These gluten-free pumpkin breakfast cookies, made with dates, pumpkin purée, and plenty of spice, make a great autumn breakfast or snack.

photography by Alexandra Daum
It’s always nice to have a ready-made breakfast option already on hand for busy mornings, and these little cookies are all about fall. With our DIY cardamom pumpkin pie spice, homemade pumpkin puree, dates, and hazelnuts, we’ve packed every seasonal treat we could think of into one cookie!
We added a little chocolate to this recipe (because everything tastes better when chocolate is involved and pumpkin breakfast cookies are no exception). We always choose dark chocolate for our healthier recipes because of its lower sugar content (our banana breakfast cookies have a bit, too).
The cookies are a flexible treat you can feel good about giving your kids on a busy school morning. You may already have everything you need to make them! Just in case, we have a number of substitution options for healthy breakfast cookies; We’ve listed them below.
Use the JUMP TO RECIPE button at the top, or scroll to the bottom of the post to see the printable recipe card with full ingredient measurements and complete instructions.
Ingredients
- Hazelnut Butter—Widely available in most grocery stores. You can substitute any nut or seed butter you like or have on hand.
- Pumpkin Purée—We like to make our own homemade pumpkin purée, however, you can use canned if you want.
- Chocolate Chips—Because we generally eat these at breakfast time, we use dark chocolate, but you can use any chocolate chips or chunks you like.
- Rolled Oats—Sometimes called large flake oats. Do not use quick oats.
- Hazelnut Meal—This is more of a specialty ingredient but we just love the flavour of it. Use almond meal or any other nut meal you want.
- Pumpkin Spice—The quintessential fall flavour! We have a recipe for homemade pumpkin spice but store-bought is also terrific.
- Oat Flour—This is an ingredient we always have on hand, but since this recipe is not dependent on the flour, any gluten-free flour will work.
- Coconut Oil—You can also use a good quality dairy-free butter. If dairy-free isn’t an issue you can substitute regular butter.
Method
Tips & Notes
- Since these are gluten-free and vegan, they are slightly crumbly. They should be transported in a hard-sided container rather than a bag if you plan on moving them. They will break down if squished.
- Pumpkin breakfast cookies can be stored at room temperature for a couple of days, but should be refrigerated or frozen for any longer period of time due to the high fruit and moisture content. They freeze well in a sealed container for up to a month.
- Some brands of pumpkin purée and nut butter will vary significantly in terms of moisture content. Refer to the step-by-step photos for the consistency of the cookie dough and alter yours if necessary (by adding slightly more oat flour or even a splash of milk).
Substitutions
- Hazelnut meal can be made by blending raw hazelnuts in a food processor until a fine meal forms. Alternatively, you can use store bought almond meal instead.
- For nut-free pumpkin breakfast cookies, try sunflower seed meal. If you can’t find it, simply pulse sunflower seeds in a food processor or blender until fine and mealy. Note that sunflower seed meal may make the insides of your cookies greenish in colour.
- Any kind of nut or seed butter can be used in place of hazelnut butter. Almond is excellent, but sunflower seed butter and peanut butter work as well. Try to use something that doesn’t overwhelm the other flavours (which peanut butter tends to do).
- If it doesn’t matter to keep the cookies gluten-free, use regular flour in place of the oat flour.
- Coconut oil helps to solidify the cookies a bit when they cool, but other oils can be used if you prefer, like olive. We haven’t tried it, however, butter should be fine as well.
More Pumpkin Recipes
Pumpkin Chocolate Marble Loaf with Maple Drizzle
Vegan Pumpkin Cookies
Gluten Free Pumpkin Biscuits with Cheddar and Green Onion
Cinderella Pumpkin Pie with Chocolate Cookie Crust
Vegan Pumpkin Cinnamon Rolls
Recipe
Pumpkin Breakfast Cookies (Vegan & Gluten-Free)
Description
Equipment
- Measuring cups and spoons or a digital kitchen scale
- baking sheet
- Parchment paper
- Wooden spoon
- Mixing bowl
- Food processor
- Wire rack
Ingredients
- 1 ¼ cups rolled oats
- 1 cup hazelnut meal
- ¼ cup oat flour
- 2 teaspoons pumpkin spice
- ½ teaspoon baking soda
- ½ teaspoon salt
- ½ cup pumpkin purée
- ½ cup dates, pits removed
- ½ cup hazelnut butter
- 1 tablespoon coconut oil, solid
- ½ cup chocolate chips
- ¼ cup hazelnuts, chopped (optional)
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 350°F (180°C) and line a baking sheet with parchment paper.
- Stir the rolled oats, hazelnut meal, oat flour, pumpkin spice, baking soda, and salt together in a large mixing bowl.
- Add the pumpkin purée, pitted dates, hazelnut butter, and coconut oil to a food processor or blender. Pulse together until smooth. Stop the food processor halfway through and scrape down the sides.
- Pour the pumpkin mixture into the bowl of oats. Stir everything together until well combined. Fold in the chocolate chips and chopped nuts.
- Use a cookie scoop or a tablespoon to portion out 15 balls of dough onto the prepared cookie sheet. Lightly dampen the palm of your hand and use it to flatten the cookies slightly.
- Place the baking sheet in the preheated oven and bake the cookies for 8 to 10 minutes, or until golden.
- Remove the sheet from the oven and set it on a wire rack to cool for 10 minutes.
- Transfer the cookies directly to the rack and cool fully before storing. Keep the cookies in a sealed container in the refrigerator for up to one week, or in the freezer for up to one month.
Sally Hirst says
These look delicious and I will certainly try them. What I really love about the post is honesty about how they will taste, the consistency and how they will travel. It’s refreshing to read and, for me, is the mark of the kind of blog I follow. Thank you.
Alexandra Daum says
Thank you so much for your kind words, Sally! I hope you love the cookies.
SB says
I just made these! They are delicious! I didn’t have the hazelnut butter or hazelnut meal, so I swapped almond butter and meal. I think I’ll have to find some hazel nuts for my next batch!
Alexandra Daum says
Thank you so much, I’m so happy you liked them! They are excellent with almonds but the best with hazelnuts :)
Lisa says
Is there supposed to be coconut oil in this recipe? I saw it in your description above but not in the ingredients or directions below
Sophie Mackenzie says
Hi Lisa, there is! We don’t know what happened but will try to find the original recipe and update asap! So sorry of this caused any issues with your baking. <3
Lori says
The coconut oil still isn’t in the main recipe section! It would be great to have this added.
Kelly Neil says
Hi Lori! Our most sincere apologies for missing it, and taking so long to reply to you. This post has been on our to-do list for ages and we finally updated the post today. You will now find coconut oil listed in the recipe card. Many thanks for your patience!
Lori says
Thanks! I love this recipe and I’m baking it again today :)