If you're a fan of carrot cake, then you'll LOVE these soft, nutty & healthy breakfast cookies! Make a big batch and freeze them for on-the-go treats.
For a while, I went through a frittata phase, then there was the chia bowl phase, followed by a bit of a smoothie kick… which brings us to my current morning trend: cookies for breakfast!
But before you think I’ve completely given up on myself, hear me out – I make these cookies with lots of good things – carrots, oats, flax, walnuts, pepitas, cranberries, and QUINOA. Yes, carrots and quinoa – it almost sounds like a salad, but I promise you these “healthier” cookies are so delicious and energizing in the morning. They’re also vegan, gluten-free, and sweetened with maple syrup instead of refined sugars. They’re about halfway in between a muffin and a cookie – big, hearty, and filling, but also sweet and nutty – they’re almost like eating carrot cake for breakfast!
Quinoa Cookies Tips
Let’s talk for a second about quinoa in cookies. I recommend that you use leftover quinoa here. I like to make a big batch of quinoa early in the week for easy toss-together lunches and dinners. Store your cooked quinoa in the fridge so that when you’re ready to bake these breakfast cookies, it’s ready for you.
If you haven’t baked with oat flour before – it’s so easy. No need to go shopping for fancy flours, just blend your oats in a food processor for about a minute, and you have oat flour. It’s gluten-free, but be sure to seek out certified gluten-free oats if gluten is a problem for you.
Over here, my family is obsessed with these. They’re best straight out of the oven, but they also freeze incredibly well (hence, my 1 cookie per day breakfast obsession).
More Favorite Breakfast Treats
If you love these quinoa breakfast cookies, try one of these breakfast treats next:
- Carrot Cake Cookies
- Oatmeal Breakfast Cookies
- Healthy Banana Muffins
- Chocolate Chip Muffins
- Blueberry Muffins
- Pumpkin Muffins
- Healthy Banana Bread
For more healthy breakfast ideas, check out this post!
Quinoa Breakfast Cookies
- 1 cup oat flour
- 1 cup (additional) whole rolled oats* (see note)
- ½ teaspoon baking powder
- ½ teaspoon baking soda
- ½ teaspoon cinnamon
- ½ teaspoon sea salt
- ½ cup cooked quinoa
- 1 cup finely shredded carrots
- 2 tablespoons ground flaxseed + 5 tablespoons warm water
- ½ cup almond butter
- ¼ cup coconut oil, melted
- ½ cup maple syrup
- ½ cup nuts and/or seeds (I used walnuts + pepitas)
- ½ cup dried cranberries
- Preheat the oven to 350°F and line a large baking sheet with parchment paper.
- Use a food processor or a blender to process the 1¼ cups rolled oats into a fine flour and measure out one level cup. In a large bowl, stir together the flour, the remaining 1 cup whole oats, baking powder, baking soda, cinnamon, and sea salt. Fold in the quinoa and then the shredded carrots, stirring until the carrots are completely coated with flour.
- In a small bowl, combine the flaxseed and warm water and set aside to thicken for about 5 minutes. In a medium bowl, combine the almond butter, coconut oil, and maple syrup and stir well to incorporate. Stir in the flaxseed mixture.
- Add the wet ingredients to the bowl of dry ingredients and fold until just combined. Stir in the walnuts, pepitas, and cranberries.
- Scoop about ¼ cup of batter for each cookie onto the baking sheet. Bake for 15 to 18 minutes, or until lightly browned. Cool on the pan for 5 minutes and then transfer to a wire rack to finish cooling.
- When cookies are completely cool, they can be stored in an airtight container or frozen.
This checks all my current craving boxes and I can’t wait to try it out! I’m curious, what kind of flour/liquid adjustments would I have to make if interested in adding some unflavored pea protein powder?
Hi Sydney, without trying, I’m not sure. I might just try swapping some of the flour? It’s hard to say.
Thanks anyways! Experiment time!
Sharing my variation, had heaps of ripe bananas on hand so I subbed banana paste for maple syrup. Also milled the add ins as I’ve found they’ve always broken away other times I’ve made this and they turned out amazing! Alot easier to handle. My daughter loved them. 😍
I’m so glad you both loved them!
Did you do a 1-1 sub with the banana? This sounds like a great mod!
I did! Wasn’t sure how it would turn out but thought since they were both wet ingredients it should work. Turned out amazing and blitzing the add ins worked well too.
Made these today and they came out great! Perfect amount of sweetness, loved the different textures and flavors. I wasn’t sure where to find flaxseed, so I took your suggestion in one of the comments and used an egg with one tablespoon of water. That worked really well—I baked them for the full 18 minutes, let them cool on the baking sheet for about 10 before transferring to a wire rack, and they held together just fine. Thanks for the wonderful recipe!
I’m so glad you loved them!
These are absolutely delicious! I made a few modifications to the recipe for my kiddos. I used plain non-fat greek yogurt in place of the almond butter (their school is nut-free); I put the carrots, seeds (I used pumpkin and sunflower) and cranberries in the food processor to chop them up small (some reviewers said the big items “fell out” of the cookie/crumbled); I also substituted an egg for the flax mixture. I was a little skeptical how sweet they would be but they came out amazing! It’s definitely going in our favorites folder! Thank you!
These were great! I substituted one egg as I’m not vegan…might have needed more as it all wasn’t binding super easily? Not a huge deal because they came out as cookies and are yummy!
These look excellent! If I want to use eggs us it one egg or two – to replace the flax seed?
Do you freeze these baked? And simply dethaw them to eat or do you freeze the dough and then bake them? Thanks!
I freeze them after they’re baked and cooled. I thaw them in the microwave for 20 seconds or so. I haven’t tried freezing the dough, I don’t know if that would work well for these.
Hi, I was looking for a healthy vegan snack yesterday and found your recipe. Made the cookies last night and followed the recipe exactly. However as others have mentioned I found the baked cookie too moist and crumbly, even when doubling the cook time. Since cooling on a cookie rack didn’t help much I re-baked them this morning for another 30 min. Texture and firmness much better. Bottom line: these are a great cookie!! I will be sure to try your other recipes. Thank you!!
Hi Kathleen, I’m glad you enjoyed them – be sure to let them cool directly on the baking sheet after you take them out without moving them, not on a wire rack.