These lemon poppy seed breakfast cookies are bursting with fresh, bright lemon flavor! They are absolutely delicious on their own, but I also love them crumbled on top of Greek yogurt and berries, or as a topping for smoothie bowls! These breakfast cookies are filled with fiber from whole grain oats, healthy fats from nut butter, and packed with protein from protein powder! AND…these have no added sugar! What’s not to love about these?!

It’s been awhile since I’ve last shared a breakfast cookie recipe with you! Last spring was all about the carrot cake breakfast cookies, and this spring it’s time for LEMON!! Honestly, both lemon and carrot cake are flavors I didn’t eat much of growing up (gimme all the chocolate), but I’ve come to have a greater appreciation for classic lemon and carrot cake too.

I made this recipe quite awhile ago, and am just getting around to sharing it with you and I’M SO EXCITED. I sincerely hope you like these lemon breakfast cookies as much as I do! They are perfect for:

• on-the-go quick breakfasts
• snacks at work/school
• packed in lunch boxes for kids
• after school snacks
• with ice cream (I love lemon Halotop or regular vanilla ice cream)
• crumbled on top of smoothie bowls
• with Greek yogurt and berries

And pretty much anything else you can think of!

Lemon Breakfast Cookie Dough

Unbaked Lemon Breakfast Cookies

Baked Lemon Breakfast Cookies

Ingredients and Substitution Ideas:

Old-fashioned/rolled oats. 

I love the texture that whole rolled oats gives these cookies, but feel free to use quick oats instead! Whole-grain oats are the base of these breakfast cookies, just like with the carrot cake and chocolate peanut butter versions!

Protein Powder.

I usually prefer using a plant-based protein powder when baking versus whey, but you could probably try a different protein powder if you want! You could also substitute an additional 1/3-1/2 cup oats in place of the protein powder. While I personally have not tried this, some others have do this successfully! You may want to try ¼ cup brown sugar (or ¼ cup brown sugar and ¼ cup additional oats) in place of the protein powder/extra oats to provide additional sweetness (since the protein powder I use is naturally sweetened).

Cashew butter.

I love cashew butter in these lemon cookies as the cashew butter has a more mild flavor than peanut butter or other nut butters so as not to compete with the other flavors. If you don’t have cashew butter, my next choice would be almond butter. If you have a nut allergy, you could try coconut oil, but I haven’t tried this.

Flax egg.

I have only used a flax egg, but again I’ve had other readers use a regular egg in place of the flax egg and they reported it worked well! Not going to lie, I often love using flax eggs because then the cookie dough may or may not be eaten by the spoonful….?

Applesauce. 

This helps bind the ingredients together! I also use applesauce in the carrot cake breakfast cookies. You could try subbing in mashed banana in its place, but this will likely change the flavor. You definitely don’t taste any applesauce flavor in these cookies!

Let me know if you try these lemon breakfast cookies!

Lemon Breakfast Cookies

 

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Prep time

10 mins

Cook time

15 mins

Total time

25 mins

 

These lemon poppy seed breakfast cookies are bursting with fresh, bright lemon flavor! They are absolutely delicious on their own, but I also love them crumbled on top of Greek yogurt and berries, or as a topping for smoothie bowls! These breakfast cookies are filled with fiber from whole grain oats, healthy fats from nut butter, and packed with protein from protein powder! AND…these have no added sugar! What’s not to love about these?!

Author: Audra's Appetite

Recipe type: Breakfast, Snack

Cuisine: Gluten-Free, High-protein, Vegan, Plant-based

Serves: 20

Ingredients

• 1 cup quick oats
• 1 scoop (40 grams) plant-based vanilla protein powder (I used Vega)
• ¼ teaspoon salt
• ½ cup cashew butter
• 2 tablespoons ground flax + 3 tablespoons water
• ½ cup applesauce
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• ¼ cup fresh lemon juice (about 2 small lemons)
• 2 tablespoons lemon zest (about the zest of two small lemons)
• 2 tablespoons poppy seed

Instructions

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F and line a baking sheet with either a silicone baking mat or parchment paper.
2. In a small bowl, mix together ground flax + 3 tablespoons water. Set aside.
3. In a separate larger bowl, mix together oats, protein powder, and salt. Add in wet ingredients: cashew butter, flax egg, applesauce, vanilla extract, lemon juice, and lemon zest. Stir until combined. Then fold in poppy seeds.
4. Using a small cookie scoop (or simply a spoon), line prepared cookie sheet with cookie dough.
5. Bake at 350 degrees F for about 12-15 minutes for small cookies. I made 20-22 small cookies using medium cookie dough scoop (1.5 tablespoons), but you could also make about 10-11 larger cookies.
6. These cookies keep well in the freezer!

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