I found this recipe for wholesome breakfast cookies in the book One Smart Cookie by Julie Van Rosendaal. I have made a couple of changes to make it even more healthy and was floored by the taste. I really can't believe that healthy can taste so good. So if you have kids who drive you crazy without having breakfast, then this recipe is for you. These breakfast cookies are packed with proteins, fiber, vitamins and minerals and low in fat too. What better way to start a day than this? With a glass of milk or orange juice it's sure to fill up even adults.
Recipe
Wholesome Oatmeal Breakfast Cookies
Very healthy, tasty and egg free breakfast cookies using quick cooking oats, navy beans, walnuts and cranberries.
Need To Convert Measurements?Check out the Baking Measurement Chart!
Ingredients
- 2 cups Quick Cooking Oats
- 1 cup Whole Wheat Pastry Flour
- 1 teaspoon Baking Powder
- 1 teaspoon Baking Soda
- 1 pinch Cinnamon (optional)
- 1 pinch Salt
- 19 oz Navy Beans (Rinsed and Drained - 19oz/540ml - 1 can)
- 4 tablespoons Margarine (Soft Tub)
- 1 cup Brown Sugar (packed, I used light)
- ¼ cup Unsweetened Applesauce (measured in a dry measuring cup)
- 2 teaspoons Vanilla Extract
- ½ cup Peanut Butter Chips
- ½ cup Cranberries (Dried)
- ½ cup Walnuts (Chopped)
- 2 tablespoons Flax Seed Meal
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 350F for 15 minutes. Line 2 cookie sheets with parchment paper.
- Pulse the oats in a food processor until it resembles coarse flour. To this also add the whole wheat flour, baking powder, baking soda, cinnamon and salt and process until combined. Transfer this mix to a large mixing bowl.
- Put the drained and rinsed beans in the food processor and pulse until smoothly pureed. You may add 2-3 tablespoons of water to make it easier. Add the butter/margarine and process until well blended.
- Now add the brown sugar, applesauce and vanilla and pulse until smooth, scraping down the sides of the bowl.
- Pour the bean mixture into the oat mixture and stir using a spatula. Add the peanut butter chips/chocolate chips, raisins/dried cranberries, nuts and flax seed meal and stir until blended.
- Drop by large spoonfuls of dough onto the prepared cookie sheets. Flatten each one a little with your hand. Have a bowl of water nearby to dampen your palms, so that flattening the cookies will be easy.
- Bake for 14-16 minutes, until pale around the edges but still soft in the middle. The cookies baked in a dark coated cookie sheet started browning after 14 minutes itself but the pale coated cookie sheet was done after 16 minutes.
- Place the the cookie sheets on individual wire racks. Let it cool for 5 minutes. Transfer the cookies to the cooling rack after that.
My Notes
- You can use all purpose flour instead of whole wheat pastry flour, white beans instead of navy beans, butter or margarine, chocolate chips instead of peanut butter chips, raisins, pecans instead of walnuts.
- For chocolate flavored cookies use ½ cup of unsweetened cocoa powder instead of the flour.
- Updated: I stored these cookies in a cookie jar over the counter and it became very soft. This is okay if you are going to consume it within 2-3 days. The longer it stays on the counter the softer it gets. Recently I borrowed Moosewood Restaurant Low Fat Favorites from the library and found a tip for storing low-fat cookies. It says that the best way to store low-fat cookies is in layers separated by wax paper or plastic wrap in an airtight container in the freezer. Defrost at room temperature for about 20 minutes before serving. But I think storing in the refrigerator should be fine because it gives instant gratification.
Taste & Texture
- These cookies tasted very much like the Fiber One Cereal breakfast cookies I have baked earlier. These are very soft cookies, more like a muffin. The presence of whole grain flours like whole wheat pastry flour and oat flour did not affect the taste at all. You cannot detect the navy beans too. It's not very sweet also. If "healthy" tastes so good, I'm ready to eat healthy always. My son takes it to school as a treat after having his lunch and he likes it so much.
Nutrition
Calories: 147kcalCarbohydrates: 24gProtein: 4gFat: 4gSaturated Fat: 1gPolyunsaturated Fat: 2gMonounsaturated Fat: 1gCholesterol: 0.1mgSodium: 91mgPotassium: 163mgFiber: 4gSugar: 10gVitamin A: 86IUVitamin C: 1mgVitamin D: 0.002µgCalcium: 43mgIron: 1mg
Did You Make This?I love seeing what you made! Leave a review comment below and be sure to tag me at @EgglessCooking when you share a photo!
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Mans says
Any substitute for applesauce?
Madhuram says
You can try mashed banana.
geetanjali says
Hey can you please tell what is the difference between whole wheat pastry flour and normal whole wheat flour.
Madhuram says
Please check the FAQ section in the menu bar.
Kim says
Hi Madhuram,
This is a great idea - any thoughts on how to make it gluten-free friendly? Do you think the recipe would convert well?
Kim
Madhuram says
I think it would, Kim. You could use gluten-free certified oats and a gluten-free all purpose mix or any other gluten-free flour of your choice (like one from Bob's Red Mill) instead of the all purpose flour.
Krsna says
Hi Madhuram,
what if i dont have flaxseed meal can i use more baking soda instead?
Thanks.
I wouldn't do that Krsna. The flax seed mixture acts as a binder and not as a leavener. So you may want to use EnerG or applesauce. But remember that using applesauce will make the cookies soft and chewy, not crispy.
Heather says
I made these today and they were very good. I wonder how they would be in "bar" form? They really don't taste like a cookie to me at all, but as I said I really liked them.
Thanks for trying it Heather. Bars, is an interesting idea!
vini says
hi madhuram,
your webpage is the one for me...
want to try all your baking recipes...to start with i am trying the whole oatmeal breakfast cookies. but what is navy beans?
Thank you very much Vini. Navy beans are small white beans, shaped like kidney beans but small in size. You can find it in the canned food section next to chickpeas and other legumes. You can use white beans too or any other light colored beans and I'm sure it won't affect the taste.
RedChillies says
Hi Madhuram, hope you are feeling well now. Good to hear about the cake decorating class. I am sure we will get to see many recipes from you.
I'm better now Supriya, thanks. I have taken a lot of pictures but don't find the time to write.
Sadhana says
Have tried beans in cupcakes, brownies etc but never tried in cookies. Sure is a nice idea.
Dee says
Dear madhu , they look yummy mom is here so Im gonna try some great stuff from here. Hope you have recovered !
Mansi says
navy beans??? now that's something 😆 new to me! but the cookies look very inviting, and something i could use for my sweet tooth without being guilty:)
spice says
Good receipe.....and who don't like cookiee.
Sophie says
hello, 😉
You have a great & cool foodblog!! I so digg all of your yummie recipes!!
This one is no exception!!
Welcome here Sophie.
Sharmila says
I just discovered this website and I already love it!! Your recipes are just perfect for a vegetarian like me wanting to go vegan (Its just so darn hard to not eat cheese) I tried the oatmeal+coconut cookies and the tofu tikka. loved them to bits!! will be trying this out next. Thanks for putting these up.
You're welcome Sharmila. It's indeed a great pleasure for me when somebody tries the recipes here and lets me know that it came out well. Thank you very much.
Shalini says
Hello Madhuram,
Thank you so much for the info. Will get started as soon as possible and try out your recipes.Have a great day.
Shalini
Smitha says
Hey Madhu,
I am tempted to try this recipe. Like Sonu asked,I have old fashioned oats. Also I have oat bran. Which one do you think will go well with this recipe?
Smitha, use the oats itself. Coarsely powder it. I forgot to mention in the Notes section (updated it now), store these cookies in the fridge, because they become very soft at room temperature.
Vaishali says
Beans in cookies sound a little crazy, but I am truly intrigued! Besides, your cookies look like they turned out just perfect. Thanks for sharing this, Madhuram-- now one can truly have a cookie and eat it too! 🙂
Even I was skeptical before trying the recipe Vaishali. Believe me it's very good.
Shalini says
Hello,
I was browsing for vegetarian and eggless recipes, and I happened to check your blog. You have a wonderful blog. I love baking, but dont know how to start. Can you just help me telling which is best bakeware. I am inspired by your eggless cakes and information on vegetarian facts.
Thanks
Shalini
Thank you very much Shalini. I too felt lost initially, but the more you bake the more mistakes you make and you tend to learn. So don't worry. When I started, I got the book Baking for Dummies. It was very helpful. They have listed everything from basics (how to choose bakeware, different types of flours, fats etc.) to recipes. Reg. bakeware, initially I would suggest you to get non stick ones. In stores like Walmart, you can find a starter set with a couple of cookie sheets, muffin tin, bread loaf pan, cake pan etc. That's what I got. Get a light coating non stick bakeware. The dark ones tend to brown the baked goods quickly. This will be a problem for beginners, when you are experimenting with oven temperature/baking time etc. The best ones would be aluminum pans and sheets but it's expensive. So you reserve that for later. Hope this helps.
Vipul Gandhi says
Dear Madhuram,
I have no words to express my feelings of gratitude for your wonderful and a very useful site. I stay in India and some ingredients used in your recipes are not available. for e. g. whole wheat pastry flour, Navy beans etc .I will be highly obliged if you give us options for such things.
Vipul, thank you very much for your kind words of appreciation. You can use maida (all purpose flour) itself instead of whole wheat pastry flour. That's what was mentioned in the original recipe. I used whole wheat pastry flour to make it even more healthy. Another substitution for whole wheat pastry flour is using equal portions of all purpose flour and whole wheat flour. So in the recipe it will be 1/2 cup each. You could use any cooked legumes. That is not going to affect the taste of the cookies. So well cooked and blended chickpeas should also be fine. But if you use rajma or lentils the color of the cookies will change, so use 1/2 cup cocoa powder instead of flour and you won't notice that too.
Parita says
Beans in cookies is new me too, good to know they tasted great 🙂
nags says
we get very similar cookies in a bakery called cedele here. they are very wholesome and i love them for breakfast!
Sonu says
Beans in cookies? It's new to me. Madhuram, I have old-fashioned rolled oats...can I use in it? Your cookie sound very fibrous and healthy. 🙂
You can use it Sonu.
deepa says
hi
i would like to know what can i use instead of peanut butter chip and chocolate chip, is there any other option.. is it ok to use flax seed with blueberry... thanks madhu
Hi Deepa you can use chopped nuts instead of the choc/pb chips. If you mean dried blueberries, you can definitely use it. The cookies are very soft already so adding fresh fruits would make it very soggy.
Sweatha says
Great looking cookies Madhu.Have heard of beans in brownies,but cookies is new to me.Truly Fibrous they look.Healthy can be tasty as well.I think we can also try other beans like chickpeas also this way.Its just my assumption.Hope you had a HAPPY & SAFE DIWALI
I too was surprised with the addition of beans and wanted to try it. It came out very well. Yes we could use any beans.
Priya says
Beans in cookies, definitely very innovative..looks marvellous and delicious Madhu..
Thanks Priya.