Filled with bright lemon flavor, and full of healthy ingredients, these Lemon Chia Breakfast Cookies are the perfect Spring or Summer breakfast!
Breakfast cookies are my favorite healthy breakfast.
I think I’ve talked before about my love of breakfast cookies on Mile High Mitts, which is evidenced by my collection of breakfast cookie recipes. Let’s see, there’s:
- Peanut Butter Chocolate Chip Breakfast Cookies
- Pumpkin Chocolate Chip Breakfast Cookies
- Cranberry White Chocolate Chip Breakfast Cookies
- Banana Bread Breakfast Cookies
- Peanut Butter Coconut Breakfast Cookies
- Chocolate Peppermint Breakfast Cookies
Yeah, my love of breakfast cookies runs deep. And I won’t be stopping with the recipes anytime soon either 😉
My favorite parts about breakfast cookies:
- Easy, on-the-go breakfast (perfect for shoveling into your mouth while you’re making a sippy cup for your toddler who woke up early!)
- Filled with healthy ingredients (oats, nuts, chia seeds, nut butter..)
- Fast to make, and fun to make with kids too!
It’s so bad at this point that strangers would probably think I’m feeding my 1 year old regular cookies for breakfast because she wakes up asking for “cookies” first thing in the morning.
What can I say… we love cookies in our house! 🙂
These Lemon Chia Breakfast Cookies in particular are filled with a light lemon flavor, healthy ingredients, and are soft, thick and fluffy. Almost reminiscent of a muffin top, I think you’ll love these as much as we do!
So, what do you need to know to make these cookies a success?
First, make sure to use lemon ZEST and juice. I’ve talked about this before: zest is the key to a bright, flavorful lemon flavor. If you skimp out, you won’t get nearly enough lemon flavor.
Next, for the chia seeds, I keep the amount limited. I know 2 tbsp of chia seeds doesn’t sound like much, and you may think, “hey, let’s add more!” but I’d recommend sticking to only 2 tbsp. Anymore and you’ll have chia seeds stuck in your teeth all morning and the flavor of these cookies won’t be the same.
The chia seeds aren’t used as a binder in this recipe to help hold the cookies together, they’re just there for the added health benefits. So, feel free to omit them if you need to.
For the nut butter, I recommend you use cashew butter or almond butter (basically any neutral flavored nut butter). I’d recommend using sunbutter if you can’t consume other nut butters.
I think my breakfast cookies turn out best with oat flour, but you can use all purpose flour (gluten-free or not) if you prefer and they still turn out great. Be sure to use a gluten-free all purpose flour with xantham gum if you do!
Last but not least, wanna make these Lemon Chia Breakfast Cookies vegan?
Easy! First, be sure to use maple syrup instead of honey.
Second, use a flax egg instead of a regular egg. I’d recommend using a flax egg with 1 tbsp of ground flax and 2 1/2 tbsp of water (set aside for a few minutes till it becomes gelatinous, with an egg-like consistency).
Filled with lemon flavor, healthy oats, nuts, nut butter, and lightly sweetened with honey or maple syrup, these Lemon Chia Breakfast Cookies are such a fun breakfast that my kids love, and I hope you all do too!
Want to see other breakfast cookie flavors on Mile High Mitts?
Let me know, in the comments below! I’d love to hear what kind of breakfast cookies ya’ll are craving next 🙂
Need some more Lemon in your life? Check out my gluten-free Lemon Cupcakes with Lemon Buttercream or gluten-free Lemon Honey granola (a person favorite of mine!).
- 1/2 cup oats (certified gluten-free)
- 1/2 cup oat flour, certified gluten-free (or all purpose flour, gluten-free or regular)
- 1/2 cup walnuts, finely chopped
- 2 tbsp chia seeds (optional)
- 1/2 tsp baking soda
- 1/4 tsp salt
- 1/3 cup cashew butter (or almond butter or sunbutter)
- 3 tbsp honey (or maple syrup, if vegan)
- 1 tbsp lemon juice
- zest of 2 lemons
- 1/2 tsp vanilla
- 1 egg (or flax egg, if vegan)
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Preheat your oven to 375 and line a pan with parchment paper.
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In a large mixing bowl, stir together your dry ingredients: oats, oat flour, walnuts, chia seeds, baking soda and salt.
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In a small mixing bowl, whisk together your wet ingredients: cashew butter, honey, lemon juice, lemon zest, vanilla and egg.
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Pour your wet ingredients into your dry ingredients and stir together until everything is well incorporated.
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Using a small cookie scoop, scoop your cookie dough onto your pan. Flatten your dough out gently as these cookies don't spread much.
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Bake for 9-11 minutes, or till the tops of the cookies are set.
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Devour!
These cookies stay best stored in an airtight container on the counter for about 3 days, or in the fridge for about a week.
I put the chia seeds in water before using them so I didn’t use an egg in mine. Also added fresh blueberries, no nuts. And I know this defeats the purpose of keeping them healthy but I did lightly glaze them with a lemon icing and they were delicious! Thank you for sharing this recipe!
I liked them but could use more lemon flavor
Delicious! I made these with orange zest and juice instead of lemon (zest of 1 orange instead if 2) and it tasted great, tangy and sweet. The walnuts created a beautiful crunch and are a must for me. I also used a mix of almond, brazil and cashew nut butter then cooked at 190 degrees Celsius for 9 minutes. It made 12 scrumptious cookies and reminded me a little of ANZAC biscuits but orangy and less sweet. Next time I’ll try adding a pinch of cinnamon. Really great cookies and so easy to make gluten-free, thanks for an awesome recipe!
I tweaked this again. I swapped out the oat flour with cassava. Swapped the oats for high protein oats added a scoop of protein powder. Added 1/4 cup of almond milk swapped lemon for lime juice and zest and added unsweetened dried cherries. The extra almond milk made the end cookies fluffy, soft and great texture. I love this as a base recipe
I tweaked these and used 1/2 pistachio butter and 1/2 almond butter, chopped pistachios, cassava flour, and monk fruit maple syrup, and doubled the lemon juice. I think using cassava flour made them a bit dry. But dry on the outside and ok on the inside super tasty. Next time I think just a splash of almond milk and a bit more monk fruit. This is a keeper for me
I didn’t have all the right ingredients so I used brazil and walnuts, sunflower and pumpkin seeds, maple syrup, egg and cashew butter and had no zest so I used lemon and orange crumb (which is dried peels then blitzed into a powder in a coffee grinder …Great for flavouring). I got 12 and they were delicious! Thank you.
We absolutely love these!! I used almond butter, sprouted spelt flower, the flax egg, pure maple syrup, added some poppy seeds along with the chia and followed the recipe. They remind me of lemon poppy muffins in a cookie. My 7 year old gave me a thumbs up! He said those are the best cookies! We will be making them again and again! Thank you for sharing!
Do the chia seeds need to be ground?
Nope!
Does anyone know the weight watcher points for these cookies ?
How many cookies do you get from a batch?
Hi Melissa. You should get about 15 cookies, with a small scoop.
I need to start making these for breakfast. love that they are gluten free and sugar free.
Love these are gluten free and refined sugar free.
Can I use coconut or almond flour?
Hi Char. I do not recommend subbing coconut or almond flour. Almond flour may work, but only if you are familiar with substituting it with all purpose flour (although I’d be worried they would be too crumbly with almond flour).
I wanted to use almond flour as well
I love these, I have tried several of your variations and share them with all my family and friends. Everyone loves them!!!
Love these are free of all things I can eat!
Any recommendations to sub for the walnuts? Walnut allergy 😞
Hey Amy. Any other nut can work in it’s place, and I’d recommend almonds or cashews.
Is there a substitute for nuts altogether? We have nut allergies in our home.
Hi Jenny. You can just omit the nuts and try using sunflower seed butter instead if you are able to use that?
I didn’t have walnuts on hand, so I used hemp seeds and it turned out great. Used sun butter, too, so it was all nut free.
Made these twice and enjoy them. Thank you!
If i get to substitute honey for monkfruit…how much can i go for? Thanks canta wait to try it!
Hi Marian. Sorry to say but I don’t know, I haven’t worked with monkfruit before.
I would recommend reading the bag, because it usually tells you the ratio to sugar use and I think honey is about as sweet as using sugar. Start with a little less and take it from there. I will say I have tried making some baked goods with sugar substitutes and they turn out really dry, because sugar and honey actually bring moisture! You could try the Stevia baking blend and it’s 70% less sugar, but a combination of cane sugar and stevia!
Stevia does not react well to cooking temps. Be sure to use stevia or monk fruit that is made special for baking. I learned that the hard way
Try using Steeves Sugar free Maple flavored syrup if you have it in your area.
Do you have exact macros for these cookies besides the calories? Thank you!
Hi Judyta, I’m sorry but I don’t, I just figure out the calories for each recipe.
Can these be frozen?
These were great. My 4yr old enjoyed. I found them a little too try. That’s my only complaint.
This recipe is a keeper!!!
Not too sweet at all, so feel free to add more maple syrup/honey
Thanks a ton Chelseaaa :)))
Awesome!! Your welcome, Lisa. So great to hear!
Thank you, I love these cookies! I quit sugar several months ago so the small amount of maple syrup in these was plenty sweet for me! They remind me of scones. I love that you use chia and oats, fiber powerhouses! And they still feel like a little treat! I can’t wait to try out your other breakfast cookies!
Wowwwww these are insane!!! Legit muffin tops. Minus a little too many chia seeds (all up in my teeth) these are perfect. I added a splash of lemon extract to make it extra lemony.
Awesome!! Great to hear, thanks Kristin!