These breakfast cookies are a great balance of health and decadence with chocolate, walnuts, whole wheat flour, and a low amount of fat.
Recipe Overview
Why you’ll love it: Breakfast cookies are great for grab-and-go breakfasts. They make a healthy lunchbox treat or quick snack, too.
How long it takes: 30 minutes
Equipment you’ll need: mixing bowl, mixer, baking sheets
Servings: makes 18 cookies
Hmm… dry toast, cold cereal, or breakfast cookies?
I’ll take breakfast cookies, please.
These chocolate walnut breakfast cookies taste so decadent and indulgent. And, I confess, they are a bit more indulgent than some other breakfast options, like Instant Pot steel cut oats or sheet pan eggs. However, chocolate breakfast cookies are a great grab-and-go treat and incredible with a hot cup of coffee.
They boast loads of great chocolate flavor, a subtle taste of banana, and an amazing chewy texture with a nice crunch from the walnuts. Oh wait, you want them to be healthy too? Well, you’re in luck! They are full of whole grains and low in fat.
I adapted this recipe from my friend, Christy, who writes Love from the Oven. Everything that comes out of her kitchen looks so amazing. As soon as I saw this recipe, I knew I would be baking these breakfast cookies the first time I sighted brown bananas happening on my counter.
If you like the idea of cookies for breakfast, be sure to try gingerbread breakfast cookies, too.
About Chocolate Breakfast Cookies
Breakfast cookies are easy to make. You can literally make and bake them in a half hour. Your electric mixer will do much of the hard work for you. You can use either a stand mixer or a hand mixer, or if you feel energetic or the baby’s sleeping, the muscles in your arm.
They are healthier than normal cookies. This cookie recipe is packed with nutritious ingredients: banana, Greek yogurt, eggs, oats, whole wheat flour, and walnuts. They contain a generous amount of unsweetened cocoa powder which is very low in calories and contains loads of antioxidants. You’ll find only a quarter cup of butter in this recipe.
The recipe is flexible. Don’t care for walnuts? Try a different type of nut or make the cookies nut-free by subbing in coconut or sunflower seeds. Instead of chocolate chips, substitute white chocolate or milk chocolate chips. Peanut butter chips are another great choice. Refer to the recipe card below for more adaptations.
Make a double batch of cookies and freeze the extra cookies. I like to wrap them individually so they are easy to add to lunchboxes in the morning.
Breakfast cookies thaw very quickly. Even better, briefly warm a cookie up in the microwave and you get to munch on a delicious cookie that tastes freshly baked. What more could you possibly want?
After the cookies have completely cooled, store them in an airtight container. They’ll keep on the counter for a week, in the refrigerator for a few weeks, and in the freezer for up to 8 months, as long as they are stored properly.
More Breakfast Treats
Chocolate Walnut Breakfast Cookies
Ingredients
- 1 ¼ cups white whole wheat flour (can substitute whole wheat flour or all-purpose flour)
- 1 ½ cups oats (quick or old fashioned)
- ¾ cup cocoa powder
- ¼ teaspoon salt
- 1 teaspoon baking soda
- 1 teaspoon baking powder
- ¼ cup unsalted butter, softened
- ½ cup plain Greek yogurt
- 1 large ripe banana
- ½ cup granulated sugar
- ⅔ cup packed brown sugar
- 1 tablespoon pure vanilla extract
- 2 large eggs
- 1 cup chopped walnuts
- 1 cup semisweet chocolate chips (can substitute white chocolate or milk chocolate chips)
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 350°F. Line 2 baking sheets with parchment paper or silpat baking sheets.
- In a large bowl, combine flour, oats, cocoa powder, salt, baking soda and baking powder. Set aside.
- In the bowl of a stand mixer, add butter, yogurt and banana. Mix with paddle attachment until smooth. Add granulated sugar and brown sugar and mix until combined (may look curdled–no big deal!). Add eggs and vanilla; mix well. If you don't have a stand mixer, you can use a hand mixer.
- With the mixer on low, gradually add dry ingredients. Mix until just combined. If you're using a hand mixer, stir in the dry ingredients by hand. Mix in chocolate chips and walnuts by hand.
- Using a large cookie scoop (about ¼ cup), scoop batter onto prepared sheet pans about 2 inches apart. Bake for 13 to 15 minutes or until set. Cool completely on baking sheets before storing in an airtight container.
Notes
- Adapted from Love from the Oven.
- Cookies will keep for 1 week at room temperature. For longer storage, refrigerate them. They can be frozen for up to 8 months. I like to wrap them individually for easy lunchbox treats.
- Feel free to substitute any kind of nut for the walnuts. Coconut, sunflower seeds, and pepitas are great nut-free choices.
Nutrition
Nutrition information is automatically calculated, so should only be used as an approximation.
Did You Make This?Share a comment and rating below! I love hearing what you think!
This is absolutely magnificent, scrumptious, delicious, super yummy chocolate walnut breakfast cookies. My kids would love it! Thx Rachel!
I’m so happy to hear you and your kids love these! Thanks for taking the time to leave a comment!
YES!!! Cookies for breakfast!! Om nom nom… ;)
I need no excuse to eat cookies for breakfast. This morning I even had a chocolate muffin!
I love any excuse to have cookies for breakfast. These look fabulous!
I LOVE cookies for breakfast! These looks so incredible–looking forward to trying these out soon!
I’ll take any excuse to eat cookies for breakfast! These look so yummy!
I think breakfast cookies are the best thing ever (and thanks for linking to mine).
I love how fudgey these ones look! Yum!
So glad you liked them! It’s so awesome to be able to cut out so much of the butter and still have a great cookie. :) Just made some peanut butter white chocolate ones yesterday, not on the blog yet, that my daughter has declared are even better than these. Woohoo! Cookies for breakfast.
Oh, yes! These look super yummy, and if I can enjoy them for breakfast, all the better! Wonderful recipe, Rachel. Have a great weekend.
ooh awesome! I just made carrot walnut breakfast cookies but anything with chocolate automatically wins! :)