As the kiddos are all heading back to school, I thought I’d share this recipe for a quick and easy breakfast that they will be so excited about. You mean we can eat COOKIES for BREAKFAST?
Well, maybe not just any cookies, but these are definitely mom approved. With no refined sugar, and healthy stuff like white whole wheat flour, coconut oil, oats, and peanut butter, these cookies just might be the answer to the school morning chaos that is upon us.
My boys have to be out the door by 7:25am, and to be honest, they just aren’t awake enough to be super hungry before school. A couple of cookies and a glass of milk keep their hunger away until snack time very nicely.
I love that you don’t even need to pull out a mixer for these, and that they are really easy to adapt to your family’s taste. Don’t love raisins? Just leave them out, or try chocolate chips! Peanut butter chips would be awesome too.
I made these with multigrain Cheerios, but you could also try another cereal, such as a puffed brown rice.
So… sorry I can’t help you find that missing shoe that always hides right when it’s time to get out the door, but I do hope these breakfast cookies make your morning just a little bit smoother!
PrintHealthy Breakfast Cookies
With no refined sugar, and healthy stuff like white whole wheat flour, oats, and peanut butter, these cookies are perfect for an easy breakfast on-the-go!
- Prep Time: 15 minutes
- Cook Time: 30 minutes
- Total Time: 45 minutes
- Yield: 2 1/2 dozen 1x
- Category: Breakfast
- Method: Bake
- Cuisine: American
Ingredients
- 1 1/2 cups white whole wheat flour
- 1 cup old fashioned oats
- 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
- 1/2 teaspoon salt
- 1/3 cup coconut oil
- 2/3 cup honey
- 1/2 cup natural peanut butter (creamy or crunchy)
- 1 egg
- 1 ripe banana
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- 4 cups multigrain cheerios
- 1 cup raisins, semi sweet chocolate chips, nuts
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
- In a medium bowl, mix flour, oats, baking soda and salt together. Set aside.
- In a microwave safe bowl, mix coconut oil, peanut butter and honey. Microwave for 20-30 seconds. Whisk together, and then add egg, mashed banana pulp, and vanilla extract.
- Stir the dry ingredients into the peanut butter mixture until well combined. Add the cheerios and raisins or chocolate chips and stir until evenly incorporated.
- Drop 1/3 cup sized scoops onto a Silpat or parchment lined baking sheet, and flatten slightly. Bake for 10-11 minutes or until golden around the edges. Allow them to cool on the baking sheet for 3 minutes before transferring to a cooling rack.
Notes
This recipe is inspired, but heavily adapted from Cheerios.com.
Nutrition
- Serving Size: 1 Cookie
- Calories: 138
- Sugar: 11g
- Sodium: 91mg
- Fat: 5.3g
- Saturated Fat: 2.5g
- Unsaturated Fat: 2.2g
- Trans Fat: 0g
- Carbohydrates: 22g
- Fiber: 1.9g
- Protein: 3g
- Cholesterol: 6.2mg
Hihi, i like to make a batch of this for everyday breakfast:)
Question is how to store them? Will cheerios remain crispy after a while?
My kid prefers cruchy cookies.
Hi Lynn,
I would say these cookies are pretty soft. The cheerios do add just a slight crunch, but I think if you baked them a little longer they would be crunchier. You just have to be careful because the honey can cause them to brown too much, as it browns faster than refined sugar.
These sound like something my kiddos will be all about! Our mornings have been a bit chaotic, so I’m thrilled to have a go to recipe that will make our mornings a bit easier! I’m making these this weekend! 🙂
Hope your kiddos enjoy!
I love breakfast cookies.. though I haven’t made them in such a long time. These look great Julie and I definitely would be guaranteed to love them, cherioos are delicious!
Thank you Thalia. Hope you enjoy!
I would omit the cheerios they have found high traces of roundup weed killer in them as well as other gm cereals . There are plenty of healthier non toxic choices
Hi Debbie, I work for a childcare centre, I would love to try these (bought all they ingredients today…AUGH!) but am worried with your claim on weed killer as one of the i gradients, are you able to provide me with a report That claims such? I live in Canada, I do know our Health Canada Guidelines are quite strict on what products our factories use and I’ve never heard this claim until now, so I am concerned, thank you so much for your comment, good to know
“The amounts found are far below the allowable limits, and anyway, most experts in the field say there’s very little evidence that glyphosate causes cancer or any other health problems in people.” This quote is taken from the article below.
https://www.nbcnews.com/health/health-news/weed-killer-your-cereal-maybe-don-t-panic-n901586
What’s a healthy alternative for the coconut oil, as I’m dangerously allergic. Can’t wait to try these.
You can just use vegetable oil or canola oil.
Is there a substitute for the banana? My daughter is allergic to them.
Without testing these substitutions first I’m not sure, but I what comes to mind would be something like pumpkin, or even just omitting the banana and increasing the sweetener and oil to make up for the flavor and moisture of the banana.
Ther are lots of other substitutes… Might I suggest an older, softcover book entitled “Secrets of Fat-Free Baking” to give you some sense of what you’re doing. You will see how many other substitutes for bananas there are.. Sugar-free applesauce, canned pumpkin, leftover mashed sweet potatoes, blended dates, carrots, plum butter, cauliflower blended smooth, prune butter, lecithin and so on. Add honey, brown rice syrup or brown sugar (which is considered to be a liquid in baking) to taste if needed, and use a neutral oil like canola or avocado (which is “buttery.”). You have to tweak the oven temp and length of baking whenever you fiddle with a recipe, even just to make it work wherever you live because of atmospheric and altitude differences, but trust me, the kids won’t know if you substitute cauliflower.
For the banana allergy try using avocado instead!
Applesauce
Do you have a gluten free recipe my daughter has an allergy
Sorry, I do not.
Try Bob’s Red Mill, they have a gluten-free product for people who want a ready-made gluten-free substitute. Call them and ask your questions, they’re very nice about it.
I JUST pulled a gluten free version out of the oven. I replaced the wheat flour with bobs all-purpose flour/ the honey nut cheerios with GF brown rice krispies. They havent cooled yet but they browned nicely and look like they’ll firm up as they cool! Good luck!
Jamie, hope you enjoy them!
Hi. Would you happen to know the calorie/fat count per cookie?
I’m sorry Amelia, I do not list the nutritional information for recipes on my site.
And by the way… Every ingredient package you buy in the U.S. already lists calories and other information per unit in the container.
So if you can’t provide nutrition imformation for your recipe, how can you call them “healthy breakfast bars”?
This is a great recipe wow. I added roasted walnuts to mine. I’ve made them about five times. I’ve even did the Apple one, not the sauce just tiny sliced apples which I sautéed for a few minutes before adding them to the dough.
As for the Nutritional ingredients thats simple just do the math it’s not that hard just do the math.
I’ve even added Goji berries.
You’re making cookies! Who counts? But if you are bound and determined, for instance if you have Type II or another medical condition, you can find reliable websites that list “nutritional values” of each ingredient. You’ll have to do your own math. Tally up the caloric values for each ingredient by type and volume/weight, and divide by the number of cookies. But they’re cookies! I use an old dietician’s book entitled “Food Values of Portions Commonly Used” by Church and Bowes, that is out of print. I think it lists too many “convenience foods” and I resent that they list tofu under “food analogs” as if it ‘s just a substitute for meat, instead of a healthy protein source in its own right, but they have nutritional values. Just go online and look up the information, you will have to look it up by ingredient and then do some simple math. It’s a calorie-dense treat, remember that. The further you move away from a “whole” ingredient, the less healthy it is, and it’s a cookie no matter how you slice it.
Any suggestions on a replacement for the peanut butter? My daughter is allergic.
Joanna, can she have Sunbutter? I do not have a lot of knowledge about food allergy substitutions but this is what a friend substitutes for her son.
Hi do you have any nutritional information on these. I.e. Calories, protein
Thanks
Sorry, I don’t list the nutritional information for recipes.
Would you be able to provide nutritional information?
I’m sorry, I don’t have the nutritional info for my recipes.
Hi there – I happen to have some blueberry agave nectar, can this be used instead of honey? Thanks and I love this recipe!
I haven’t tried that before but I think it would be good!
Hi,
The recipes sound great for yoga teacher like me who is always on the move. I was wondering if I could replace oats with Weetabix?
Thank you!
Hi! I’ve never heard of Weetabix, so I’m not sure. Let me know how it goes if you try it!
I didn’t have Cheerios, so I used 4 cups of Rice Crispies, Still gluten free.
I added raw Cashews and raw Pumpkin seeds.
These cookies are very good and will make an excellent snack for my Diabetic husband.
Thank you Fern, I like your substitutions. Hope you all enjoy!
Wow, my son loved these. I added cashews and an extra banana for moisture for the 2nd batch. Great recipe, thx!
Perfect, thanks Lisa!
How do you store these? Do they have to be refrigerated?
Hi Vanessa, they do not have to be refrigerated. Just store them at room temperature in an airtight container.
Just in case anyone is looking for gluten free options.
I replaced the flour with 1/2 cup almond flour 1/2 brown rice flower and 1/2 teff flour
they came out great!
Thanks for sharing this Beth!
Nutrition information. 1 cookie
Calories. 159
Fat. 7.4
Carbohydrate. 21
Protein. 3.6
Fiber. 1.8
This is with vegetable oil, 1/2 c walnuts & 1/2 c mini chocolate chips.
Mine came out looking very, very different. I didn’t change anything, but I ended up with way too many Cheerios and not enough dough. They’re still good, but next time I’d use half the Cheerios.
LOVE, LOVE these breakfast cookies. My only problem with them is I eat them for breakfast, snack and after dinner treat. Thanks for the recipe
You’re so welcome, glad you like them!
Do you think that these could be made ahead and then put in the freezer? If so, would I just prepare them and then bake when ready to eat? Or bake and then just defrost when ready to eat?
Hi Colby, I haven’t tried freezing these yet, but I think I would bake them first, and then defrost before you eat them.
Do you have nutritional information?
Hi Kim, I don’t currently provide nutritional information for my recipes, but another reader has calculated the following:
Nutrition information. 1 cookie
Calories. 159
Fat. 7.4
Carbohydrate. 21
Protein. 3.6
Fiber. 1.8
Thanks for your question! Have a great day.
This is such a good recipe. I have very little time to get ready in the morning. I can make these ahead of time and store them for later. Thanks!
Glad you like them Tim!
What is white whole wheat flour??
Is whole wheat ok?
Winny, white whole wheat flour has the nutritional benefits of whole wheat, but bakes like white. If you can’t find it, maybe try half and half. Thanks for your question 🙂
I can’t find white wheat flour. What can I use
Hi Diana, try half whole wheat and half all-purpose flour. Hope you enjoy!
These cookies are wonderful, even my sugar loving husband liked them. Will definitely make them again!
That’s so great Jill! Thanks for letting me know.
Just made these and there amazing my 2 year old loved them and that’s awesome because I have such a hard time with him eating he’s such a picky eater so I’m so glad he really likes these healthy cookies thank you
That’s so great, thanks Stephanie!
I was not fond of the cereal in these. Weird texture. like stale, chewy cereal mixed into a cookie. And I’d rather use unprocessed ingredients. Just my two cents. But glad I tried them.
These are amazing! I’m about to make our second batch for the week. My extremely fussy 22 month old is completely off food at the moment and surviving off air and water pretty much (he’s teething). But he’s been more than happy to shovel these down with enthusiasm!
Poor thing. Teething is not for wimps! Glad these were a hit!
These.are.so.good. I did about 3 cups of Cheerios instead of 4. They are so good. I have my second batch in the oven right now. Thanks!
Glad you liked them Kate!
I don’t know what went wrong but 4 cups of cheerios is too much. It won’t stick together so after 1 1/2 cup, I stopped adding more cereal. They are in oven right now. Wish me luck. I failed 8 out 10 times attempt making cookies. 😕
Tastes great! I did cut back on honey to half cup and only used about 2 cups of Cheerios. I had 1 cup of mixed raisins and chocolate chips… But might cut back on the chocolate chips a bit next time. Also baked for 14 minutes.
Thanks Anny!