Healthy oatmeal breakfast cookies with ground hazelnuts, cranberries and orange - an easy, low sugar recipe to start the day. Serve with clementine oranges for the best boost to your morning routine.
Are Oatmeal Cookies Healthier?
Perhaps it's because I'm Scottish but we love oats at breakfast. From homemade maple oat granola or chocolate coconut granola with almond milk to these healthy oatmeal breakfast cookies. It's usually accompanied with a large bowl of coffee, sipped slowly cupped in our hands - it's so French.
Oats are a good source of soluble fibre. Added to breakfasts, it's not only naturally filling but good for the stomach and digestion too. For more, see these interesting health benefits of oats.
Thankfully, these breakfast oatmeal cookies passed the test with flying cranberries, as normally the kids adore their nuts in these chocolate hazelnut cookies. The hazelnuts give them that extra punch of flavour.
Like all my cookies, they're low in sugar. Moreover, when it's orange season, the added zest gives us the best kind of boost to start the day.
Each cookie has about 172 calories, based on a yield of 12 cookies for this recipe.
Simple Oatmeal Cookie Recipe - Never Dry!
This cookie recipe is simple, adaptable and moist thanks to pre-soaked cranberries (or raisins) in orange juice.
To make them extra moist: first soak them in the juice of half the orange. This not only moistens them, making the cookies beautifully soft, but adds extra flavour.
Why Do they Taste So Good?
I use ground hazelnuts but you could equally replace this with either ground almonds (almond flour) or ground walnuts.
Their texture is not hard. Instead these oatmeal breakfast cookies are soft with just a slight crispiness on the outside and toasted around the edges. Of course, if you prefer them extra toasted, leave them to bake a few more minutes in the oven.
No Banana
Without any banana, there are few ingredients.
The oats do need a little more time in the oven. So, while I usually bake them about 18-20 minutes, you may need to bake them a few minutes longer. It all depends on your oven and cookie texture preferences.
How to Make Oatmeal Breakfast Cookies
This recipe is without banana. With just a few easy steps you can have cookies ready for breakfast in no time.
- Cream together softened butter (unsalted) with a little cane sugar.
- Measure out the dried cranberries (or raisins), add the zest of an organic (unwaxed) orange to the creamed mixture and add half the juice of the orange to the cranberries to soak for a few minutes.
- Meanwhile, add all the other ingredients and mix together;
- Spoon out equal quantities on to a baking tray lined with either baking parchment or on a silicone baking mat. Ensure they are spaced out and the cookies will spread a little during baking in the oven;
- Bake for about 20 minutes then leave on the counter to cool slightly (for about 5 minutes);
- Then transfer to a wire rack to cool further.
Can I Make These Cookies in Advance?
Best eaten on the day they're made, these oatmeal cookies are even better still slightly warm from the oven but cooled enough to crisp up.
Prepare the cookie dough the night before (cover and chill) and bake in the morning.
If made completely the night before, they're still good next morning if stored in an airtight tin or in aluminium foil once cooled.
Oatmeal Breakfast Cookies
Ingredients
- 100 g (3.5oz) dried (but moist) cranberries
- zest of an organic (unwaxed) orange and juice of half
- 80 g (3oz/ ⅓ cup) butter softened
- 50 g (1.75oz/ ¼ cup) brown cane sugar (Cassonade)
- 70 g (2.5oz/ scant ¾ cup) ground hazelnuts
- 50 g (1.75oz/½ cup) porridge oats
- 50 g (1.75oz/scant ½ cup) plain (all-purpose) flour
- 1 teaspoon baking powder
- 1 teaspoon salt fleur de sel (Maldon or Celtic sea salt)
- 1 egg organic
- ½ teaspoon ground cinnamon (optional)
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 180°C/160°C fan/360°F/Gas 4.
- Grate the orange zest (not the white pith underneath as bitter) and squeeze the juice from half of the orange over the cranberries to moisten for a few minutes.
- Whisk together the butter and sugar in a large bowl until a mousse forms.
- Add all the other ingredients and ensure they're mixed together.
- Line a baking tray with baking parchment or with a silicone mat. Form little balls using a couple of dessert spoons, spacing them well apart (as they expand slightly during cooking) then lightly tap them down to flatten.
- Bake the cookies for about 20 minutes until golden brown. Cool on the tray for about 5 minutes then transfer to a wire rack to cool further.
Notes
This recipe was first published 6 October 2018 but is now completely updated with new images and more explanatory text.
Jessica
Thank you for this wonderful recipe Jill! I love the dried cranberries and the orange with the nuttiness and butter flavors! It is so fun to have healthy cookies for breakfast! I highly recommend making these!
Jill Colonna
So thrilled you like them, Jessica. Agree - they're fun at breakfast! Thanks so much for taking the time to tell us.
Thomasina
Thank you for this recipe Jill. This will make a change from your recipe for Granola which we have enjoyed nearly every morning. Off to make some now.
Jill Colonna
That's great to hear, Thomasina. Enjoy them!
Christina | Christina's Cucina
Just found the email for these unopened in my inbox! How did that happen? Glad I saw it because these look perfect with a cup of tea, as well as coffee! Love orange and cranberry together, so these may just make an appearance in my kitchen, too! Thanks, Jill!
Jill Colonna
I'm so glad you got these in your inbox - as I'm having trouble getting yours still, ever since my silly computer told me to upgrade and I've lost so much! Argh. Glad you like them, Christina and hope you do make them x
Bea
Making these this weekend. I prefer this kind of cookie to chocolate chip..who knew..but I think cookies only get better so I will eat mine over days and they're really really good! Will post them on Instagram... have a great weekend.
Jill Colonna
Enjoy them, Bea. Thanks so much for sharing them - we love how they're quite soft and crumbly and full of hazelnuts! Have a delicious weekend x
Madonna
I want to try these, but I am curious about the 400° temp. Usually a recipe calls for 350°, is there a reason for such a high temp.?
Jill Colonna
This was the tip I picked up from the chocolate factory in Le Pecq in les Yvelines, outside Paris. They had the initial oven temperature quite high but note that before baking, you turn the oven down. That's the secret. The result is a perfectly baked cookie but still soft inside and you get all these lovely flavours shining through. Let me know how you like it.
Madonna
Thanks for your quick reply. I love all the tips/secrets I can get. 🙂
Mimi
I know these are good! I love the combination of cranberries and hazelnuts. And the cookies are delightful to look at.
Jill Colonna
Thanks, Mimi. We love that we can change the ingredients such as ground hazelnuts to almonds or pistachio and switch the cranberries with good dark chocolate chips. It's a versatile but stable recipe that I'm happy with!
Liz
I love having a ready to eat breakfast in the morning---especially when it's a cookie!! These look wonderful, Jill!!! xo
Jill Colonna
Hehe thanks, Liz. Yes, and I love an excuse that you have to finish them all since they're best eaten first thing in the morning if they're made the night before 😉
Linda
Great to have another oat recipe - and low sugar too. I'm thinking this will be lovely on crisp (or pouring with rain) autumn mornings on Speyside).
Jill Colonna
You make that sound so poetic, Linda. Can just imagine!