These healthy Pumpkin Breakfast Cookies make a nutritious and grab-and-go breakfast that tastes like fall! This gluten-free and clean eating breakfast treat is made with wholegrain oats, cranberries, pumpkin seeds and honey.
In the 2 years since posting the recipe for these healthy pumpkin oatmeal cookies for the first time, it has quickly become the most popular recipe on this site! Mainly thanks to Pinterest!
There is not much to be improved or updated on this post. The recipe for these healthy pumpkin cookies is ON SPOT! I’ve remade them many times since without changing anything.
Even 2 years later, I still love the images – the lighting was awesome that day. These were some of my first food photos that I truly loved. Maybe I could take slightly better ones now, but the difference would be minimal. And I want to hold on to these almost for nostalgic reasons.
The only one thing this post was missing was a video! Which is hereby remedied.
I am leaving the rest of the post and the recipe unadulterated for you below. And if you are interested in more healthy pumpkin recipes try these paleo pumpkin muffins, this pumpkin spice mug cake, or even these decadent (still healthier) chocolate pumpkin brownies.
Original post from Nov. 3, 2014
I have never been a fan of cooking first thing in the morning or making any breakfast that involves a lot of prep.
And some days I am especially happy to have my breakfast already waiting in the fridge.
I am not a morning person, still some mornings are harder than others. Like the morning after a night of my baby Olivia randomly deciding to wake up no less than 6(!) times for no obvious reasons.
Or when I went to bed waayy later than I should have either because I was working, binge-watching Netflix, or finishing just one more chapter of a book.
It’s on those super-rough mornings that I could hug myself for having prepared some make-ahead breakfast like these pumpkin oatmeal breakfast cookies (or awesome overnight oats).
They are like having a bowl of yummy oatmeal with lots of mix-ins only without the bowl. The convenient cookie shape offers itself for breakfast on-the-go.
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How To Make Pumpkin Breakfast Cookies
I am using both rolled and quick oats for a texture that isn’t too dense but still holds together well. Note: To make these pumpkin oatmeal cookies gluten free, be sure to use certified gluten free oats. Although oats don’t contain any gluten naturally, regular oats may be contaminated with gluten during processing in facilities that also process wheat.
Eggs help as a binder, but I have also been able to make vegan pumpkin breakfast cookies with egg replacers. Honey offers just a little sweetness to these pumpkin oat breakfast cookies. But again, you can make this recipe vegan by substituting maple syrup for example.
Pumpkin puree is complemented with aromatic pumpkin pie spice.
Ground flax seed ups the nutritional value of the cookies. And – in my opinion – pumpkin seeds and cranberries pair really well with pumpkin puree and give the cookies are great flavor and texture contrast.
I am having a very hard time finding unsweetened, oil-free cranberries in stores. Luckily there is Amazon, where I’ve found Paleogoods Dried Cranberries infused with only apple juice.
Last, but certainly not least, there is melted coconut oil. I love to use organic refined coconut oil for recipes where I don’t want a strong coconut flavor – like these gluten free pumpkin oatmeal cookies in which I wanted the pumpkin to shine.
For all other recipes organic virgin coconut oil is a great choice.
Whichever Spectrum Naturals® oil you choose, it’s great to know that they are all expeller expressed (meaning they use mechanical force instead of chemicals to extract the oil). And most of their oils are non GMO project verified.
To shape the batter into cookie shape, I am using my 1/4 cup sized measuring cup. You can use any type of measuring cup, but it is easier with the ones that are wider than deep.
I just dip the measuring cup into the oat mixture to fill it up. Then I tap it onto the parchment lined baking sheet and the batter already comes out looking like a cookies – flourless pumpkin oatmeal cookies that is.
I just flatten them a little bit, because these cookies won’t spread at all during baking. And if shaping individual cookies isn’t your thing, I’ve even had readers send me pictures of how they baked this recipe into pumpkin breakfast bars! Baking time may be a little longer, but this way you only need to cut them into shape after baking.
If this healthy pumpkin cookie recipe isn’t quite your thing, I have FOUR other breakfast cookie recipes. Maybe these are more up your alley?
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Pumpkin Breakfast Cookies
Ingredients
- 1/4 cup coconut oil melted
- 1/4 cup honey
- 1 cup rolled old-fashioned oats
- 1 cup quick cooking oats
- 2/3 cup dried cranberries unsweetened
- 2/3 cup pumpkin seeds
- 1/4 cup ground flaxseed
- 1 teaspoon pumpkin pie spice
- 1/2 teaspoon sea salt
- 1/2 cup pumpkin puree
- 2 eggs beaten
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 350 F. Line a baking sheet.
In a small bowl warm coconut oil and honey (either microwave, inside preheating oven or on the stove top).
- In a large bowl combine both kinds of oats, cranberries, pumpkin seeds, ground flax, pumpkin pie spice and salt. Add pumpkin puree, eggs and warmed coconut oil and honey. Stir until fully combined.
- Drop about 1/4 cup sized scoops of the mixture onto a cookie sheet and flatten (cookies won't spread while baking). Bake for about 15-20 minutes until edges are lightly browned.
- Let cookies cool on baking sheet before moving to an airtight storage container.
Recipe Notes
To make vegan, replace honey with maple syrup or agave and use an egg replace like flax egg.
Update 9/19: New nutrition information calculated with MyFitnessPal
Tasty
This is a great recipe, now pumpkin season is starting and I have a gluten-free diet at the same time
Mary
I am trying to get rid of sweetened cranberries…should I add 1/2 of the honey?
Regina | Leelalicious
The recipe can be made with sweetened or unsweetened cranberries. I would not make any changes to the rest of the recipe
Anshirley Corathers
Hi, I was wondering if these can be made into bars? If so, what size pan would be best and do I need to change the oven temp/or time?
Thanks!
Regina | Leelalicious
While I haven’t tried making this recipe as bars, many commenters say they did. I’d probably use a square 8-inch pan. And bake at the same temperature, but baking time will probably be a little longer. I’d just check regularly until the bars are set.
Candi of NC
Yum. I can’t truly rate this recipe because I altered it. However, I can say that the basic concept of it works well. No doubt my results would have been even tastier if I had followed the recipe exactly.
I can’t seem to follow recipes to the letter, especially if it for bread or muffins. I end up changing the additives or the spices or the flour composition. This time I altered all three. I replaced half the pumpkin seeds with pecans and added almost that amount of sunflower seeds. I don’t have pumpkin pie spice, so I used a combination of 1/4 t nutmeg, 1/4 t ginger, 1/8 t cloves, and 3/4 t cinnamon. I added 1 1/4 baking powder to get some rise and, not sure if it works without flour, adding 1/2 c buckwheat flour. I also added 1 t vanilla extract. After dumping my beater in the soapy water, I tasted my batter and decided it wasn’t sweet enough, likely due to the buckwheat flour. I folded in a single packet of Splenda. The result is good, but next time I will leave out the flour, baking powder, and Splenda.
Gina
Our family LOVES these! I always double the recipe because we plough through them. Thanks so much for the recipe!!!
This last time I added some orange zest and some orange juice (making me need to add a bit more oats to get the right consistency), but they are FANTASTIC. The orange really brings out a nice brightness and go with the pumpkin and cranberry so nicely.
Nancy Sullivan
These are awesome. If my husband gives something a thumbs up it proves how good they are. Thank you for starting off our morning with a up!
Anna
I had to come back to your website just to let you know how much I love these! I’ve been trying to break out of my bagel rut with something that is healthy but will still satisfy me. These cookies did the trick! The dried cranberries give them just enough sweetness and the pumpkin seeds add texture and crunch. 10/10. Will make again!
Cheyenne
No doubt, hands down THE best “healthy cookies” recipe I have ever made. I have tried many, many recipes somewhat similar to this and they have all been utter failures! I am beyond estatic to find one that is simple, easy, and so delicious!! Thank you for sharing these with the world lol.
Kate
Best breakfast cookies ever!
How can there be so much cholesterol with only 2 eggs? Is it the coconut oil? I am not a fan of coconut so i use olive oil. Still very delicious.
Ann
We LOVE this cookie recipe! I’ve made it 5+ times already and learned that the cookies freeze well so I double the recipe each time. Today I’m making bars instead of cookies to save time. Wish me luck!
Ann
Success! The bars are great!
Regina
Awesome! So happy to hear this worked out for you
Yolande
Made this but used vegetable oil in place of coconut oil also substituted banana for the pumpkin and it came out great
Jennifer
Just made these and swapped the coconut oil for extra pumpkin, the quick cooking oats for regular oat and then chickpea flour. I skipped the egg since there was ground flax seed already in them and just used the flax seed that was called for to make the egg substitute. They came out so good I should have doubled the recipe because my son is finding it hard to stay out of them!
Regina
So glad to hear the breakfast cookies are a hit at your house!
Heather
How much extra pumpkin did you use (instead of the oil)? And how did you do the egg substitute?
van
i have the same questions!!
Regina
So while I haven’t made the oil substitution with more pumpkin, I would start with 2 extra tablespoons of pumpkin. And add more (up to 1/4 cup total) if needed to moisten the oats.
I have a post about flax egg substitute here https://leelalicious.com/how-to-make-a-flax-egg-vegan-egg-substitute/
So I assume she soaked the called for amount of ground flax in water to make it gelatinous before adding to the batter