Gluten Free Breakfast Cookies

This is the perfect start to a busy day to give you the energy you need. These Gluten-Free Breakfast Cookies are soft, moist and packed with good things like oats, walnuts and flax.

That’s right. Cookies for breakfast. Really good and gluten-free cookies for breakfast. Packed with whole foods and real ingredients, they are pretty much the ultimate breakfast treat. 

Because it’s not like we need an excuse to eat cookies for breakfast…

Well, more like cookies for breakfast, or snacks, or dessert because I think they’re just too good to only eat for breakfast.

We are huge fans of easy, grab and go breakfasts over here. Some things, like an extra 10 minutes of sleep each morning are more important than making breakfast before Joshua runs out the door to the office and before I hop on my computer for the day.

So, of course, muffins, baked oatmeals, the occasional smoothie and now breakfast cookies are key to our weekday mornings.

These cookies are delicious and nutritious enough for a breakfast that keeps us going all morning long. And they freeze great too so I can always have a batch in the freezer ready for whenever we need them.

MORE ABOUT THESE GLUTEN-FREE BREAKFAST COOKIES…

And definitely well worth the effort to get that food processor going twice for this recipe and to roll out 20 or so sticky and oat-packed balls of goodness.

And with their rather extensive ingredient list, they may not be the simplest or easiest recipe going but they are definitely well worth the effort.

The first ingredient of these cookies is walnuts. (And the walnuts are a must!) Raw walnuts are processed into a coarse crumb in the food processor which gives these breakfast cookies a super moist, rich and filling base. I don’t use walnuts in my recipes all that often (mostly because walnuts are expensive – and you can read all about that rant here) but I never skip the walnuts for this recipe.

And with the walnuts is a ton of other goodness like GF rolled oats, GF oat flour and ground flax along with dates, apple sauce and mini chocolate chips (because who couldn’t use a little more chocolate in their life?!). And then everything is lightly sweetened and spiced with cinnamon and vanilla. 

I know! They really are as delicious as they sound!

These cookies are best made with natural peanut butter (or even better – homemade peanut butter) or natural almond butter. Though, I must say I like the homemade peanut butter option the best.

This, my friends, is the perfect start to a busy day to give you the energy you need. Soft yet hearty and filling cookies are best enjoyed beside a glass of (dairy-free, if you like) milk (because milk +cookies = forever) or your morning coffee.

Gluten Free Breakfast Cookies

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• Total Time: 45 minutes
• Yield: 18-20 cookies 1x

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Ingredients

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• 1 cup raw walnuts
• 1 1/2 cups rolled oats, gluten free certified, if needed
• 1/4 cup oat flour, gluten free certified, if needed
• 1/2 cup ground flax seeds (or flax meal)
• 1 teaspoon baking soda
• 1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
• Pinch of salt
• 1/2 cup mini chocolate chips
• 1/2 cup pitted dates (about 15 dates)
• 1/2 cup natural peanut butter (or try homemade peanut butter), or almond butter
• 1/3 cup unsweetened applesauce
• 1/4 cup sugar (I recommend unrefined cane sugar)
• 1 large egg
• 1 teaspoon vanilla

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Instructions

1. Preheat oven to 350F and line a cookie sheet with parchment paper or a baking mat. (Due to the amount of cookies this recipe yields, you will like need to bake these cookies in 2 batches.)
2. Using a food processor, pulse the walnuts into a coarse crumb.
3. In a mixing bowl combine walnut crumbs, oats, oat flour, flax, baking soda, salt, cinnamon and chocolate chips. Set aside.
4. In the food processor combine dates, peanut butter, applesauce, sugar, egg and vanilla. Blend until mixture is smooth and very fluid, 30 second to a minute and scraping the sides of the bowl if needed. Transfer peanut butter mixture to a second large mixing bowl.
5. Fold in half of the oatmeal mixture to the peanut butter mixture and when combined fold in the remaining oats. The dough will be slightly sticky, that’s ok! If the dough is too sticky to use, add more oat flour, a tablespoon at a time.
6. Roll the dough into golf ball-sized balls, a heaping tablespoon or about 1-inch round each, using slightly damp hands. Flatten the balls into disks and place on prepared baking sheet about 1-inch apart.
7. Bake for 8-10 minutes until the bottoms of the cookies are golden brown. Let the cookies cool for 5 minutes before transferring to a cooling rack to cool completely. Repeat with the second batch of cookies.
8. Store in an airtight contain or freezer for later.

• Prep Time: 25 minutes
• Cook Time: 20 minutes