These apple cinnamon oatmeal breakfast cookies are the perfect meal-prep recipe! Filled with oats, nut butter, apple butter, and dried apples, these make the perfect healthy breakfast or snack on the go for quick yet lasting energy. Bonus: these also freeze beautifully to have on hand for later!
It’s about time we had a new recipe around here! While I was so excited to share my trip to Saint Kitts (see here and here), I have to say I did miss being in the kitchen recipe testing! This past weekend I spent So. Many. Hours. In the kitchen recipe testing and then taking photos. I honestly didn’t realize how much I had missed cooking and baking until I was back at it. Then I realized it had been THREE weeks since I’ve worked on any new content creation! I had made these apple cinnamon oat breakfast cookies earlier this fall, and I’m excited to finally now be sharing this recipe with you!
These apple breakfast cookies were inspired by these carrot cake and chocolate peanut butter versions! I was wanting to create a fall-theme breakfast cookie and was debating between pumpkin or apple. Clearly, I decided on apple because I was looking for ways to include this 2 ingredient no sugar added apple butter.
BUT if you are a pumpkin fan, I have another pumpkin recipe that I will be sharing with you soon as well that I absolutely LOVE. Honestly, it was difficult to decide which recipe to share with you first.
Moving onto the recipe! These cookies can definitely be adaptable based on your preferences and what you have on hand!
Ingredients and Substitutions
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).
Almond butter. I love almond butter with apple and cinnamon flavors, as the almond butter has a more mild flavor than peanut butter so as not to compete with the other flavors. If you don’t have almond butter, my next choice would be cashew butter. Or peanut butter if that’s what you want, but note the flavor profile will change considerably. If you have a nut allergy, I’d try Sunbutter (sunflower seed butter).
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….?
Milk. Any kind of milk will do; dairy or non-dairy! My go-to is unsweetened vanilla almond (or cashew) milk. Since my protein powder is naturally sweetened, I find the combination of protein powder, dried apples, and apple butter to be plenty sweet enough for these cookies. However, if omitting the protein powder (or if you just want a sweeter cookie) you can use pure maple syrup (or honey or agave) instead of milk.
Apple butter. Try this super simple TWO ingredient, 100% hands off AND no added sugar recipe. This freezes really well to have on hand year round! Store-bought apple butter will work as well. You MIGHT be able to substitute applesauce in place of the apple butter, but please note I have not tried this and since apple butter is more condensed and sweeter the applesauce may not be enough to bind the cookies together. Let me know if you try it though!
Dried apple. I do NOT recommend using fresh apple in place of the dried, as this will turn your cookies into a mushy mess. However, feel free to add in raisins or other dried fruit in place of the dried apples! That being said, the dried apples obviously contribute to the strong apple flavor, so I’d try buying those! I’ve found them at any large grocery store, either in the dried fruit or fresh produce section.
Walnuts. Feel free to substitute chopped pecans, almonds, or another nut of choice! Or even try pepitas (pumpkin seeds).
I almost forgot to tell you my favorite way to eat these cookies! Well, I really have a couple. For breakfast, try these cookies on top of this caramel apple smoothie bowl. I crumbled a couple of cookies on top of that smoothie (post picture) in place of granola and ate that for breakfast for like a week straight. SO GOOD.
I also ate them as a snack/dessert with sautéed cinnamon apples and ice cream. Like a healthy single-serving apple crisp. Also divine.
And, as in one of the pictures I also tried them with apple butter or nut butter on top! Quick and easy, but I have to say I MUCH prefer the caramel apple smoothie or ice cream serving suggestions. ?
I hope you love this recipe! Let me know if you try it! ?
- 1 cup old-fashioned or quick oats
- 1 serving (about 40 grams) vanilla plant-based protein powder*
- ½ cup almond butter**
- 2 tablespoons ground flax mixed with 3 tablespoons water
- 2 tablespoons milk or maple syrup
- ½ cup apple butter
- 1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
- 1-2 teaspoons cinnamon***
- ½ teaspoon nutmeg
- ¼ teaspoon salt
- ½ cup dried apple
- ½ cup chopped walnuts
- Preheat oven to 350 degrees and line a baking sheet with parchment paper or nonstick silicone baking mat.
- In a medium bowl, mix together oats, protein powder, cinnamon, nutmeg, and salt.
- In a smaller bowl, combine the almond butter, flax egg, milk, apple butter, and vanilla extract and stir until smooth.
- Add the wet ingredients to the dry ingredients and stir until combined. Fold in dried apples and walnuts.
- Scoop cookie dough onto baking sheet. I used small/medium cookie scoop which yielded 20 small cookies. Cookies will not spread so lightly flatten cookies.
- Bake at 350 degrees about 12-15 minutes (depending on size of cookies, oven, etc.).
**I used a vanilla almond butter
***I love cinnamon so used 2 teaspoons; add to your preference
well it looks like a delicious thing to eat in breakfast
Agreed! 🙂
I LOVE breakfast cookies so much and these fall-flavored ones definitely are making me wish I had these in front of me rather than plain old bowl of breakfast oatmeal. LOL.
I love eating oats for breakfast, but it’s almost always in a granola bar/baked oatmeal/breakfast cookie form rather than plain cooked oats! 🙂
Fabulous! These would be great to have around when my grand daughter is over. She’ll think she’s having a cookie, but they’re actually nourishing!
Yes! I hope you both love them! 🙂