Jumbo Healthy Vegan Breakfast Cookies (Gluten-Free)
If you’re looking for the perfect grab-and-go breakfast to fuel you throughout the morning, these jumbo vegan breakfast cookies are going to be your new go-to recipe!
They’re also naturally sweetened with banana and maple syrup, making them a healthier alternative to sugar-laden cereals. For those that are gluten-free, this recipe includes you too!
I’ve struggled with what to have for breakfast for years! The options are usually quite dull, upset my stomach (I have a more sensitive stomach first thing in the morning), don’t fill me up for long, or take too long to make. Can anyone else relate?
So, I set out on a mission to fix my problem! This is how this jumbo breakfast cookie was born.
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As I experimented with these, Michael, my husband, tried one and said: “This cookie literally tastes like breakfast!” Perfect, that’s exactly what I was going for.
A cookie that would fix my breakfast dilemma to go with my morning coffee or tea.
The jumbo cookie represents what I would typically make as an oatmeal breakfast. I would mix most of these ingredients and cook them on the stove, having pre-soaked them in some hot water the night before.
In the time that I would make breakfast for that one morning, I could make breakfast for several days with these oatmeal cookies. That’s a massive win in my books!
Easy grab-n-go vegan breakfast
This is also perfect for busy people that just want to grab something and run out the door in the morning. I wanted to make sure that the cookie would pass the car test. If you’re pressed for time and need to have it in the car just before you jump out to get the kids off to school or to step into a meeting, I’ve got your back.
These are also great to give your kids in the morning for a nutritious start to their day.
If you want to add one to their lunchbox and it’s a nut-free school, no problem! Just switch out the almond butter for a seed butter (tahini or sunflower would work well) and the pecans for some seeds like sunflower, pepitas, or you can simply leave the seeds out and add more dried fruit.
Benefits of cookies for breakfast
When you’re baking these, your place will smell like fresh breakfast! Perfect gluten-free, vegan breakfast cookies that are ready to eat in just 35 minutes.
Here are some wonderful benefits of a vegan breakfast cookie like this:
- It’s pre-made
- Gluten, dairy, egg and refined-sugar free
- Easy to make
- Super tasty
- Nutrient-dense
- Healthy
- Instead of 3-4 smaller cookies, you get one giant one
- The perfect partner to your morning coffee or tea
The equipment required to make these cookies
Here is the simple list of equipment you’ll need to make these in one bowl:
- A large mixing bowl,
- Unbleached parchment paper (preferably compostable) or a silicone mat,
- Large flat baking tray/s,
- Mixing spoon,
- Scales and measuring utensils.
Learn more about our essential vegan kitchen tools.
Some tips for making these jumbo breakfast cookies
- If you want to freeze the cookie dough, make sure that you follow the instructions just until you place them in the oven. That way, you have the cookies in the right shape and size for baking. When you’re ready to bake them, take them out of the freezer and slightly thaw them before baking.
- You can also freeze the made cookies for up to two months and store them in an airtight container for up to 5 days.
- As mentioned above, if you want to create a nut-free option, swap out the almond butter for seed butter (try tahini, sunflower or hemp seed butter) and the pecans for seeds like sunflower seeds or pepitas.
- If you love peanut butter, you can swap out the almond butter for peanut instead.
- Make sure that the wet ingredients are all at room temperature to prevent the melted coconut oil from becoming solid and splitting your ingredients. If this happens, your cookies will be very uneven, and you’ll have lumps of coconut oil throughout your cookies. It will be a drier, more crumbly cookie.
- You can swap out the cranberries for any dried fruit you like! I’ve also made them with Medjool dates for a sweeter cookie, and they were wonderful as a treat. The same goes for the pecans, any nut you like will work! And if you have a real sweet tooth, choc chips are also a great addition.
Want some more great breakfast and cookie recipes? Here are a few you’ll love!
- Vegan Gluten-Free Chocolate Cookies
- Easy Vegan Paleo Pancakes (Grain-Free)
- 6-Ingredient Apple Pie Overnight Oats
- Chocolate Chia Seed Pudding with Cashew Cream
- Vegan Speculaas Cookies (Dutch Spiced Cookies)
- Quick Peanut Butter Smoothie Bowl (Vegan)
These oatmeal vegan breakfast cookies are also great for camping, hiking, or any other outdoor adventures!
If you try this recipe, let me know! We’d love for you to leave a comment and rating below. If you want to go that extra mile, tag us on Instagram, or share your photo of the recipe on Pinterest. Or Pin It for later!
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Jumbo Healthy Vegan Breakfast Cookies (Gluten-Free)
- Prep Time: 15 minutes
- Cook Time: 20 minutes
- Total Time: 35 minutes
- Yield: 5 jumbo cookies
Description
Gluten-free, nutrient-dense jumbo cookies that will satisfy your hunger in the morning when on the go. Perfect with your coffee or tea, as well as the lunchbox!
Ingredients
Wet:
- 1 / 110g medium ripe banana, mashed
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- 2 tablespoons maple syrup, room temperature
- ¼ cup / 50ml coconut oil, melted
- ½ cup / 130g unsalted almond butter
- Zest of 1 orange
Dry:
- 1 cup + 2 tablespoons / 115g gluten-free oat flour*
- ½ cup / 35g desiccated coconut
- ½ cup / 40g gluten-free rolled oats*
- 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
- ½ teaspoon baking powder
- ½ teaspoon bicarb soda
- Pinch of salt
Extras:
- ⅓ cup / 35g pecans, roughly chopped
- ½ cup / 65g cranberries (preferably sweetened with apple juice instead of sugar)
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 180 degrees Celcius (355 degrees Fahrenheit) and line a flat baking tray with unbleached parchment paper. If you’d like to make the jumbo cookies the same size, use a round object approximately 12cm / 4.7 inches wide and draw circles on the parchment paper. This way you’ll know how wide you have to make them. They don’t spread much while baking, so you can have them quite close together. Make sure to flip the parchment paper before use so that the ink doesn’t touch your cookie dough. You’ll still be able to see the circle through the parchment paper. Set aside.
- Combine all the wet ingredients in a large bowl and mix well.
- Add the dry ingredients to the wet mixture and mix until combined.
- Fold in the pecans and cranberries.
- Using a ½ cup as a measure, scoop out some dough and make a cookie shape with your hands. Place in the middle of the drawn circle and spread out to the line with your fingers. Repeat the process until all the cookie dough has been used. If you don’t have two baking trays, you’ll have to do two lots of baking. They will spread out ever so slightly while baking.
- Bake the cookies for 18-20 minutes on the middle rack in your oven.
- Let them cool completely before serving. Store in an airtight container for up to 5 days.
Notes
Oats: If you’re not strictly gluten-free, you won’t need to worry about getting certified gluten-free oat ingredients. Oats are naturally gluten-free; however, many can be cross-contaminated with other gluten-containing grains during harvesting or processing.
- Diet: Vegan
Delicious – love that they don’t need an egg, and can use up the one lurking banana. I used cranberries and walnuts and pepitas, made regular sized cookies and got 12. Perfect grab and go breakfast for busy mornings!
I am an experienced baker and followed the recipe exactly. Everything was room temp as per the instructions. They were still a little bit crumbly. Perhaps my natural nut butter wasn’t as oily as the recipe creators’? But, I made 5 enormous cookies as the recipe suggests. It was a hit with my twenty-something kid. She said, “Having a cookie for breakfast is pretty cool.” She had it with her coffee…so there’s that! But, overall, we’ll make these again, and try some variations. Thanks for the recipe!
Excellent! I didn’t have any cranberries so I made them with raisins. I also made regular size cookies and got 11. Perfect! Thanks!
Hi Christine, I’m so sorry I missed this! Glad you enjoyed them with the raisins. Thanks for the review x
Hi Masa, Thank you for your website with great tips and recipes! They all look so delicious and I cannot wait to try them all. My husband and I decided to become vegan yesterday (yay!). I am having a hard time with many of the the recipes with coconut, coconut milk, coconut oil, almond butter, etc., since my husband is allergic to tree nuts, sesame seeds, and coconuts. I would really appreciate it if you could advise the substitutes for coconut, pecan, and almond butter for this mouthwatering cookie. Thank you!
Hi Gigi, thank you for your question, your kind words and congratulations! A massive step for you both 🙂
I can completely understand how that can be tricky! We do have a section dedicated to nut-free recipes on our website, however that doesn’t exclude coconut-based ingredients.
To substitute those elements in this recipe, I would switch out coconut oil for either vegan butter or other neutral-tasting oil like grapeseed oil. For desiccated coconut, I’m honestly not too certain as I haven’t tried it myself without it to know what the texture would turn out like and my suggestion would be to swap it for almond meal, however, since that’s not an option, try another ¼ – ⅓ cup of oat flour. For the almond butter, you can swap it for seed butter like sunflower seed butter if he’s okay with that. For the pecans, you could just leave them out or add more dried fruit.
Let me know how you go, I’m sorry I can’t give you certainty with how these will turn out.
I loooove these but wanted to try and make them without oil as I follow a low-fat diet. I had great success with applesauce. I ended up using 1/4 cup + 1 Tbsp. I can’t wait to try them with tahini next time. Thank you so much for a great base recipe.
Great! Thanks for sharing the changes you made. Report back when you give tahini a go 🙂
Recipe made 11 cookies. Liked that they were healthy, easy to mix up moist and very tasty. Used dried, diced, fruit sweetened cranberries and walnuts. Everyone said, “it’s a keeper!”
What would you suggest as a substitute for Oat Flour…buckwheat, coconut, almond meal… Thanks! 🙂
I haven’t tried any other myself but if you can’t find oat flour, you can make your own at home by simply processing oats in your food processor until you get a flour. Easy peasy 🙂 If you do try with any other flour, let me know how you go! I would be more inclined to use rice flour or the buckwheat. Coconut and almond won’t work as direct swaps, unfortunately.
Can’t wait to try these! and I love your new logo…you are so inspiring and thoughtful.
Awww thanks so much Sally! I hope you enjoy them ?