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.
They are simply great! I tried with butter of different nuts and it works out well. Baked walnuts give something really special for my taste. These cookies are perfect for a mid day snack. Thank you. Many other good recepies on your blog.
These were really tasty! I think I will add more spice next time because I like a lot of cinnamon and doubling wasn’t enough 🙂 Also they get really soft and crumbly after storing so they become a great yogurt or ice cream topping 🙂
These are really good and make me feel so much better about the out-the-door breakfast that my teenagers usually have. They bake up really nicely. I like that they don’t spread, but rather stay mounded in the oven. I’m not accustomed to cooking gluten free, and have one question. The baked product is a little softer than I would like. Would adding some portion of coconut flour help? I read today’s post about the raspberry scones and your comment that coconut flour absorbs moisture and helps to make the scones dense but not dry. What do you think about that addition to the breakfast cookies and how would you do it?
Hi Jennifer, glad your teenagers have been liking them! They’re supposed to be soft cookies – with this many oats and carrots, they’re not going to get crispy. That being said, to get a little crispness on the outside, you can either bake them a little longer or toast them in the oven on the second day until the outside has a crisper texture. I wouldn’t suggest using coconut flour for this one, I think it would make them a little too dry and/or might make them fall apart.
love your blog and your book, it’s gorgeous.
i wanted to know what nut would be a good substitute for walnuts: despite trying them time and time again i just do not like them. pecans? almonds? other?
Thanks!
Hi Sarah, thank you!! I’d use pecans, they should swap in just fine here!
So update to this question – my kid started at a school that doesn’t allow nuts. If I swap the almond butter for sunflower butter that’s fine but instead of walnuts and large sunflower seeds (that she doesn’t like), what could I use?
Hi Sarah, I don’t really think there’s a good swap for the texture of nuts, you could try leaving them out? Although, note that when you combine sunflower butter with carrots there’s a funny (although not unsafe) chemical reaction that makes these cookies turn green.
I have a great pumpkin cookie recipe that I’m going to post very soon that’s similar to this one but nut-free. I think that one will be great for lunch boxes, stay tuned 🙂
How many calories in each cookie?
What can I use if I don’t have any almond butter on hand?
These are holy cow amazing. My 1 year old loved it. My husband said they could be a bit sweeter but they’re good. Then he ate 3 and I had to tell him to stop so that we’d actually have some for the week.
Thx for a great recipe.
HA, love hearing that, thanks!!
Well just made these and they are amazing. I ate 4 already! Trying to actually save these for breakfast, hah. I used oat bran instead of the 1 cup oat flour, and used 1/4 cup earth balance instead of coconut oil, everything else I left the same. The dough comes out very wet, I had wondered if I needed to add more oats, but they still baked really well! Thanks again for another flawless recipe
Ha, yea they’re easy to keep eating! So glad you liked them!!
How yummy! Especially with almond butter and all the goodies. Sounds great!
I’ve been meaning to tell you that these have been my go-to breakfast during the past week of our renovation. I added some extra oats and skipped the baking (and leavening) and they make hella delicious no-bake oat bars. 😉 So excited for you guys and your cookbook! High fives, you two!
Hi Ashlae! Awesome – I’ll have to try them as oat bars, thanks for the idea 🙂
These cookies are so so good! I made a batch a few days ago and they barely lasted 24 hours in my house.
I recently got this chai spice blend off of etsy and have been including 1 tsp of it into the recipe and it really puts them over the top! I would highly recommend it!
https://www.etsy.com/listing/263470098/medicinal-masala-chai-blend
Thank you for this recipe… seriously so yummy!
I’m so glad! I’ll have to give the chai spice a try – sounds delicious 🙂
Okay Jeanine – I blame you!!! I thought, “Oh, I’ll give ’em a try..” and in one week I’ve made this recipe 4 times! I don’t see why these aren’t good for me, but eating as many as I am (I’ve been sharing with my staff) they have to be bad. My worst problem is that i keep eating the raw dough. Okay, but serious a couple of thoughts. I have never had all of the ingredients so I’ve made a ton of substitutions…different in each batch. I’ve been using millet instead of quinoa sometimes, and the nuts and fruit keep changing. You mention finely shredded carrots – how are you doing this? My box grater has a fine option but the carrots never work in it. So I just use the course holes which seems to work fine. But if there’s an easy way to get fine I’d like to try it. Thanks again – love these!
Hi Rob, (sorry for my slow reply! I somehow missed seeing your comment when it first came through). Wow, 4 times! I’m glad you like them and I’m glad they’ve worked with millet, etc. I use a mircoplane grater, (this kind: http://amzn.to/1MqofTr) which is sort of in between the 2 types of holes on a box grater. I’ve also pulsed them in my small food processor until they’re crushed up, which is quicker. Hope that helps!
About how many carrots is a cup shredded?
It depends how big your carrots are – about 2 large or 3 medium. Just be sure to measure after you grate them.
I just made these and they are delicious!
Rob, I put a bunch of baby carrots in my ninja blender and gave them a whirl. The carrots chopped up great! (or should I say “grate”?!) I wasn’t sure if there’d be enough liquid for them to blend but they were fine. I was ready to add a little scoop of applesauce and the flax-and-water mix if needed for blending purposes but it wasn’t necessary.
This is also how I blended the oats — just measured in the 1.25 cup, blended up, and then measured the oat flour to be sure I had 1 cup as I poured it from the blender cup into the bowl. I used the ninja’s smaller add-on blender container to do this; I don’t know how it would work in a standard-size blender pitcher. The carrot results are probably smaller/finer than the grating version, but they measure/taste/cook the same.
I don’t have a food processor but I imagine that would make quick work of the carrots, too.
The recipe turned out great. I added a splash of vanilla and some golden raisins. I love pepitas but didn’t have any on hand so I used the walnuts and some hemp seeds. I also added a few pinches of chia seeds. The cookies were great out of the oven and I’m looking forward to trying them in the morning. 🙂
I’m definitely going to make these for breakfast this weekend. I’ve been looking for any alternative to my usual! Thanks for the great post!
These cookies look delicious!!! Thanks for sharing!
Oh these cookies look and sound perfect Jeanine! Totally whipping these up for Scott and I next week. All about carrot everything in sweets lately! And could not be more excited for your beautiful book (!!!) XO
These are a very worthwhile and satisfying way to use up nut butters! I used tahini, because that is what I had on hand, and replaced maple syrup with honey, coconut oil with walnutoil, and added cardamom in addition to cinnamon. I ground the carrot with the 11/4 cups of oats in food processor (lazy solution to avoid grating), and it worked really well.
These cookies looked great but I don’t have any but butters on hand so thanks for the great tahini substitution idea!
These are just so adorable!! I love that you used oat flour – it’s my go-to flour in recipes I want to keep healthy enough to eat as a meal. So I have an excuse to eat cookies for breakfast. 😉
I’ve been on an oat flour kick lately :)(
Looks delicious. I will try them since I am always on the hunt for new breakfast ideas.
I usually eat oat banana coconut pancakes – they are also very yum.
Best Vanessa /// http://www.cityfreudeblog.london
Where can I find nutritional info on this recipe?
I eat a lot of cookies for breakfast – not the good kind – so thank you for this! Looking forward to trying. And congrats on the book!