This breakfast cookie is packed with healthy fats, fiber, and tons of deliciousness! It’s the perfect addition to your make-ahead breakfast routine.
A cookie for breakfast? That’s exactly what I asked myself when I created this recipe nearly two years ago for my third cookbook, The Best Grain-Free Family Meals on the Planet. Originally created as a treat, I realized that with all the nutritious ingredients that make up the recipe, I wanted them earlier in my day, like for breakfast or after a workout!
What I love about these cookies is that they are easy to put together with pantry-ready ingredients. Sometimes, I want a cookie but I’ve run out of eggs (a total travesty at my house) but I nearly always have everything else. Like this week, for example, my family and I got home from a week long trip and we literally had nothing in the fridge. No eggs, no milk, nothing fresh. But, I did find a lonely overripe banana from our hotel’s breakfast that morning in my backpack that I had stashed in there for an airport snack. Now that it looked “yucky” nobody wanted to eat it and I was thrilled to use it up in this recipe!
You are probably wondering why would anyone work so hard to make even something liek a cookie be more nutritious? Well, when you have picky eaters like I do, every bite counts! I want to fill up my kids’ bellies with something that will keep them going for hours without the sugar crash that most ready-to-eat breakfasts provide. Using ingredients that are higher in good-for-you fats help keep them satiated for hours even during times they barely thought they were hungry.
You know how it goes. Kids just don’t want to eat some mornings but they’ll never refuse a cookie; am I right? I thought so. Just one cookie, when you make 16) is packed with 5 grams of protein, 4.5g of fiber, 10g of carbohydrates, and 6g of sugars (from the banana and honey) and at 180 calories. If you ask me, it’s a terrific option instead of a pre-made bar.
As we all know, the macronutrients (fats, carbs, calories, protein) isn’t always what’s important; instead, think about the micronutrients that your body will get from each cookie. The ingredients in the cookie offer fiber, iron, zinc, vitamin E, vitamin A, calcium, magnesium, omega 6s, phosphorus, and more. The bottom line is that this cookie offers more than meets the eye on a typical nutrition label all while tasting delicious.
Once you create the base for the cookie, you can add up to 1/3 cup of “add-ins” like raisins, chopped dried fruit, chocolate chips, chunks of nuts, and even cooked bacon bits (yes!).
All kidding aside, although I rarely joke about bacon, this cookie is my favorite to make ahead and eat throughout the week after a workout or give it to the kids before they head to swim practice or karate.
By looking at the ingredients, these cookies could easily be said to be Paleo, but to me that just means that it’s free of gluten, grains, dairy, and no refined sugars. The bonus is that they are also egg-free so I know that’s something many of you have requested. Instead of “labeling” this cookie for what it might be, let’s just make them for what they really are: a nutritionally sound snack or breakfast favorite that tastes delicious!
What is your favorite “go-to” breakfast?
Grain Free Paleo Breakfast Cookies Recipe
The recipe yields 8 monster sized cookies or 12 regular sized cookies. When making the standard sized cookies, baking time is reduced to 10 minutes.
- Yield: 8 cookie monster sized cookies 1x
Ingredients
- 1 banana
- 1 cup almond butter
- 1/3 cup honey
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- 1/2 teaspoon cinnamon
- 1 cup unsweetened & finely shredded coconut
- 1/3 cup hemp seeds or coarsely chopped sunflower seeds
- 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
- 1/4 teaspoon sea salt
- 1/3 cup raisins (optional)
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 350°F. Lightly coat two cookie sheets with cooking spray; set aside.
- In a large bowl, mash banana with a fork, add in almond butter, honey, vanilla, and cinnamon.
- In a small bowl, combine shredded coconut, hemp seeds, baking soda, and salt.
- Stir the dry ingredients into the banana almond butter mixture. If desired, fold in raisins.
- Using a ¼-cup measuring cup, drop mounds of dough 3 inches apart on prepared cookie sheets. With a thin metal or small plastic spatula dipped in water, flatten and spread each mound of dough to a 2¾-inch round, about ½ inch thick.
- Bake, one sheet at a time, for 14 to 16 minutes or until browned. Transfer to wire racks to cool completely.
- Store in the refrigerator inside an airtight container or resealable plastic bag for up to 4 days or freeze for up to 2 months; thaw before serving.
Notes
Whole30 & KickStart: omit the honey and substitute for 1/3 cup unsweetened apple sauce + 1/2 teaspoon liquid stevia.
These look great! Do you think I would be able to use peanut butter instead of almond butter?
Of course! enjoy. 🙂
On your serving size : “The recipe yields 8 monster sized cookies or 6 regular sized cookies.”
Are those numbers correct? I would think a monster cookie would be bigger than a regular size cookie. Perhaps you meant 6 monster sized cookies or 8 regular sized cookies?
OOPs! thanks for seeing this! that would be 12 🙂
I’d love to try this recipe. Our family isn’t big on coconut, though. It seems like all healthy cookies, granola bars, etc. call for coconut. Do you have suggestions as to what we could replace it with?
Thanks
Hi Summer, I assure you that this cookie recipe doesn’t taste “coconutty.” Unfortunately, I haven’t tried substituting it for something else but you can try my other breakfast cookie that uses oats. This cookie is the grain-free version of that cookie.
Thanks, I can’t wait to make these! One question though – when you say:
“Just one cookie, when you make 16) is packed with 5 grams of protein, 4.5g of fiber, 10g of carbohydrates, and 6g of sugars (from the banana and honey) and at 180 calories.”
Do you mean that this is the nutritional information for 1/16 of the recipe as written?
Thanks again – C.
exactly. I usually make 12-16 regular sized cookies. Sometimes I have 1, sometimes I have 2.
These sound really good, is there any other alternatives for the seeds as I don’t have any and would have to order and wait to make them?
you can omit the seeds without causing too much distress on the recipe.
I make these with peanut butter as it’s cheaper but still has healthy fats and protein, but they ended up goopy the first time I made them. The second time, I thought oats might help absorb the moisture, so I replaced half of the coconut with rolled oats. Just for kicks, I also added a scoop of soy protein. I love them after the gym!
★★★★★
I was wondering what to replace instead of using almond milk, my daughter has a bit allergy. The rest sounds great! Thanks!
I’m seeing the recipe as almond BUTTER not almond MILK. So she is allergic to almonds? Maybe use cashew butter or natural peanut butter? I’m sure Laura would have better answers than me. This sound yummy don’t they??
This recipe is easy to make nut free by using an alternative to nut butter like sunflower butter. I hope this helps! 😉
BEST Paleo cookie I’ve ever had. Thank you! now on my rotation as fuel for after my runs.