You can mix up these delicious peanut butter breakfast cookies in under 30 minutes! This recipe is vegan, freezable, and packed with healthy ingredients like applesauce, pumpkin seeds, and peanut butter.
While there's nothing wrong with enjoying a regular oatmeal chocolate chip cookie or peanut butter cookie for breakfast, these peanut butter breakfast cookies are a good option if you're looking for a protein-packed and high-fiber way to start the day.
These peanut butter cookies use applesauce, creamy peanut butter, and instant oats as the base. You can easily customize these cookies by adding your favorite nuts, seeds, and fruit!
The best part? They are ready in just about 30 minutes from start to finish!
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Why you'll love this recipe
- Dietary features: Vegan, refined sugar-free, gluten-free (just choose GF certifid rolled oats), nut-free optional
- Texture: Soft, chewy, and almost like a soft granola bar.
- Nutritious: These peanut butter cookies are a nutritious way to start the day. One cookie has 5 grams of protein and 3 grams of fiber.
- Quick & easy: These cookies are ready in just under 30 minutes.
- Easy to customize: The base recipes uses walnuts, pumpkin seeds, cranberries, flax seeds, and chia seeds for a hearty punch of flavor and nutritious plant-based omega-3s. Feel free to add in different nuts, seeds, and dried fruits to make these cookies your own!
Ingredients
- Instant oats or 1-minute oats. Rolled oats or old fashioned oats don't work as well because they cook much more slowly, which can cause the cookie to be crumbly. Choose certified gluten-free oats to make this recipe gluten-free.
- Creamy peanut butter or chunky, it's your choice! I go for creamy because that's what I like best.
- Applesauce lightly sweetens the breakfast cookies and helps the dough bind.
- Seeds like chia seeds, flax seeds, and pumpkin seeds. These help with binding and add a lot of nutrients like omega-3 fatty acids, fiber, and protein.
- Nuts like walnuts or pecans. Choose raw chopped walnut pieces, which are also dense in nutrients and healthy fats. You can also use almonds or pecans.
- Dry fruit like cranberries, raisins, or even dried cherries.
Step by step instructions
Step 1. In a medium mixing bowl, add the peanut butter and applesauce. Stir, using a whisk or fork, until combined.
Step 2. Add dry ingredients: oats, cinnamon, salt. Stir until combined.
Step 3. Fold in the add-ins: pumpkin seeds, chopped walnuts, dried fruit and chia seeds.
Step 4. Use a cookie scoop or 1-ounce measure to scoop cookies onto a parchment-paper lined baking sheet. If you keep them in this ball shape they will stay this way because they don't flatten out like a traditional cookie. Flatten them with a spatula or the palm of your hand.
Step 5. Bake on the middle rack in a 350-degree oven for 13-15 minutes. They will still be soft when you remove from the oven, but should firm up as they sit.
Variations and tips
- I tested this recipe with Jif Natural peanut butter and Trader Joe's natural peanut butter. If using natural peanut butter that is really thin/runny peanut butter, you may need to add additional oats to help with binding.
- Add-ins: The amount of nuts and dried fruit added to the peanut butter cookie dough should total around ½ cup. Any variety of nuts and seeds works as long as it totals about ½ cup.
- Chocolate: Add in 1 tablespoon cocoa powder to make chocolate breakfast cookies cookies. You can also add in chocolate chips!
- Protein: Add a scoop of your favorite protein powder to make these even higher in protein.
- Different nut butter options: I haven't tested breakfast cookies with anything other than peanut butter, but they should work with sunflower seed butter, almond butter, or any other nut butter.
- These cookies don't change shape while baking. If you keep them in the ball shape that a cookie scoop makes they will stay this way. For a flatter cookie, use clean hands or a spatula to flatten into a disc and reduce baking time by 5 minutes.
Storage tips
Leftovers: Breakfast cookies keep their structure best when stored in the fridge. Keep refrigerated for 4-5 days for best results.
Freezing: These cookies freeze well. Let the cookies cool to room temperature before transferring to an airtight freezer container. Freeze for up to 3 months. Let thaw at room temperature.
More easy breakfast recipes
Did you try this recipe? You can leave a star rating in the recipe card or a review in the comments below. Or check out my new cookbook and keep up to date with my YouTube, Instagram, TikTok, or newsletter!
Did you try this recipe? You can leave a star rating in the recipe card or a review in the comments below. Or check out my new cookbook and keep up to date with my YouTube, Instagram, TikTok, or newsletter!
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Peanut Butter Breakfast Cookies
Ingredients
- 2 cup quick oats also called instant or minute oats
- 1 cup unsweetened applesauce
- ⅔ cup natural peanut butter see note #1
- 2 tablespoons maple syrup see note #2
- ½ teaspoon vanilla extract
- ½ teaspoon ground cinnamon
- ⅛ teaspoon salt
- ¼ cup pumpkin seeds see note #3
- 2 tablespoons sunflower seeds
- 2 tablespoons raisins
- 2 tablespoon chia seeds
- 2 tablespoon ground flaxseed
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 325 degrees F. Line a cookie sheet with parchment paper.
- In a medium mixing bowl, add the peanut butter, applesauce, maple syrup. and vanilla extract. Stir together until smooth.
- Add dry ingredients: oats, cinnamon, salt. Stir until combined.
- Fold in the remaining ingredients: pumpkin seeds, sunflower seeds, raisins, chia seeds and ground flax.
- Use a cookie scoop or 1-ounce measure to scoop 16 cookies onto a parchment-paper lined baking sheet. Flatten with your hand. Bake on the middle rack in a 350-degree oven for 13-15 minutes. The cookies will still be soft when you remove from the oven, but should firm up as they sit.
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Notes
- Peanut butter: Creamy or chunky peanut butter will work. I recommend using natural peanut butter because it has a more liquid texture than regular peanut butter.
- Sweetener: Maple syrup, honey or agave all work here. Sweetener can be omitted if desired.
- Add-ins: Use a total of ½ cup add-ins. You can use sunflower seeds, walnuts, pecans, cranberries, chocolate chips, etc.
- These cookies don't change shape while baking. If you keep them in the ball shape that a cookie scoop makes they will stay this way. For a flatter cookie, use clean hands or a spatula to flatten into a disc and reduce baking time by 5 minutes.
- Storage: Refrigerate for up 4-5 days for best quality. The cookies can be frozen for up to 3 months; thaw in the fridge or in the microwave.
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