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 1/2 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 1/4 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 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
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
- 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
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 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.
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
Jody says
These are really tasty but mine didn’t stay together very well after baking. Very fragile. I even refrigerated to see if they would firm up a bit but they only slightly did so now I put them in the freezer and we will eat them from there.
What could be the reason? Is the coconut oil supposed to be cooled prior to adding to other ingredients? It didn’t specify. I followed everything exactly so not sure why they’re not firm enough despite them turning golden brown and baking 15 min. ?
Alexandria says
All the flavours were amazing and I loved it. However i agree with Jody – mine fell apart too – maybe it’s too much liquid. I ended up adding more almond flour to make it more stickier and stuck it in the fridge before I baked it. It definitely stuck together but then dried out . I wonder if using brown sugar in place of maple syrup may help. No idea. @mydarlingvegan – any helpful tips? Thank you!
MeChell says
Agreed, sunflower seeds and butter reacts with baking soda and turn green. Fun fur Halloween, shocking if you’re not expecting it. I find they go bad more quickly, too.
Ambere Wright says
I didn’t like all the oil!!
Jody says
What is the texture of these cookies?
Are they cake-like soft or dothey have a bit of a crunch?
Narelle says
Hi, Id like to use a sugar substitute instead of the maple syrup. It will be a dry ingredient so Im wondering if I need to replace the liquid/stickiness that would have been the maple syrup. Any thoughts please before I give it a go ?
Thanks in advance !
Carolyn Spence says
Winning recipe! Delicious, savory, lightly sweet, soft. Used agave, but will certainly make again to try with maple syrup. Thank you for sharing!
Sonia says
These cookies have become a favourite at our house they are always delicious and easy to make! The only substitution I make is I replace the oil with an equal amount of apple sauce they taste exactly the same and I find they stay together a little better plus no added oil!
Diane says
We are about to take a trip requiring 2 days of long international flights and layovers. I’m making a batch of these to take with us so we can nibble as we go, ensuring we have good food at hand whenever we need it (as we cross time zones, etc). Thank you for all your wonderful recipes and for making them available to us. I love your site.
Brett says
Absolutely delicious!! Simple ingredients as well, so we did not have to go out shopping for anything. An instant hit with the family.