In honor of National Cookie Day, and as a way to counteract all the butter and sugar we consumed yesterday with our Spritz Butter Cookies, I decided to whip up something a wee bit healthier today. And since I started baking these at 8 in the morning (and wanted to eat them shortly thereafter), what better kind of cookie than one we could eat for breakfast? There’s no refined sugar or flour in these Healthy Oatmeal Cranberry Breakfast Cookies, so it’s practically like eating oatmeal, right?
The flavor of these cookies is a little reminiscent of a traditional, nostalgic oatmeal raisin cookie—which I love—but with an updated flavor profile that includes the sweetness from bananas and the tartness of dried cranberries. As an added twist, I dusted the tops of these with just a small pinch of salt, which gave them the perfect balance of sweet and salty and crunchy and YUM.
The smell of these baking was downright heavenly, an intoxicating combination of cinnamon with hints of apple and banana. When I told my daughter she could eat these for breakfast, she did a little happy dance. As for me, I paired them with . We curled up on the couch and read while we ate these, and it was the perfect way to start a cold, December Sunday. I’m so glad that my newfound passion for living a nostalgic life has started to create such sweet moments that we both will be sure to remember.
We hope your first December Sunday—and every day for that matter—will be filled will all sorts of sweet, memory-making moments.
Healthy Oatmeal Cranberry Breakfast Cookies
2 cups rolled oats (regular or quick)
2 ripe bananas
1 cup unsweetened applesauce
1 tsp cinnamon
1 tsp vanilla extract
⅓ cup unsweetened, dried cranberries (can also use any other dried fruit, such as raisins or apricots)
Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Mix together all ingredients until well combined. Line a cookie sheet with wax paper. Using a teaspoon, drop dough onto the cookie sheet and then flatten into round shapes. Bake approximately 20-25 minutes until golden. Remove from oven and let rest on cookie sheet for 5 minutes and then move to cooling rack.
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How about you? Do you have a favorite cookie that could be updated to be just a tad bit healthier? And what cookie will you whip up (or just eat) today on National Cookie Day?
Looks so delicious !
Happy National Cookie Day! Those look delicious, I could basically grab them and eat them. I have to find time to make these.
Looks great!
Happy National Cookie Day (which I didn’t even know was a thing until now haha). You’ve made me super hungry, and now I’m craving these because I didn’t have breakfast. Curse you! Also, can you send me some? 😉
I hope your day is filled with sweetness to last through the week!
Happy writing and eating!
-Author S
Ooo I so love cookies! These look delicious. I tend to buy a lot of my cookies since I’m not a fan of baking. But I do love eating!
We love eating cookies (and just plain eating!) too. Thanks for checking us out!
Wait a minute… National Cookie Day…? HOW DID I NOT KNOW ABOUT THIS?? This day was created for Me. LOL.
Best day ever! 🙂
They look delicious and nice and chewy. Love using oats for my cookies, but would substitute the cranberry or maybe give it a try. Has to be better then using raisins lol.
You could probably use any kind of dried fruit. And chocolate – you could always add chocolate 🙂
These look super easy to make. I’m definitely going to save this recipe to my YumPrint.
Cool! We never had heard of YumPrint before so we checked it out. It’s like Pinterest for food! Fun!
WOW, I didn’t know cookies had national days! Another great reason for me to eat my favourite chocolate chip cookies. These oatmeal cranberry cookies look amazing!
They were delicious – we ate them all week long! Thanks for stopping by!
The Nutcracker and these amazing cookies. What a great way to spend an afternoon!
It was the best! 🙂
Whoa thry looks yummy, I love cookies of any kind 🙂
Cranberries are so good in desserts but I’ve never tried them in cookies or bars. This looks really good.
Their tartness can cut the sweetness down a bit. They are pretty tasty!
First: Happy National Cookie day
Second: I love oatmeal cookies but, I think chocolate trumps it everytime. However, adding the cranberry is a good twist. =)
Maybe next time I’ll put dark chocolate in. They say it’s good for your heart, so we can still call them healthy 🙂
Oh these look so good! Thank you for sharing!
Thanks, Brittany! We are excited to share more yummy treats with you!
Those look pretty amazing 😀
I might have eaten 3 😉
These look really delicious and love that you dusted them with some salty wouldn’t have thought to do that. How awesome
You had me at Breakfast Cookie! Thank you so much for adding your URL to the latest #FanDayFriday Link party at iamzoewatson.com.
Hope you get some great traffic from your post and that I can read more of your posts next week!
Patty
Blogger | iamzoewatson.com
OMG they look soo yummyy
I’m so going to make these over the weekend 😉
I will try this looks yummy 🙂
Hi this looks amazing!!! i wrote down the ingredients and is going to be my sunday project! im starting my blog and i really like yours, i kindly invite you to have a look. I really would appreciated. Thanks in advance, now im following you so ill keep in touch. Regards GT
Ohh these look delicious, will need to try this recipe out.
Mmmm they look so tasty! Didn’t know there was a national cookie day, will make sure we celebrate it this year!!!
It snuck up on me last year, but I was glad I heard about it so I could use it as an excuse to eat cookies 🙂
Haha we will use any excuse to eat and bake cookies!! Mmmm
What a lovely simple recipe! I can’t wait to try it!
Um, yes please on eating cookies for breakfast! These look delicious!
These sound amazing!
These look so yummy, and they are legitimately healthy (other than the Craisins, but I’m alright with a little sweet). Wahoo! Pinned. I can’t wait to make these for my kids. They will love me for making cookies for breakfast. I think they’d make a great travel snack too!
Oh man, I love cookies! These look delicious!
As a mom of a child with nut allergies, it’s refreshing to find a breakfast cookie recipe that doesn’t include nuts or peanut butter. I can’t wait to try these!
Simple and delicious…healthy, too! Thanks for sharing!!
These look amazing and I love that they’re healthy!
These look absolutely DELICIOUS!!