Description
These Healthy Gingerbread Oatmeal Breakfast Cookies are soft, chewy, and packed with warming spices. Made with wholesome ingredients like instant oats, whole wheat flour, and molasses, they offer a mildly sweet and nutritious start to your day. Perfect for a grab-and-go breakfast or a wholesome snack, these cookies balance classic gingerbread flavors with a healthy twist.
Ingredients
Scale
Dry Ingredients
- 1 cup (100g) instant oats (gluten-free if necessary)
- ¾ cup (90g) whole wheat flour or gluten-free flour
- 1 ½ tsp baking powder
- 1 tsp ground ginger
- ¼ tsp ground cinnamon
- ⅛ tsp ground nutmeg
- ⅛ tsp ground cloves
- ¼ tsp salt
Wet Ingredients
- 1 ½ tbsp (21g) unsalted butter or coconut oil, melted and cooled slightly
- 1 large egg white (room temperature)
- 1 tsp vanilla extract
- ¼ cup (60mL) molasses (room temperature)
- 5 tbsp (75mL) nonfat milk (room temperature)
Instructions
- Mix dry ingredients: In a medium bowl, whisk together the oats, flour, baking powder, ginger, cinnamon, nutmeg, cloves, and salt until well combined.
- Combine wet ingredients: In a separate bowl, whisk together the melted and cooled butter or coconut oil, egg white, and vanilla extract until thoroughly combined. Stir in the molasses and then the nonfat milk until smooth.
- Combine wet and dry: Add the dry oat mixture to the wet ingredients and stir until just incorporated. Avoid overmixing to keep the cookies tender.
- Chill the dough: Cover and chill the cookie dough in the refrigerator for 30 minutes to firm it up and enhance the flavors.
- Prepare for baking: Preheat the oven to 325°F. Line a baking sheet with a silicone baking mat or parchment paper.
- Shape cookies: Using a spoon and spatula, drop the chilled cookie dough into 15 rounded scoops on the prepared baking sheet. Flatten each to about ⅜ inch thickness using a spatula.
- Bake the cookies: Bake at 325°F for 10 minutes, or until the centers are slightly soft and not fully set. Do not overbake as the residual heat will continue cooking the cookies after removal.
- Cool: Let the cookies cool on the pan for 10 minutes before transferring them to a wire rack to cool completely.
Notes
- Important measuring note: Measure oats and flour accurately using a kitchen scale to avoid dry, cakey cookies.
- These cookies are mildly sweet; for a sweeter cookie, substitute part of the milk with pure maple syrup, honey, or agave.
- To increase gingerbread spiciness, add ¼ to 1 teaspoon more ground ginger.
- The cookies do not spread much during baking; expect them to look similar before and after.
- Remove cookies from oven when centers are still slightly underdone; they firm up while cooling.
- Instant oats are quick-cooking oats; if unavailable, pulse rolled oats in a food processor to reduce size.
- Whole wheat flour can be swapped with white whole wheat, whole wheat pastry, all-purpose, or oat flour (gluten-free if needed).
- Egg white can be substituted with a whole egg, reducing the milk by ½ tablespoon to compensate.
- Molasses is key for authentic gingerbread flavor; avoid blackstrap molasses due to bitterness.
- For dairy-free options, use coconut oil or vegan butter and substitute nonfat milk with dairy-free milk.
- For gluten-free version, use certified gluten-free oats and flour blends or a gluten-free flour mix with millet flour, tapioca flour, brown rice flour, and xanthan gum.
- Store cookies in an airtight container; they keep for a few days at room temperature, up to a week refrigerated, and freeze well.
Nutrition
- Serving Size: 1 cookie
- Calories: 100 kcal
- Sugar: 5 g
- Sodium: 90 mg
- Fat: 2 g
- Saturated Fat: 0.8 g
- Unsaturated Fat: 1 g
- Trans Fat: 0 g
- Carbohydrates: 18 g
- Fiber: 2 g
- Protein: 3 g
- Cholesterol: 5 mg
