These Breakfast Cookies are like a bowl of homemade granola in cookie form! They’re healthy oatmeal cookies that taste like your favourite oatmeal raisin cookies – but they’re refined sugar free, gluten free, and will keep you full for ages.
Copycat of the popular Muesli Cookies sold in cafes across Australia, these are a terrific make ahead breakfast. Fill a jar with to grab ‘n run!
Breakfast Cookies
The only 2 ingredients in these Healthy Oatmeal Cookies that I don’t put in homemade granola are almond meal and egg. So I’m not exaggerating when I say these are like a bowl of granola in cookie form!
These are a copycat of muesli breakfast cookies I’ve been eyeing at my local coffee shop for years, wanting to make a version that was actually acceptable to have for breakfast. I’ve tried multiple times and they’ve always been meh – the main problem being too dry and hard to swallow.
Finally, the penny dropped when I was smushing soaked dates for Sticky Date Pudding. MASHED DATES!!!! Thoroughly unappetising and sludge-like as it looks, this is the secret to sweetness, moisture, colour and terrific texture for healthy sugar-free cookies!!!
Customisable!
These Healthy Oatmeal Cookies are great for customising. It’s actually a very forgiving recipe – thanks to the mashed dates that makes a solid batter base. These are the ingredients you can customise:
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Flavourings: I’ve used cinnamon and vanilla. Try: orange blossom, almond essence, all spice, cloves – whatever takes your fancy!
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Add Ins: I’ve used coconut, almonds and raisins. Use any combination of coconut, nuts and dried fruit that you want… or CHOC CHIPS!!!
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Sweet: I use maple syrup or honey. Agave or any other liquid form of sweetness should work fine here. Sweetness can also be controlled – from a range of 1 to 4 tablespoons;
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Oil: In the spirit of keeping this healthy, I use coconut oil (most of the time). Any oil will be fine here – or melted butter or margarine;
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Almond Meal: Can be substituted with hazelnut meal / flour. I use these two interchangeably. Do not sub with normal flour – it makes the cookies dry and cardboardy.
Quick and easy
Breakfast cookies are so simple to make, you can make them today for a grab ‘n run breakfast tomorrow!! Soak dates, mash (strangely satisfying, despite how unattractive date sludge looks), mix with remaining ingredients, form cookies and bake.
No food processor, no beater – terrifically simple.
Go big or go home!
I’ve made these breakfast cookies hefty instead of wimpy little cookies because they are intended to be a breakfast. I made the mistake of having two of them when I took these photos and I was full for hours. So full for so long, I didn’t even have a full dinner that night.
Self control is a trait I admire from afar. – Nagi x
PS I don’t recommend making them normal cookie size/thickness. They are soft-chewy and lack the crispy edges you find in classic Oatmeal Raisin Cookies, I wasn’t thrilled with the texture. Best chunky and “meaty” – appropriate for breakfast!
More Make Ahead Breakfast – Grab ‘n Go!
And more cookie / cracker copycats
Other recipes I’ve created in the past for the same reason as these Byron Bay cookie copycat recipe (ie because I love ’em but they’re expensive!)
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Byron Bay Cookies Copycat White Chocolate Macadamia Nut Cookies – big, thick, buttery cookies loaded with white chocolate and macadamia nuts. Crisp with a tender melt-in-your-mouth texture, just like Byron Bay Cookies!
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Gourmet Fruit & Nut Crackers for Cheese – homemade version of the rather expensive fruit and nut crackers to serve with cheese! Homemade is incredible – the flavour is so much better than the store bought. Plus it’s way WAY cheaper!
Breakfast Cookies
WATCH HOW TO MAKE IT
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Healthy Oatmeal Breakfast Cookies
Ingredients
Wet Ingredients:
- 100 g / 3.5 oz pitted dates (1 heaped packed cup)
- 1/3 cup / 85 ml boiling water
- 1 egg
- 3 tbsp maple syrup or honey (Note 1)
- 3 tbsp coconut oil , melted, or other plain oil (Note 2)
- 1 tsp vanilla essence (Note 5)
Dry Ingredients:
- 1 1/4 cups rolled oats
- 1/2 cup flaked almonds (Note 3)
- 1/4 cups desiccated coconut (Note 3)
- 1/2 cup raisins or sultanas (Note 3)
- 3/4 cup almond meal (almond flour) (Note 4)
- 1/2 tsp baking powder
- 1/2 tsp cinnamon (Note 5)
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 180C/350F (standard) or 160C/320F (fan/convection). Line a tray with parchment/baking paper.
- Roughly chop dates. Place in bowl, pour over water. Cover and leave to soak for 10 minutes+.
- Mash with potato masher or fork until it becomes a paste.
- Add remaining Wet ingredients. Mix well with wooden spoon.
- Add Dry ingredients. Mix until all flour is incorporated - should be a thick batter (see video).
- Measure out just shy of 1/2 cup (6 cookies) or 1/3 cup flat (8 cookies). Flatten to 1.7cm / 2/3" thick rounds. (Note 9) Bake 20 minutes until golden.
- Remove from oven, leave to cool on the tray.
Recipe Notes:
Nutrition Information:
Originally published December 2018, updated for housekeeping matters April 2019. No change to recipe!
LIFE OF DOZER
“C’mon, let’s play tug-o-war! I swear the rope is totally clean and slobber free!!”
Has anyone tried mashed banana in these as a sub for the egg??
I have tried the mashed banana substitute, it does work but they end up being a bit softer and don’t hold together as well, could taste the banana flavour so that’s a bonus. I only tried it once so with experimentation it could work perfectly.
Perfect
Very easy to make in no time and the taste is really good
These are so nice for quick breakfasts! I’ve also made them without the egg (substituting 1 T chia seeds in 2.5 T water) and they’re just as good.
Delicious!
I made mine with dates, prunes, walnuts, sunflower seeds and chia seeds. I also made it into a slice with a square pan. Got 9 very generous sized bars out of it.
They’re great straight out of the freezer.
Will definitely cut out the sweetener next time(honey, in my case), as the dates and prunes made it plenty sweet.
I made these and they turned out great. I will decrease the syrup next time as they would still be lovely with less. They ARE AMAZING. Thank you Nagi. My husband and pre-teen son love them too, so it’s a 10/10 ♥
My daughter loves these! Anyone had any luck in making them nutfree so I can make them for her lunchbox? Thanks!
My husband has a nut allergy too, but I still wanted to make these for him. I substituted oat flour for the almond meal and they came out perfectly soft and yummy
Thanks Sarah! Oat Flour sounds like a good substitute – did you just ground up rolled/quick oats? I will try it this week and let you know how I go!
Hi Grace, yep a food processor or blender should both work to make oat flour. I usually use old-fashioned (rolled) oats or quick-cooking oats. Hope this helps, & it works out for you!
I am waiting to hear from. Anyone else about this too! We did pumpkin and sunflower seeds and it was yum. Just don’t know about almond meal subs
Delicious, though I had to extend the cooking time x 5/6 minutes as I made them quite ‘hefty’.🤣🤣
Made these in a slice tin instead of separate biscuits, Cooked an extra five minutes but otherwise followed recipe.
Cut into squares and froze. They freeze well and aren’t soggy when defrosted.
My partner is taking them to work as snacks.
I’ve been making these every week with slight variations depending on what I’ve got in the cupboard and they’re great everytime! The batch I just made I completely forgot to add the egg, but they’ve still turned out fine, I was scared they’d fall apart but they’ve held their shape very well. Extremely happy with this recipe 🙂
It was sooooooo goood. i loved ittt 😀
Love these, I made a double batch, but they disappeared very quickly. I will be making more to take camping tomorrow
I did this and it’s super yummy. I also placed it in the fridge. I am baking it again today, Thank you for sharing this cookie breakfast recipe. Its a hit. 😍😍😍
Best oatmeal cookies ever. One find this recipe on Sunday and made my 2nd batch tonight due to popular demand.
I toasted the nuts and coconut (I like the caramel flavour) and added some protien powder and a dash of xtra coconut oil to maintain the wetness.
its great, the perfect grab and run on busy mornings !! Next time Im adding sour cherries thank you Nagi!! Im going to have fun tinkering with all the different flavours!
Can I put in protein powder into these? Would I have to sub out something like the coconut to account for it or is it OK as in? I’d be adding 2 Tbs
The are the best things I have ever made. Easy, delicious, healthy, filling, and freezable!! I added in a scoop of protein powder and a handful of white chocolate bits.
I’m off to make a double batch to freeze.
I toasted and cooled the nuts and coconut first before I added the in. An additional step, but I think it’s worth it. These cookies are delicious! Like others here, I like to eat hem right out of the freezer.
Thank you for another amazing recipe, Nagi!
Wow! I have never been successful in making scones until now! Thank you so much for this simple recipe with easy to follow instructions and great hints.
Hi Nagi
I made these and they were very good.
I was using metric cup measures (250ml = 1 cup) but had to add extra Almond flour. I’ve tried googling G weight for 3/4 cup metric for Almond flour to make it more accurate next time, but I got lots of different weights.
Do you perhaps know the correct g measure you would use for Almond Flour for this recipe?