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 MuffinsÂ
- 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.
Yes! These look absolutely delicious. I love the idea of having a cookie for breakfast:)
XO – Sarah
http://beautyandblooms.com/
What a great way to get so much goodness into one bite!
Kari
http://www.sweetteasweetie.com
These sound amazing! I also go through breakfast phases, and cookies for breakfast has been one of them. I was thinking it’d be good to throw quinoa in a recipe like that, and now you’ve gone and done it. Can’t wait to try these out!
These look incredible, thank you so much for the recipe, love the use of carrot also, cookies for breakfast, YES PLEASE.
http://www.carlyrowena.com
Qué maravilla de receta 😉
Do you know the nutritional breakdown?
Brilliant! This is the second recipe I run into this morning that uses quinoa for an ingredient in a dessert so I’m getting pretty inspired now…
Lisa Favre
http://marblecrumbs.com
After you get over the quinoa salad obsession you start realizing how multi-purpose quinoa really is! Maybe I am so late in realizing this haha 🙂
Cookies for breakfast???? Um…………YES PLEASE! You can count me in for these healthy yummies for sure!
These look amazing. I go through breakfast phases too! At the moment it’s overnight oats with cacao avocado mousse. It was bagels before that. I think it might be breakfast cookies next…
That sounds wonderful. Do you use steel cut oats? What is in your cacao avocado mousse —sounds sinfully delicious!
Hi Barbara, no, I use whole rolled oats (Bob’s Red Mill Gluten Free Whole Rolled Oats, specifically). The avocado mousse is in the cookbook – it’s similar to the frosting on these cupcakes: https://www.loveandlemons.com/chocolate-cupcakes-avocado-frosting-vegan/ Hope that helps!
guess it’s time for me to work with/cook quinoa after all! Breakfast cookies are already ‘on my radar’ and get cooked as take-alongs for camping, road trips, ski trips and more!
I have to try these! There are mornings when my poor husband runs out the door with a piece of peanut butter toast wrapped up in a paper towel, and that’s his breakfast.
Looks so yummy
Obsessed!! Any day I can eat cookies for breakfast that are actually healthy, it the new best day ever!
So excited for these cookies. They look amazing. These sounds great post workout, good amount of protein. What a greay way to start the day!
Yum, I had a breakfast cookie kick a while back, too! Flax eggs seen like a natural in nubby, chock full bakes like this. Hadn’t thought to add carrot, but these look totally great!
That looks gorgeous! I love this idea – what better way to start the day than with cookies?!
I love your receipes but would also like to see a calorie and saturated fat count.
Me too, nutritional info would be great! 🙂
What can I sub for oil? I don’t use it. Can I sub with mashed bananas?
Hi Diane, I haven’t tried these with mashed banana, so I can’t guarantee the results. But let me know if you give it a go!
Try mashed Avocado. I use that instead of butter all the time. Won’t change the taste.
I used 1/2c. of applesauce, peanut butter instead of almond, and goji berries instead of cran…. and it worked really well.
You used 1/2 c of apple sauce instead of what?
1/2 c applesauce instead of coconut oil is what I used
I entered it into MyFitnessPal and this is what came up.
Nutrition Facts
Servings 12.0
Amount Per Serving
calories 271
% Daily Value *
Total Fat 14 g 21 %
Saturated Fat 5 g 23 %
Monounsaturated Fat 4 g
Polyunsaturated Fat 4 g
Trans Fat 0 g
Cholesterol 0 mg 0 %
Sodium 139 mg 6 %
Potassium 220 mg 6 %
Total Carbohydrate 39 g 13 %
Dietary Fiber 6 g 23 %
Sugars 13 g
Protein 6 g 13 %
Vitamin A 36 %
Vitamin C 1 %
Calcium 6 %
Iron 10 %
* The Percent Daily Values are based on a 2,000 calorie diet, so your values may change depending on your calorie needs. The values here may not be 100% accurate because the recipes have not been professionally evaluated nor have they been evaluated by the U.S. FDA.
Thanks so much. This is very helpful!!!
Thanks for sharing that, Brian!!
I’m on a low carbohydrate regime so nutritional analysis is key! thanks so much!
just saw the myfitnesspal analysis — 39 gm carbo is way too high for me (and probably is a deterrent for diabetics) so I’ll have to make some adjustments to make them work for me.
yes, please…. the “cookies” are delicious, but knowing how healthy they are, nutrition-wise, would be fun and helpful.
I make a double batch every 2-3 weeks and I am the only one eating them!
There are very good online nutrition counters. You just put in the ingredients and they deliver the nutritional breakdown. Caloriecount.com and others. Just google!
I would make the breakfast cookie in a savory version. On the premise that once you eat something sweet, you want something else sweet, we are trying to avoid all sugar until later in the day. Protein and complex carbs (which are sugars but which take a long time to metabolize) for breakfast.
I have been making them without the maple syrup and honey! still delicious! I am on a no sugar diet for Lyme Disease. 😉
Same
I love the idea of a healthy breakfast cookie – sounds like you’re getting away with something pretty decadent but it’s actually good for you! Can’t wait to dive into a batch of these beauties!
You had me at cookies for breakfast! I love quiona, but haven’t tried it in cookies. I will for sure now. Thanks!