These delicious cookies are made with California Prunes to help make a wholesome treat. However, all thoughts and opinions are my own. Thank you for supporting the brands that make Bakes by Brown Sugar possible.
These chewy delicious Breakfast Cookies feature dried fruit, nuts, seeds, prunes and bananas. They're gluten-free, naturally sweetened (no added sugar), and made without butter, or oil. They take less than an hour to make and are the perfect grab-and-go breakfast or afternoon snack.
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I love cookies, they're one of my favorite sweet treats. And with these delicious cookies, I get to have cookies for breakfast.
If you have a sweet tooth like me, you’ll be happy to know that you can have cookies for breakfast that leave you satisfied. Made with wholesome ingredients such as rolled oats, California prunes, and nuts; these cookies taste great and are super easy to make.
One of my goals was to make this cookie with wholesome ingredients, which includes California Prunes. Prunes are a great way to add flavor to a variety of recipes, including this amazing Prune Bread Pudding.
For this recipe, the prunes add natural sweetness and tartness to these cookies. Prunes are a flavor powerhouse that also keeps these cookies moist.
What You'll Need for This Recipe
Here is what you’ll need for these delicious and easy breakfast cookies:
- Almond Butter: Stir the almond butter before adding it to the cookie dough. Salted almond butter stirs more easily than almond butter with no salt. The almond butter should be creamy and smooth once stirred together.
- California Prunes: California prunes add sweetness, moisture, and a nice tartness to the cookies. The prunes should be soft, moist, and easy to cut.
- Banana: The banana acts as a binder for the cookie. Use ripe bananas that have a lot of brown spots (unlike the bananas in the photo above). When you bake with bananas the riper the better.
- Maple Syrup: The maple syrup acts as a binder and provides natural sweetness to the cookie.
- Old Fashioned Rolled Oats: The rolled oats replace the flour in this cookie recipe and provide structure to the cookie.
- Dried Cranberries: The dried cranberries are a nice add-in to this cookie. You can also use dried tart cherries, golden raisins, or black raisins.
- Pepitas: The toasted pepitas add a nice crunch. I used toasted and salted pepitas, but unsalted work just as well. Toasted pepitas add crunch to the cookie.
- Almonds: Toasted almonds add a nice crunch to the cookie. They can be replaced with walnuts, pecans, or hazelnuts. They also can be left out if you’re allergic to nuts.
- Ground Cinnamon: Cinnamon adds a nice floral note or a spicy note depending on which type of cinnamon you use.
- Kosher Salt: Kosher salt elevates all the other ingredients.
How to Make Breakfast Cookies
These cookies make a great breakfast alternative especially when you’re on the go and want something tasty with no added sugars. Keep them in the freezer so you always have some on hand.
Making this recipe couldn’t be easier. I’ve provided the weight of most ingredients in the recipe card so you can weigh the ingredients directly into the mixing bowl.
Start with a large mixing bowl. A large mixing bowl typically holds 4-6 quarts. You want plenty of room to mix the ingredients without spilling ingredients onto the counter.
Mash the banana in the bowl until they are smooth and creamy. Next add the almond butter, maple syrup, salt, and ground cinnamon. Whisk all these ingredients together.
Stir in the chopped prunes, dried cranberries, pepitas, and chopped almonds until they are well combined with the almond butter-banana mixture. Add the rolled oats and stir until well combined.
Line two half-sized baking sheets with parchment paper or Silpat. Each cookie is 4 tablespoons or 1/4 cup of dough. I recommend using a 1/4 cup cookie scoop or measuring cup to measure the dough.
Place 6 cookies on each prepared baking sheet. Lightly press down on the cookies to flatten them to the thickness you want. Bake the cookies for about 15-17 minutes. But use your eyes rather than a timer. When the cookies are brown around the edges remove them from the oven.
Cool them on the baking sheet for 5 minutes then move them to a wire rack to finish cooling. Honestly, I start eating them while they’re still warm, they are so good.
The final baked cookie should have a nice chewy texture with crunchiness from the nuts and seeds.
How to Store and Freeze
One of the great things about these delicious breakfast cookies is that they can be made ahead of time and easily stored in the refrigerator or freezer.
After the cookies have completely cooled store them at room temperature in an airtight container for up to 4 days. The cookies become softer the longer they sit at room temperature. Store them in the refrigerator in an airtight container for up to 2 weeks.
To freeze the cookies layer the cookies in a freezer-safe container and place wax paper between each layer or store them in the freezer storage bag. The cookies can be frozen for up to 3 months. To enjoy the cookies let them thaw in the refrigerator or on the kitchen counter.
Substitutions
- Nut Butter: Replace the almond butter with peanut butter, cashew butter, or sunflower seed butter. The sunflower seed is a really good nut-free option.
- Sweetener: Honey can be used in place the maple syrup, but remember if you use honey the recipe will no longer be vegan.
- Oats: Use either quick or whole oats for this recipe.
- Banana: Instead of mashed bananas use an equal amount of apple butter or unsweetened apple sauce.
- Nuts and Seeds: Mix it up when it comes to the addition of nuts and seeds. For this recipe, I used almonds and pepitas. You can use pumpkin seeds, sesame seeds, roasted peanuts, pecans, sunflower seeds, chia seeds, or flax seeds.
- Dried Fruit: I used California prunes and dried cranberries. You can also use dark or golden raisins, dried cherries, apricots, or dried apples.
- Chocolate: Sometimes you just want a little chocolate, so add some dark chocolate chips.
Pro Tips for Making This Recipe
- Use ripe bananas for this recipe. The riper the banana the sweeter the cookie.
- If you want gluten-free cookies, make sure the oats are certified gluten-free.
- Chop the prunes into 1/4-inch or smaller dice to ensure they mix well with the other ingredients.
- If using a fresh container of almond butter or other nut butter and it’s hard to mix in the oil sitting at the top of the jar, spoon the nutter butter into a mixing bowl and use a hand-held electric mixer to mix the ingredients.
- For an already opened jar of almond butter, don’t use nut butter sitting at the bottom of the jar if it’s dried. Dried nut butter will result in a dry cookie.
Recipe - Frequently Asked Questions
No, these cookies won't spread when they are baked.
Use certified gluten-free oats for gluten-free cookies
Yes, replace the mashed bananas with an equal amount of apple butter.
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Breakfast Cookies
Ingredients
- 1 cup (225 grams) mashed bananas about 2 medium bananas
- 1 cup almond butter salted or unsalted
- 1/4 cup (85 grams) maple syrup
- 1/2 teaspoon kosher salt
- 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
- 1 cup (180 grams) California prunes chopped into 1/4-inch pieces
- 1/2 cup (50 grams) toasted pepitas
- 1/2 cup (80 grams) toasted and salted almond roughly chopped
- 1/4 cup (40 grams) dried cranberries
- 2 cups (212 grams) old-fashioned rolled oats
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F. Line a half baking sheet with parchment paper or Silpat
- Before you start mixing the cookie dough, measure out all the ingredients. See the recipe notes for substitutions. Chop the prunes into 1/4-inch pieces and coarsely chop the almonds so the pieces are about 1/8-inch.
- Peel and break the bananas into 1-inch chunks and place them in a large bowl. Use a fork to smash the banana until it is creamy and there are no discernible chunks of banana.
- Add the almond butter, maple syrup, kosher salt, and ground cinnamon to the bowl and whisk the ingredients together until all the ingredients are mixed together and the mixture appears creamy. It may appear a little lumpy.
- Add the chopped prunes, the almonds, the pepitas, and dried cranberries. Use a silicone spatula to stir the fruit and nuts into the almond butter-banana mixture until they appear well distributed throughout the cookie dough.
- Add the rolled oats and fold them into the dough with a spatula.
- At this point you can bake the cookies or store the cookie dough in the refrigerator in an airtight container.
- Use a 1/4-cup measuring spoon to measure a scoop of dough onto the line balking sheet. Place 6 cookies on the baking sheet evenly spaced apart.
- Bake the cookies for 16 minutes. Remove the cookies from the oven and let them cool on the baking sheet for 10 minutes and then move them to a wire rack to finish cooling.
- Store the cookies in an airtight container for 4 days and in the refrigerator in an airtight container for up to 2 weeks.
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