Make these wholesome, delicious Wild Blueberry Breakfast Cookies for your kids to jumpstart their morning and boost their brain health!
Thank you to the Wild Blueberry Association of North America for sponsoring this post. As always, all opinions expressed are 100% my own.
It’s that time of year again. Whether your kids are learning at home or physically back in brick-and-mortar-buildings, school is back in session. For many of us, our morning routines may not exactly be slow and leisurely but it’s important to try to eat a nutritious breakfast. In children, breakfast has been associated with everything from improved memory, attention span, and test scores to healthier body weight and improved overall nutrition. For these reasons, and to celebrate National Breakfast Month, I’m excited to share my Wild Blueberry Breakfast Cookies as the perfect weekday breakfast treat. They’re even a great grab-and-go option if you’re rushing out the door in the morning.
It can be a challenge to get my daughter Sienna up and going in the morning and to keep her energized and motivated throughout the day while she’s doing school from home. Although I try to get her to eat a good breakfast, she doesn’t always want to eat first thing in the morning. Enter my Wild Blueberry Breakfast Cookies. These wholesome and hearty breakfast cookies are soft, chewy,
and bursting with sweet, brain-boosting wild blueberries. Plus they’re packed with whole grains, protein, fiber, and healthy fats to satisfy her hunger and give her long-lasting energy. Your kids will love them! I mean, who wouldn’t want to have cookies for breakfast, right?
Unlike regular blueberries, wild blueberries grow wild in the state of Maine.They’re harvested in the summer but are available to all of us all year-round in the freezer section of the grocery store. Wild blueberries are delicious and have a more intense blueberry flavor than regular blueberries. They also have 30% less sugar and 72% more fiber than regular blueberries and 2x the amount of antioxidants!
Wild blueberries also have 33% more anthocyanins, the plant compounds that give them their pretty purply blue hue. 20 years of extensive research is revealing how much the antioxidant and anti-inflammatory properties of wild blueberries can positively affect our health, including our brain health. Brain health is not just for the elderly. Studies have shown significant positive effects on memory, decision-making, response times, concentration and mood when children consumed a wild blueberry beverage before testing. You can add a healthy scoop of wild blueberries to your child’s breakfast each day- boost their brain health and start instilling healthy eating habits from a young age.
It doesn’t get much easier than this one bowl recipe- in fact, it’s a great recipe to make with your kids. After all, one of the best ways to get your kids to try new foods is to get them in the kitchen cooking with you! Simply stir all of the ingredients together, form the mixture into cookies, and bake! The oats give the cookies a soft, chewy texture and the bananas and almond butter hold them together and keep them moist. In fact, there are no eggs, butter or oil in this dish at all. These cookies are vegan, dairy-free, and gluten-free if you use certified gluten-free oats. And you can easily substitute sunflower butter for the almond butter if you want to also keep them nut-free.
In addition to brain-boosting wild blueberries, these cookies are packed with other nutritious ingredients. Oats are healthy whole grains and provide fiber while flaxseed provides additional fiber and omega-3 fatty acids. Almond butter and sliced almonds add protein and healthy fats. The cookies are lightly sweetened naturally with bananas and real maple syrup. You can use this basic breakfast cookie recipe and change it up to incorporate your favorite ingredients. You can try peanut butter or cashew butter instead of almond butter. Instead of almonds, you can try walnuts, pecans or even sunflower seeds.
These cookies were a hit with my family! Both of my kids loved them for breakfast and we all kept snacking on them throughout the week. I also really enjoyed them the next day crumbled up on top of Greek yogurt. They freeze well, which is nice because then you always have a healthy breakfast option on hand for busy mornings. Simply defrost them overnight in the refrigerator or pop them in the microwave straight from the freezer.
- 3/4 cup almond butter
- 1 cup mashed, ripe banana (about 2 large or 3 medium bananas)
- 1/3 cup maple syrup
- 1 teaspoon vanilla
- 1/2 teaspoon cinnamon
- 1/4 teaspoon kosher salt
- 2 1/2 cups rolled oats (can use certified GF oats)
- 1/4 cup ground flaxseed
- 1/3 cup sliced almonds
- 1 cup frozen wild blueberries
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Preheat oven to 350°F.
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Mix the almond butter, banana, maple syrup, vanilla, cinnamon, and salt together with a spatula or wooden spoon in a large bowl until smooth. Stir in the oats, flaxseed, and almonds. Gently stir in the wild blueberries (do not defrost them).
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Use a ¼ cup measure to scoop the dough onto two baking sheets (you should have about 12 large cookies). The cookies won’t spread during baking so press them down with your hand to flatten them.
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Bake cookies 18-20 minutes or lightly browned around the edges. Cool cookies on the sheet pan for 10 minutes, then transfer to a wire rack to cool completely.
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Cookies can be stored at room temperature in an airtight container for a few days or in the refrigerator for a week. The cookies can also be frozen for up to 3 months.
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Looking for more wild blueberry recipes? Try my Cilantro Lime Chicken Skewers with Wild Blueberry Salsa.
Thank you! If you don’t eat bananas, what can you swap this with?
Hi! You can try substituting applesauce or apple butter for the bananas. I haven’t made these cookies with either of those so I’m not sure if they will hold together as well without the banana. Let me know how it turns out if you try it!
Does using fresh blueberries alter
the moisture in the cookie?
Hi! No, you can definitely use fresh blueberries! I specified frozen blueberries in the recipe because wild blueberries are typically sold frozen.
I will definitely be making these cookies since you mentioned they are soft cookies. My sons usually do not care to eat breakfast but these sound perfect for them. I love the family pictures you included. Thank you for posting these cookies.
Thanks, Gail! It’s hard to resist these cookies for breakfast (and they’re definitely soft). I hope they enjoy them!
What can I use instead of almond butter? Would peanut butter be too strong a tast
Hi! You can definitely use peanut butter! If you want a more neutral flavor, you can try cashew butter or sunflower butter.