equipment
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.
Ingredients & Substitutions
- Rolled Oats - Make sure to look for gluten-free oats for a gluten-free cookie.
- Almond Meal - You can replace the almond meal for any other kind of nut meal or ground oats
- Shredded Coconut - Make sure to look for unsweetened dessicated coconut.
- Ground Cinnamon
- Baking Powder & Soda
- Salt
- Chia Seeds -Chia seeds mixed with water make a chia egg, which is my binder of choice for these cookies. However, you can replace the chia egg with a flax egg, or ½ cup puréed banana, pumpkin, or applesauce
- Coconut Oil
- Peanut Butter - Feel free to sub any nut or seed butter.
- Maple Syrup
- Vanilla Extract
- Superfood Mix-Ins - I like to use a combination of pumpkin seeds, cranberries, walnuts, and chocolate chips. Feel free to mix and match and nuts, seeds, and dried fruit but aim for about 1 cup worth of mix-ins.
Recommended Equipment
For this recipe will need basic cooking equipment including a mixing bowl, mixing spoons, baking sheets, silicone baking mats, and a wire cooling rack. (<<affiliate links)
Check out the full list of my recommended kitchen tools and gadgets.
How to Make Vegan Breakfast Cookies
Step One - Make the Dough
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. That's the chia egg, peanut butter, coconut oil, maple syrup, and vanilla extract.
Pro Tip: 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.
Step Two - Add 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.
Step Three - Shape and Bake
To bake these cookies, scoop about ¼ cup of dough and place on a parchment-lined pastry sheet. This dough is quite soft so a large cookie scoop works best. Press the cookies down so that they are about ½" 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
Storing - Serve these cookies immediately or store them 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.
Make in Advance - 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
- 5-Ingredient Chewy Peanut Butter Granola Bars
- Grain-Free Granola Bars
- 4-Ingredient Chocolate Chip Banana Cookies
Gluten-Free Vegan Breakfast Cookies
Ingredients
- 1 cup gluten-free rolled oats
- ½ cup almond meal
- ½ cup unsweetened shredded coconut
- 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
- ½ teaspoon baking powder
- ½ teaspoon baking soda
- ½ teaspoon salt
- 2 chia eggs
- ¼ cup melted coconut oil
- ⅓ cup natural peanut butter
- ⅓ cup pure maple syrup
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- ¼ cup pumpkin seeds
- ¼ cup cranberries or raisins
- ¼ cup chopped walnut
- ¼ cup mini chocolate chips
Instructions
- 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 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 ¼ 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.
Video
Notes
- 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 applesauce
Hi, I’m Sarah. I’m a 14-year (and counting) vegan, professionally trained photographer, former pastry chef, founder of My Darling Vegan, and author of the
Disne says
What could I substitute for the oil? Applesauce?
Sarah says
Yes, I had some other readers do that. It will change the texture, but it should work.
Karen says
Sarah,
I love these so much! I did have to use almond butter but they are so delicious. I did the calories in my Lose it app entering all the ingredients. I only get 9 servings but this is what it boils down to per cookie
295 calories
20.8 Fat
7.2 saturatied
149 mg sodium (sea salt)
23.4 g. Carbs
4.7 fiber
11.7 sugars (grade B maple syrup)
7.1 Protein
I really do love these! They are a meal though. They keep me very full. I plan to make them with raw honey soon. Due to cost of maple syrup.
I may try sukrin gold for non glycemic too.
I would love your vegan cook book
Casandra says
Likewise. 9 cookies. Thanks for your calculations on calories.
Diana says
These cookies are delicious. Nice combination of flavors.
Marcy says
These cookies are delicious!
Sarah says
Thanks for taking the time to let me know, Marcy! I appreciate it!
Norah says
I LOOOVEEEE these!!! I make them EVERY SINGLE WEEKEND!!!!! I like to add dried blueberries to them along with the cranberries and raisins!!! How many calories are in them?
Sarah says
Thanks, Norah! I'm glad you are enjoying them and thanks for letting us know how you've adapted it. I love the idea of dried blueberries and cranberries! I don't have a calculation on calories for these cookies. If you decided to figure it out, let us know what you come up with.
Susan says
I have made this recipe 3 times in three weeks!!! We love the taste. However, they do seem to crumble easily. (My husbands complaint) Any suggestions to help them hold together better?
Sarah says
I'm glad they are a hit! I would suggest baking them 25 degrees higher (your oven might run a little low) or chilling the dough first before baking. Let me know if either of those methods work for you!
TL says
These are delicious. Can you freeze them?
Sarah says
Yeah, you could freeze them either baked or, for a slightly fresher cookie, just the dough and then bake them as needed.
Marion says
Made two batches and gave to friends. They love them so much that I forwarded the recipe to three who tried them. I omitted the cranberries and replaced them with sultanas. I'm a huge fan of them. Delicious and thanks.
Ana says
Made these on the weekend and they were fabulous! I used crunchy peanut butter and omitted the walnuts - added some dark chocolate chips instead 😉
Heather says
Another winner! Another step towards fewer animal products in our home! I was concerned the peanut butter flavor would be overpowering, but all the textures and flavors melded wonderfully. I knew when I had a bite (or 3...) of the dough that these were going to get eaten fast. Thanks for making vegan recipes that are accessible AND appealing!
Sarah says
"Vegan recipes that are accessible and appealing" That's what I strive to do with this entire blog so that's great to hear. Thanks!
Victoria says
These look fantastic! My 3 year old is not a breakfast eater but I bet I could get her to eat cookies 😉
Question: Can I just use regular eggs instead of the flax egg?
Sarah says
Thanks! And yes, that would work just fine.
Thayne says
Wow!!! These are so good! My new go-to breakfast item.....though I like them so much, I have to remind myself that they are more of a meal than a snack!!!
Sarah says
Glad they are a hit. They make a good, hearty snack too! 🙂
Maria B Hansson says
Im going to try these. It should be possible to use vegan margarine instead of peanut butter (due to allergy)
The link to flax egg directs me back to this page again...
Sarah says
Can you do any other kind of nut butter (almond or cashew) or perhaps, sunflower or pumpkin seed butter? All those would work better than vegan margarine because of the different textures between nut butters and margarine when heated. Thanks for letting me know about the flax egg link. I'll fix it now!
pam says
hello ... could you recommend a nut-free substitute for the almond meal? it's easy to sub sunflower seed butter for the peanut butter and sunflower seeds for the walnuts ... but i'm stumped on the almond meal ... could you use corn meal? gluten-free is optional in our house but not nuts! thanks ...
Sarah says
Can you do coconut? You could try coconut flour. You could also make oat flour by grinding up oats into a fine meal. Those would be the two I would try.
Jodi Barbosa says
What about flax meal to replace the almond meal? Would that work?
Sarah says
That would affect the taste and texture too much so I wouldn't recommend it. You could sub another nut meal if you'd like.
Wendy says
What about using Besan (chickpea) flour? I'm working to reverse my type 2 diabetes with no meds at all, just with food, walking and doing my movement-based work for stress relief and integrating childhood reflexes that re-emerge due to illness. I've had great success this past year; however, it seems I'm super sensitive to all grains and starchy carbs. I can get away with eating 2 Finn Crisp (only the rye version - not the one with wheat) but then that's IT! I recently had 2 pieces of toast and my blood sugar soared to 13.0 Cdn / 234 US - definitely only something to do once a qurter, right after my quarterly A1c test ;-). I do have 1/2 TBSP of oat bran in my breakfast, so I might try that in this recipe. But I'm also thinking I'd try the chickpea flour. Your thoughts?
Wendy says
Another question...because I don't usually use any form of sweetener other than Stevia, what would you suggest I use to replace the maple syrup, please? Would a couple of dates blended with the melted coconut oil work, do you think? Thanks for your grrreat recipe. I'll be making it tomorrow!!! Yours in Gratitude, Wendy
Sarah says
If you were able to get the same consistency, I imagine that would work just fine.
Sarah says
You could try that. Chickpea flour has a very strong taste when raw and sometimes I find that taste still lingers after baking but it sounds like it has worked for you!
Jenny says
Any replacement for nut butter? Any nut butter seems to bother me. But this is by far the BEST “healthy” cookie recipe I’ve found that is most like a regular cookie without using highly processed ingredients. A keeper finally! If I could just use another ingredient besides nut butter it would be just perfect! ???
Thank you for this recipe though. I’ve shared it with many friends!
Sarah McMinn says
You could try sunflower butter or a different seed butter.
Cassandra says
While I have not used it in this recipe, I do regularly substitute ground pumpkin seed meal for almond meal in a few other recipes I use with great success.
Sarah says
That's a great suggestion. Thanks for sharing!
Laura says
You can also use ground up sunflower seeds to make a nut free substitute. You can just put the seeds in a food processor until it makes a wet sand like texture. I have tried coconut flour and it doesn't work well because it's too absorbent.
Sarah says
Thanks for the tip, Laura! 🙂
Jan says
I made a double batch using raisins and they were gobbled up with enthusiasm! I cooked longer than suggested and enjoyed the crunchier texture. Excellent recipe!
Sarah says
Glad they were a hit. Thanks for sharing!
Tricia Berkow says
It is hard for a wanna be vegan when they don't like coconut. Is the shredded coconut necessary to the recipe? If not, what would be a good substitute?
Thanks !
Sarah says
You can just omit it from the recipe. It won't do much to alter the texture.