Breakfast Cookies {Vegan}

Name: Breakfast Cookies {Vegan}
Prep time: 30 min
Cook time: 15 min
Total time: 45 min
Yield: 16
Ingredients: 65g whole spelt flour (1/2 cup); 100g rolled oats (1 cup); 75g coconut flakes (1 cup); 1 teaspoon cinnamon; 1/2 teaspoon baking powder; 1/4 teaspoon salt; 2 flax eggs*; 100g peanut butter (1/2 cup); 100g sugar** (1/2 cup); 60ml canola oil (1/4 cup); 1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract; 5 drops almond extract; 2 handfuls cranberries (whole or chopped); 1 handful chopped almonds; 1 handful sunflower seeds; 1 teaspoon chia seeds

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Cookies that are healthy, delicious AND vegan? These babies might seem too good to be true but they are the real deal, I promise!

Three breakfast cookies with cranberries and coconut on a wooden board.

I have had a prejudice against breakfast cookies for the longest time. Maybe that’s because I once ate one that tasted aweful too healthy and I never got over the incident. Or maybe it’s just a notion that healthy cookies taste bland and dry. Now don’t get me wrong, I don’t believe that healthy=gross. I eat a very balanced and healthy diet… but when it comes to cookies my expectations are high.

I am not going to lie, these cookies don’t taste like your normal sugar loaded buttery chocolate chip cookies. I’d rather say they taste different, in a good way. These cookies are soft, chewy, sweet, slightly crunchy on the outside and just darn delicious. And trust me, you won’t miss the chocolate chips, not with all the add-ins these cookies have. Sweet and sour cranberries, crunchy almonds and sunflower seeds and a dash of chia seeds keep you full and satisfied.

A tower of breakfast cookies with cranberries and coconut.

As you can imagine, the recipe development for these cookies was quite interesting. With all those prejudices in the back of my head and the challenges of vegan baking, I did lose my temper quite a bit. My first attempt failed because I used to many add-ins. Big mistake! If you overdo it, the cookies will fall apart during baking because they have too many big chunks in them. The second batch was a bit too oily. Last but not least I tested a third batch and this time it was a total hit.

What may confuse you a little bit when baking these cookies, is the fact that you take them out of the oven when they are still completely soft. The first time I made these cookies I took them out of the oven after 15 minutes of baking and they were still extremely soft. I got so angry at my failed attempt (there’s my short temper again) that I left the kitchen with these cookies cooling on the baking sheet. When I returned to the kitchen later, I saw something magical. The underbaked cookies that had caused me grief had turned into crispy well-baked cookies. Lesson learned: don’t overbake these cookies, waiting for them to become crispy; the magic happens outside the oven.

A cookie jar filled with breakfast cookies.

Lastly I want to mention the add-ins and how you can customize these cookies to your liking. You can substitute the dried cranberries for a different type of dried fruit, just make sure to cut bigger fruit into chunks before adding it. Same goes for the nuts. If you don’t like chia seeds you can simply leave them out. Switching out pumpkin seeds for sunflower seeds would also be delicious.

Happy baking!

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