Cranberry Oatmeal Breakfast Cookies

Cranberry Oatmeal Breakfast Cookies are a super chewy healthy breakfast or snack on the go packed with healthy oats, bananas, nut butter, cranberries, pepitas seeds and vegan chocolate chips.

Breakfast and Brunch Ideas for Champions!

You can absolutely eat cookies for breakfast! We have a breakfast cookie in one hand and a coffee in the other. This morning is off to a rushed but delicious, satisfying and nourishing start. Happily gluten-free, dairy-free, vegan options and well loved by both kids and adults.

No time for breakfast?

Think again. Cranberry Oatmeal Breakfast cookies are made in one bowl just a dump and stir and then baked for 15 minutes just like our apple oatmeal date cookies. This recipe makes about 16-18  large hearty breakfast cookies that can be whipped together in under 25 minutes. Grab one as you are walking out the door to work, school or even waiting for the bus. Check out the step by step directions below.

Basic ingredients for Cranberry Oatmeal Breakfast Cookies

These six basic ingredients can be exchanged and substituted. However, the ratio of dry to wet ingredients must remain the same so that the cookie binds together and is perfectly chewy. We have found that you need about 2 cups of wet ingredients to 3.5 cups dry ingredients.

Wet Ingredients:

Ripe bananas

Nut butters or seed butters

Sweeteners

Dry Ingredients:

Oats

Nuts, seeds

Dried fruits

Spices

Cocoa nips. chocolate chips

What do you have on hand right now in your kitchen? That usually is how we make most of our recipes is using what we have on hand. Don’t go out and buy special ingredients.

How to ripen bananas the easy way

The secret to making a delightful cookie or biscuit is to have "really" ripe bananas.

Bananas are used to naturally sweeten your oatmeal breakfast cookie and also work as a natural binder.

The best way to ripen your banana is the natural way by letting your banana ripen out on counter until the point you say to yourself, "Gosh I better make some Gluten Free Cardamom Banana Pancakes, or I better make some Cranberry Oatmeal Breakfast cookies.”

Sometimes we are in luck and your bananas are already overly ripe and you need to use them up straight away. The opposite side of the spectrum is your bananas might be ripe but not yet overly ripe. Ripe or a little overly ripe bananas have a sweeter taste. There are 3 great ways to quickly get your bananas ripe.

• Oven Method - Preheat your oven to 300 degrees F (148 degrees C). Place your bananas on a baking sheet with the peels still on. Bake for about 1 hour until they become completely black on the outside. Don’t be frightened by this color. On the inside, your bananas will be sweet, warm and delicious. Let your bananas cool before making our Cranberry Oatmeal Breakfast Cookies.
• Microwave Oven Method - Heat your unripe sliced and peeled banana in the microwave for about 1 minute on high power with a towel or lid over so it does not splatter. Allow your banana to cool before making your cookies.
• Purse and Computer Bag Method - An option that always seems to work well for me is to put your unripe banana with the peel still on in your purse or your computer bag and go to work and run errands and when you come home it is full of brown spots and perfectly ripened. (Hey there, is nothing like killing 2 birds with one stone)

Delicious ways to use up over ripe bananas

This recipe calls for 2 extra ripe bananas. If you have way too many extra ripe bananas, peel them and place them in a freezer safe bag or container. You can make loads of delicious easy recipes with frozen bananas. Some of our favorite Freezer banana recipes are…

Chocolate Peanut Butter Banana Smoothie

Chocolate Pecan Butter Banana Ice Cream

Matcha Banana Strawberry Ice Cream Cups

Thai Banana Spring Rolls

Banana Popsicles

Magic Matcha Bars

How do you know if bananas are rotten?

Believe it or not, those brown spots and bruises are just fine on a banana. They might not be as nice to eat straight as is but these over ripe bananas are preferred for baking and desserts as they are extra sweet.

Pitch your banana straight away if you see any of these issues as this means your banana is rotten.

• Mold growing on the outside or inside.
• Leaking any fluids either on the inside or outside
• Have an odd odor

Alternatively, you can also use apple sauce in exchange for the 2 bananas. 2 medium bananas are approximately ¾ cup mashed so add in ¾ cup of applesauce.

Nut Butters for Binding and Protein

What kind of nut or seed butters do you have in your pantry right now? You will need 1 cup of any nut or seed butter of choice for our Cranberry Oatmeal Breakfast Cookies. Nut butters add protein to help you feel fuller longer and also help the cookies to bind together during the baking process.

We used natural (no added sugar) creamy peanut butter in this batch.  However, we have also used almond butter, cashew butter, homemade roasted pumpkin seed butter, sunflower seed butter and they all are delicious.

We prefer using a natural nut or seed butter without any added sugar but that is completely up to you. The challenge that using different kinds of nut butters presents is sometimes some nut butters are more liquid in consistency compared to others. In order to get to the correct consistency, make sure you have extra dry oats on hand. Your goal is to have a moist but firm cookie dough. If your cookie dough is too wet, add a little bit of dry oats at a time just until it pulls all together and reassess.

If you plan on bringing your breakfast cookies into a school event or have anyone allergic to peanuts, please switch to a safe almond butter or other nut butter of choice instead.

Natural Sweeteners

Natural liquid sweeteners like maple syrup and honey act as a binder and are naturally sweet. We used honey as that is what we had on hand. However, if you are vegan, maple syrup works well too.

Oats are the Base of Breakfast Cookies

Do you have plain dry quick cooking oats in your pantry? Then, you are in business. You can also make these with old fashion oats and there are no changes required to the baking time. If you have celiac or gluten issues, make sure you purchase gluten-free oats.

Optional Add Ins

Now this is where you can have some real fun! We added no added sugar dried cranberries that gave this breakfast treat a little sour to go with the sweet just like in our no bake cranberry bliss balls. Then we added some roasted pepitas seeds, chia seeds and a little handful of vegan chocolate chips. Here are some additions we have added in the past and are so delicious.

Raisins

Chopped dates

Dried chopped apricots

Dried blueberries

Desiccated shredded coconut

Almonds

Pecans

Walnuts

Cocoa nips

White chocolate chips

I think you see where we are going with this… right? Have fun with the additions. However, just remember to keep the ratio of wet to dry ingredients the same. 2 cups of wet ingredients to 3.5 cups dry ingredients. If you go a little overboard on the dry ingredients and the breakfast cookie dough is too crumbly, you can add a little more liquid sweetener like maple syrup or honey or even a little addition of applesauce just until it all pulls together.

Healthy and Budget Friendly

Have you ever stopped to read the ingredient list on the back of your run of the mill breakfast bar? Lets’ take a look at this one here from” Kirkland”….

Whole rolled oats – good

Granulated sugar – bad

Canola oil – bad

Molasses – bad

Sodium bicarb – why?

Corn syrup – bad

Soy lecithin – why?

Okay, it’s the list is getting odd and it contains soy, milk and wheat.  You see our point.

Now, let’s review the list of ingredients on our homemade Cranberry Oatmeal breakfast cookies…

Dry plain Oats

Natural peanut butter

Bananas

Dried Natural Cranberries

Chia seeds

Roasted pepitas

Cinnamon and ginger

Natural vanilla

Honey or maple syrup

Handful of Vegan or regular chocolate chips if your kids beg

You can pronounce everything on the list.

Can you Freeze Breakfast Cookies?

You bet! Actually, we usually prefer to freeze them right away so the whole darn batch does not go mysteriously missing from the house. We have boys, need we even say more! Freeze your breakfast cookies in a freezer safe container and put a layer of waxed or parchment paper between each to prevent sticking.

Alternatively, you can leave them in a sealed container in the refrigerator for up to a week. (If you are thinking, hide them under the broccoli as no one ever looks there). They would probably last much longer in the refrigerator, but we cannot keep the kids/adults from eating them to effectively trial this study.

Have Fun with Spices

 Spices add a whole new dimension to the cookies without any calories or fat. Most generally speaking, many people have cinnamon and vanilla in their spice cabinet so we would start there. However, we also like the addition of dried ground ginger and cardamom as it gives is a little bit of a chai flavor and that is really nice. Ginger and cardamom are completely optional. However, if you have it on hand be sure to add it. 

More Easy Meal Planning Ideas for Breakfast Recipes

These are breakfast ideas you prepare in advance and then are ready for on the go. You can bring them to work or school or enjoy on the way there.

Matcha Chocolate Chia Parfait

Berry Cherry Smoothie Blast

Blackberry Lemon Drop Biscuit

Toasted Almond and Date Lara Bars

Spicy Chocolate Chai Pu-erh Chia Pudding

Healthy Pumpkin Muffins (dairy-free and Refined sugar free)

Easy Spiced Golden Milk

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