Healthy Pumpkin Breakfast Cookies (Gluten-Free & Vegan)
These pumpkin breakfast cookies are jammed with nutritious ingredients but taste like treats! Made with whole oats, pumpkin, nut butter and flax seeds, these vegan and gluten-free cookies, which are flavored with maple syrup, warming spices, cranberries and dark chocolate (optional, but not in my house!) are the perfect make-ahead breakfast or snack. They’re even better the next day, so make a batch today and throw them in the fridge or freezer for tomorrow (or next week). Your weekday mornings just got a little easier…
Servings: 12 cookies
Ingredients
- 3 cups (240g / 9.5oz) old-fashioned rolled oats (gluten-free if desired)
- 1 ¼ teaspoons fine sea salt
- 1 teaspoon cinnamon
- ½ teaspoon ground ginger
- ⅛ teaspoon ground cloves
- Pinch freshly grated nutmeg
- 2 tablespoons ground flaxseeds
- 1 ⅓ cups pumpkin puree
- ⅓ cup almond butter or sunflower seed butter
- ½ cup plus 2 tablespoons maple syrup
- 2 tablespoon coconut oil
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- ⅓ cup dried cranberries
- ⅓ cup chopped dark chocolate or chocolate chips (optional)
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 375˚F. Line a large baking sheet with parchment paper.
- Mix together the oats, salt, cinnamon, ginger, cloves, nutmeg and ground flaxseeds.
- In a heatproof bowl, combine the pumpkin puree, almond butter, maple syrup, coconut oil and vanilla. Microwave on high, stirring occasionally, until smooth (about 1-2 minutes). Alternatively, combine everything in a small saucepan and cook over low heat until smooth.
- Scrape the pumpkin mixture into the bowl with the oats and stir to combine. Let the batter sit for 5 minutes. Fold in the cranberries and chocolate, if using.
- Using an ice cream scoop or two large spoons, scoop the dough into ¼ cup mounds onto the baking sheet (if your baking sheet isn’t large enough, use two). Using damp hands, flatten the mounds into 3-inch cookies that are about ½-inch tall. Bake 25 minutes, rotating the pan halfway through, or until the cookies are golden. Let cool completely.
Notes
Do Ahead: The cookies can be refrigerated for up to 1 week or frozen for up to 3 months. They can be eaten straight out of the fridge, or they can be heated up in a toaster oven. For school and work snacks, I pack them into bags straight from the freezer (they will be defrosted by snack time!).
Tips:
- For a nut-free version, use sunflower seed butter. You can also use cashew butter in place of the almond butter (I find that peanut butter has too strong of a flavor).
- You’ll need 1 15-ounce can of pumpkin puree for this recipe (don’t use a pumpkin pie mix). You’ll have some pumpkin leftover, which you can stir into oatmeal or soups.
- Feel free to swap out the coconut oil for butter. Instead of dried cranberries, you can use dried cherries, raisins, dates or currants (or you can omit them if you prefer!).
- Since we eat these cookies as breakfasts or snacks, I often use Lily’s Chocolate Chips, which are sweetened with stevia instead of sugar.
- I bake these cookies on an 18x13-inch baking sheet, which is the workhorse of my kitchen (I own five of them!). If you don’t have a pan that big, use two smaller pans. (p.s. these pre-cut parchment sheets are a fantastic time saver!)