Haven’t you always wanted to eat cookies for breakfast??
These sugar free cookies are filled with wholesome ingredients like bananas, oats, and raisins. See? Totally acceptable for breakfast. Or lunch.
Mmm sure, why not?
Normally, my goal is to make my healthy dessert recipes not taste healthy. However, these cookies are an exception to that rule. (In other words, don’t expect them to taste like traditional cookies you’d find in a bakery.) The wholesome breakfast cookies won’t be a hit with everyone, and I wouldn’t bring them to a party.
For that, I recommend my popular Flourless Chocolate Chip Cookies.
But if you’re used to the taste of healthy desserts—and maybe even if you’re not—these incredibly healthy oatmeal-raisin cookies might just be your newest-favorite cookies!
Oatmeal Raisin Breakfast Cookies
Also found here: 100 Sugar-Free Recipes
- 1/2 cup rolled oats
- scant 1/2 cup applesauce or over-ripe banana (mashed)
- 1/4 cup nut butter of choice (I used salted peanut butter)
- 1/4 tsp cinnamon
- 1/2 tsp pure vanilla extract
- 3 tbsp raisins (or other dried fruit, or even chocolate chips)
- 1/16 tsp salt, plus a tiny pinch more if desired (taste dough to decide)
- 1 packet stevia if using applesauce version (or 1 tablespoon sugar. I actually omitted this altogether. If you have absolutely no sweet tooth, you can try it that way. And if you have a huge sweet tooth—or are used to “non-healthy-tasting” desserts—try adding 1/4 cup sugar. As I said above, don’t expect these to taste like your everyday oatmeal-raisin cookies. I’ll post a recipe for those soon!)
Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Mash the applesauce or banana with the nut butter, then add all other ingredients and mix until well-combined. Shape into cookies and bake for around 14 minutes. (Alternatively, you can try pulverizing the raisins and oats before combining them with the banana mixture, if you want more sweetness.) This recipe probably yields around 10-12 cookies, but I had to guess… because I ate a considerable amount of the raw dough!
Raisins: Do you love or hate them?
It seems like people have very strong feelings about raisins—either adoring them or loathing them! My roommate is on Team No-Raisins. Yesterday afternoon, as we were eating the cookies, she kept picking out the raisins and asking, “Couldn’t you have used chocolate chips instead?!” Hmmm, that’s actually not a bad idea. If there’s one thing I love more than raisins, it’s chocolate!
EDIT – Here is the chocolate version:
Just made these…and ate them all! I followed your recipe and used applesauce instead of banana and added some chopped pecans. I didn’t eat any of the dough and yielded about 8 tablespoon-sized cookies. I woke my husband up and we both devoured them all! He loves them! I just used a packet of sweetener and he though they were perfect and he has “normal” taste buds. Thanks for another amazing recipe! I look forward to trying you recipes as soon as I get home from work! Keep ’em coming =)
Aww yay!!! And I’m glad to know someone with “normal” tastebuds (lol) likes them. I was wary about posting them after my mom said they were horrible… but my roommate and I liked them so much that I went ahead and posted anyway :).
Katie, I’m sure you’ve heard this before, but it is a little misleading to label items such as this “sugar free”. I know you are just trying to say that you aren’t using added sugar, but there is still sugar from natural sources (raisins and bananas both have a good amount). My guess is that most of your readers know this though. Either way, I love your recipes and just made your fudge babies a few weeks ago. 🙂
Thanks, Jen. What I mean is that it’s free of sugar, as in the white stuff. So, sugar-free!
(But I would definitely agree with you that I don’t think calling a recipe with agave or honey or maple syrup “sugar free” is correct.)
I made traditional oatmeal raisin cookies the other day but used a banana instead of egg and omitted about 1/4 of the sugar…but I could probably go without the sugar all together. Definitely trying this one! I love raisins!
Katie, this is so crazy! I just posted a similar recipe a couple hours ago!!! I called them Oatmeal Raisin Bizookies because they taste like biscuit/cookies. They look pretty much like yours, too!!! WOW! Great minds think alike, huh?
You can see mine here: http://spoonfulofsugarfree.com/2012/01/11/day-11-oatmeal-raisin-bizookies/
Wow, great minds really DO think alike!
Haven’t we decided before that we’re kinda twins? Now if only I could live in Florida…
I totally agree-you need to come to Florida! Besides, it is warmer than Texas!!
I recently discovered your site and can’t wait to try one of your cookie recipes. I would love breakfast ideas for tomorrow!
Oatmeal and raisins were made to be together and I love them in any form. A cookie, a bar, a muffin or in a bowl – I can never have too much of this combo. But raisins are good in other combinations, too. If you have ever eaten pumpkin stuffed with dried fruit and nuts, you already know it. Rum soaked raisins make some desserts really outstanding compared to their raisin-less versions. And last but not least, my favorite banana bread is packed with raisins and walnuts and I wouldn’t use anything else instead of them. So… I’d love an oatmeal-raisin cookie 🙂 .
I like raisins themselves, but I HATE them in things. I don’t want to be chewing a yummy cookie only to discover a raisin. I hate them in bread. I’ll just eat them by themselves. But then, I’m the same way with nuts. Blended nuts in a recipe is fine, nuts by themselves are fun, but no chunks of them in my baked goods!
These look yummy! But one small technicality for the diabetics: they are not “sugar-free” because there are natural sugars in the fruit, etc. They are “no sugar added.”
Love raisins. Not like. LOVE.
When I was a kid I ate two Weetabix with raisins and milk for breakfast every day for almost a year straight.
xxx
This came into my inbox this morning and, after having been determined to eat some of the Bob’s Red Mill oats I bought and then utterly failing to make oatmeal, I decided to make these!
I didn’t have raisins; my family hates them but I love them, so instead I used chopped nuts (cashews, almonds, hazelnuts) and a few cranberries. I ended up using 1/2 a tbsp of raw sugar, because I have a tiny sweet tooth when it comes to oats but mother doesn’t, and I used almond/brazil/cashew butter and a banana. They’re great! I’m really tempted to try them with some blueberries next time. :3
Ooh they sound like they’d be really good with blueberries!
Also, Brazil nut butter sounds amazing! I’ve never tried it!
I can’t wait to try these with dried plums…..my new favorite dried fruit!! 🙂
I doubled the recipe, so I used 1/2 cup applesauce and 1/ 2 cup bananas. My son is allergic to peanut butter so I subbed cream cheese. I had to mix it up by hand (literally) and I didn’t like the consistency so I threw in another couple of handfuls of oats until it seemed dough like. Hey guess what?! It worked!! I presented them to the family as baked oatmeal though. “Cookie” would have set up expectations that these little jewels could never meet. Thanks so much for the inspiration! They are surprisingly addictive. 🙂
Ooh interesting! With the cream cheese, I wonder if you could do a carrot cake cookie! Carrot cake and cream cheese just seem to go together in my book :).
Yum! You could add nutmeg and use honey instead of the sugar. Delish!
Those would be a great snack, too!
So making these…not just for breakfast! Haha 🙂
Katie:
Thank you so much for this recipe! I just made a batch (subbing chocolate chippies for the raisins). Like you, I also omitted sugar — and they turned out so moist and yummy! You can really taste the banana. The dough was very sweet and tasty too.
I wanted to also say that your website rocks as a whole! Whenever I have a craving for something sweet yet healthy, I head straight to your site. I really like how your recipes are so versatile (ie. you don’t always have to add the sugar if you don’t want, and you can change up the ingredients depending on your craving, and you make suggestions to suit different dietary needs). Keep your creative ideas coming!! : )
Awww Beth, thank YOU so much… both for making the cookies AND for your sweet comment :).
I love oatmeal raisin cookies! I especially love that you used peanut butter in these — YUM! 😀