These vegan breakfast cookies are soft, chewy, and loaded with apples, pecans, and cinnamon. This easy grab-and-go breakfast is naturally sweetened and made with whole-food ingredients, so you can feel good about serving them to your family!
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Like my vegan apple bread, the apples, cinnamon, pecans, and maple syrup naturally sweeten these delicious breakfast cookies. They are perfect for fall with a warm apple flavor. However, just like my apple bread, I love to make them any time of year. Various apples are in season all year, so there’s always a reason to make these easy and healthy cookies.
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Why You’ll Love These Vegan Breakfast Cookies
- Simple Ingredients: This recipe uses simple baking ingredients you likely have in your pantry.
- Better-for-You: These cookies are sweetened with maple syrup and made with whole wheat flour and oats for extra fiber.
- Easy: All it takes to make this recipe is a little mixing and baking.
- Always Perfect: These cookies are particularly well-suited for fall, but you can make them year-round.
- Special Diet-Friendly: These cookies are oil-free and can be made gluten-free using 1:1 gluten-free flour instead of whole wheat flour.
Ingredients
- Rolled Oats: Rolled oats give the cookies their chewy texture.
- Apples: Diced apples give the cookies a soft texture and add flavor and fiber.
- Pecans: Chopped pecans have an earthy flavor and crunch that pairs perfectly with these cookies’ apple flavor and chewy texture.
- Cinnamon: This warm spice brings out the flavor of the apples.
- Maple Syrup: Maple syrup gives the cookies their sweetness with no refined sugar.
- Unsweetened Applesauce: Unsweetened applesauce adds the moisture these cookies need and keeps them dairy-free and oil-free.
See the recipe card at the end of the post for a full list of ingredients and their exact amounts.
Substitutions
- Use 1:1 gluten-free baking flour to make these cookies gluten-free. Make sure the package specifies that it’s baking flour.
- Walnuts and pecans are classic pairings with apples, but any nuts can be used to change up the flavor of these cookies.
- Add apple pie spice to these cookies for even more apple flavor.
- I prefer Granny Smith or Honeycrisp apples for their firm texture, but you can use any apple variety you prefer. They all add a different flavor profile to the cookies.
- You can use quick-cooking oats in a pinch, but I prefer the texture that rolled oats give the cookies.
- Give these cookies more texture by adding shredded coconut, pumpkin seeds, raisins, or cranberries.
How to Make Vegan Breakfast Cookies
- Preheat the oven to 350°F and line a baking sheet with parchment paper.
- Mix the dry cookie dough ingredients in a large bowl.
- Whisk the wet cookie ingredients in another bowl.
- Add the wet ingredients to the dry ingredients and mix them until combined.
- Gently fold in the apples and nuts. Chill the dough for at least 30 minutes.
- Then, use a ¼ cup cookie scoop to place dough balls on the baking sheet.
- Bake the cookies for 12 to 15 minutes or until the edges are golden brown and the cookies are set. Gently press down to flatten the cookie mounds.
- Cool on the baking sheet for a few minutes, then transfer them to a wire rack to cool completely.
FAQ
The most commonly used apple in most baked goods is the Granny Smith. Its firm, crisp texture, and tartness make it the perfect baking apple. A close second is Honeycrisp. It has a sweeter flavor but much of the Granny Smith’s firmness.
Technically, yes. However, some apples are softer than others. If you want apple pie filling with firm but soft apples, you want to use a firmer apple. In recipes like bread, softer apples can be used. Granny Smith, Braeburn, Cortland, Honey Gold, Jonathan, Fuji, Gala, Haralson, and Newtown Pippin are the most popular baking apples.
That’s largely a matter of personal preference. Unpeeled apples have more texture and chew due to the peel, while peeled apples get softer and more velvety. They’re both delicious.
Just combined is a baking term that means the dry ingredients have been mixed into the wet ingredients until they’re moistened. You’ll often see lumps in batter that’s been mixed until just combined. That’s totally okay! In fact, that’s what you want. This method of mixing prevents your bread or baked goods from getting tough.
Yes, you can. In fact, a lot of oatmeal cookies call for quick oats. They give the cookies a more uniform texture. However, rolled outs make the cookies chewier and more old-fashioned.
Expert Tips
- Be sure to spoon your flour into your measuring cup loosely. Never scoop the flour out directly with the cup. This compacts the flour, and you’ll use too much.
- Mix your batter until just combined for the most tender cookies possible.
- Fold your apples and nuts into the dough rather than mixing it. This helps keep the batter from being overmixed and making tough cookies.
- Chill the dough for at least 30 minutes. This ensures the fat in the cookies is solidified and helps them bake at the appropriate speed.
- These cookies won’t spread much, so it’s important to press them down a bit into a cookie shape.
Serving Suggestions
Like all good cookies, these vegan breakfast cookies are perfect with a cup of coffee or tea.
You can also make them part of a sweet and savory breakfast with recipes like these delicious egg recipes, hash browns, or homemade almond milk yogurt.
Storage
Room Temperature: Store for up to 5 days in an airtight container at room temperature.
Freezer: Wrap the cookies in plastic wrap and store them in an airtight, freezer-safe container or heavy-duty freezer bag for up to 2 months.
More Sweet Vegan Breakfast Ideas!
Recipe
Vegan Breakfast Cookies
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Ingredients
- 1 cup rolled oats
- ¾ cup white whole wheat flour
- 1 teaspoon baking powder
- ½ teaspoon ground cinnamon
- ¼ cup unsweetened applesauce
- ½ cup maple syrup
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- ½ cup apples peeled, and finely diced
- ¼ cup pecans roughly chopped
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 350°F and line a baking sheet with parchment paper.
- In a large mixing bowl, combine rolled oats, flour, baking powder, cinnamon, and salt.
- In a separate bowl, whisk together applesauce, maple syrup, and vanilla extract.
- Pour the wet mixture into the dry mixture and stir until just combined. Gently fold in the diced apple and nuts.
- Refrigerate the cookie dough for at least 30 minutes.
- Scoop the dough: Use a large ¼ cup cookie scoop to scoop out dough balls and place them on the baking sheet. Flatten each ball slightly to form a cookie shape, as these cookies won’t spread much during baking.
- Bake for 12-15 minutes or until the edges are golden brown and the cookies are set.
- Allow the cookies to cool on the baking sheet for a few minutes before transferring them to a wire rack to cool completely.
Video
Notes
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- Be sure to spoon your flour into your measuring cup loosely. Never scoop the flour out directly with the cup. This compacts the flour, and you’ll use too much.
-
- Mix your batter until just combined for the most tender cookies possible.
-
- Fold your apples and nuts into the dough rather than mixing it. This helps keep the batter from being overmixed and making tough cookies.
-
- Chill the dough for at least 30 minutes. This ensures the fat in the cookies is solidified and helps them bake at the appropriate speed.
-
- These cookies won’t spread much, so it’s important to press them down a bit into a cookie shape.
- Store in an airtight container at room temperature for up to 5 days. Freeze for up to 2 months. Defrost at room temperature overnight.
Cheska
These sound perfect for a cozy fall morning!