These pumpkin breakfast cookies are perfect for busy mornings. They’re paleo-friendly and can be made in 20 minutes with just one bowl.
Let’s keep this pumpkin train going! Can’t stop, won’t stop.
Which type of breakfast do you prefer, a hearty meal or a lighter grab-and-go option? If you said the latter, then this is the perfect recipe for you. And if you prefer a heartier breakfast, you’ll still like these too. Perhaps as a snack instead of breakfast though. We don’t want you to get all hangry on us first thing in the morning.
This recipe took several tries to get right. The first version was the biggest flop. It had oats, banana, flax eggs, just a little bit of pumpkin and a bunch of nuts and seeds. They were delicious fresh out of the oven, but were really unattractive in photos (deal-breaker…I’m shallow) and didn’t taste very good as leftovers. They were super soggy, and turned a really ugly brown thanks to the banana. Since the whole point of this recipe is to be a “grab-and-go breakfast” the fact that they weren’t good the next day kind of defeated the point. You aren’t up baking breakfast cookies at 5:00 am are you? I mean, I wouldn’t judge you if you were…as I’m sure at some point in my life I have done that. But that wasn’t what we were going for here.
Back to the drawing board.
Version #2 was a lot closer to the final product. They had an almond butter and pumpkin base, with pecans and extra pumpkin pie spice. The flax-eggs were not as successful with the almond butter base. The results were overly delicate, mushy little pumpkin pillows that instantly fell apart.
Still not helpful.
Eggs came back in action along with a few other ingredient tweaks, and now we have a winner! These breakfast cookies are soft, sweet, satisfying and have the perfect amount of pumpkin spice. They are delicious when washed down with a glass of almond milk as you’re rushing out the door, or enjoyed alongside some sparkly pumpkin decor (I’m only half joking).
The best part? They’re so easy to make! One bowl, 15 minutes in the oven and boom – you’re in breakfast cookie heaven. They would make the perfect addition to meal prep to eat all week long.
- ½ Cup Almond Butter (can sub any nut or seed butter)
- ½ Cup Pumpkin Puree (not pumpkin pie filling)
- 1 Egg
- ½ Cup Maple Syrup
- ½ Cup Shredded Coconut
- ½ Teaspoon Baking Soda
- 2 Teaspoons Pumpkin Pie Spice
- 1 Teaspoon Cinnamon
- ½ Teaspoon Vanilla Extract
- ¼ Teaspoon Salt
- 3-4 Tablespoons of Coconut Flour
- Mix-Ins:
- ⅓ Cup Dried Cranberries
- ⅓ Cup Crushed Pecans
- Preheat oven to 350F.
- In a medium bowl, combine the almond butter, pumpkin, egg, maple syrup and vanilla. Whisk well until smooth and combined.
- Whisk in the pumpkin pie spice, cinnamon, salt and baking soda.
- Add the coconut shreds and 3 Tablespoons of coconut flour and mix well. If the dough still seems a little too thin, add up to one more tablespoon coconut flour until a soft dough is formed. Fold in any mix-ins.
- On a parchment or silicone lined baking sheet, drop 2-3 tablespoons of dough per cookie and spread the cookies into an even layer. Don't spread them too thin, as they will expand a bit in the oven.
- Bake for 12-15 minutes. Allow to cool completely before removing from pan. Store in an airtight container in the fridge.
Your Turn:
- Have you had any recipe flops lately?
- Do you prefer a hearty breakfast, or a light breakfast?
- What are some of your favorite on-the-go breakfasts?
I am loving anything pumpkin right now, and I’m just recently starting to get into the Paleo lifestyle. These breakfast cookies are absolutely perfect! I love that it only takes one bowl and 15 minutes. Can’t wait to whip up a big batch of these this weekend for convenient and delicious breakfasts to enjoy during the week ahead 🙂
That’s exactly what I like to do! Make a batch and eat them all week long. I hope you enjoy them!
Um, YES. I’ll stay on the pumpkin train allll winter long! Especially if I get to eat these. They look perfect! Kudos to not giving up and keepin’ at it 😉 <3 Have a great weekend, Les!
Thanks Ashley! And girl you know the pumpkin train ain’t stopping anytime soon! 😉
YES, these look so good! And I know what you mean about recipe-testing… I just finalized some pumpkin bars and it took several versions to get them just right, such is life as a blogger 😉 I love the feeling when you settle on the final recipe! Anyways, I have all the ingredients for these cookies on hand – can’t wait to make them. Thanks so much! Keep the pumpkin coming 🙂
Thanks so much Alexandra! Once you finally get the recipe it’s always so worth it right?
Oh my gosh these look delicious, Les! I love that you shared how the first two times didn’t work out. Really shows how hard we work to share awesome recipes!! Thanks for sharing 🙂
Blogging recipes is no joke! It can definitely be a lot of work, as I know you know 🙂
These look delicious. I have had a couple other paleo pumpkin breakfast cookie recipes but these look the best and your photos are fabulous!
Heather, I appreciate that so much! These photos were actually really hard to take because the sun wasn’t being cooperative that day, so I’m so glad you like them! xo
You had me at cookies… these look amazing! thank you for sharing i will have to try and make these
Aren’t cookies just the best? Thanks so much for stopping by Carrie – I hope you love them!
Mmmmm Les! YES! I love the combo of pumpkin and almond butter in these healthy fall cookies. I’m the only one that likes pumpkin in my house so I may have to make these and devour all by myself!!
Having them all to yourself is definitely not a bad thing! 😉 Pumpkin and almond butter are a match made in heaven
I love breakfast cookies and so do my kids!! Great recipe! Stopping by from ‘Grow Your Blog’. I would like to invite you to my DIY Crush Craft Party which starts at 7pm EST. and is new every Thursday. I’ll pin every post!! 😉
http://www.diy-crush.com/blog/category/link-party/
That sounds awesome, thanks for letting me know Denise! I love DIY anything 🙂
Yummy! My husband LOVES dried cranberries and I LOVE pumpkin, so I’ll have to try these 🙂
Thanks Natalie! I hope you both enjoy! xo
I was just thinking last night that I could really go for a pumpkin cookie and now here you are with a recipe! I love the addition of the dried cranberries too!
Ask and you shall receive 😉
These look amazing and I already printed the recipe! My mom is going to love these as well. By the way, loving your site! Totally making the cookie dough overnight oats soon too 🙂
xx Kelly
http://www.activkel.com
Thank you so much Kelly – I hope you and your mom enjoy the cookies! And those overnight oats are one of my favorites. I hope you love them!
Pumpkin will never die! I’ve been more obsessed with it this year than ever before!
Same here! It’s just too good.
Clearly I’m doing breakfast wrong. I need to make these asap! YUM!! :)))
There’s no wrong way to do breakfast in my book 😉 I hope you love them!
Yummy! I’m glad you were able to get the recipe just right. Hopefully the birds enjoyed the practice rounds 🙂
It was definitely a lot of trial and error! 😉 Also, I’m LOVING all of your posts beginning life in Seattle. I’m so glad you’re loving it here (isn’t it awesome!?). We definitely need to meet up for coffee!
Yes! I love it here! (It’s really hard not to love it here.)
Recently went on paleo myself and been missing the sweet treats! Will definitely have to try these- I love pecans as well, so my mouth is drooling atm xx
Oooh I hope you love these Sarah! How long have you been eating paleo? How’s it going so far?
I like the ingredients. Full of goodness and free of guilt. 🙂
My thoughts exactly 😉 Thanks so much Christine!
OH, Les, these look AMAZING!! I have all of the ingredients, too 🙂 thanks for sharing, and for trying the recipe again to get it just right 😉
Thanks Jess! I know you know how tricky recipes can be sometimes. Also, your tofu scramble looks fantastic – can’t wait to try it!
I love that you posted the trials and tribulations of finding the perfect recipe! And that you posted the completed (and perfected) recipe itself!! I can hardly wait to try this one!
Thanks Tina! Sometimes recipe development requires a lot of patience 😉 Thanks so much for stopping by!
Yum, these breakfast cookies look SO delicious! Pinning to my Pumpkin board 🙂
Thanks so much! Btw: I just checked out your savory pumpkin recipe round-up and I’m now drooling on my keyboard 😉 thanks for sharing!
These look fantastic! I know my whole family would love these cookies! Thank you for sharing!
Thanks so much! I hope they love them
pumpkin cookies for breakfast??? YES PLEASE! Pinning!
Woo! Thanks Rachel. Hope you love them!
Hi Les, these looks amazing! I am in no way tired of pumpkin yet… you can never have enough recipes!
helllllllo delicious! there’s one way to get me excited about waking up :p
xo,
These are amazing, but one question- did anyone have an issue with them turning black in the fridge? I did sub sunbutter for the almond butter. They taste fine, but are not very pretty 🙂
Oh weird! I haven’t had that happen, so it may have been the sun butter that did that. I have had sun butter turn some funky colors when I used it in other recipes!