Healthy Pumpkin Oatmeal Breakfast Cookies with Pepitas and Dried Cranberries
Soft, flourless pumpkin oatmeal breakfast cookies sweetened mostly with ripe banana, bound with flax and sunflower seed butter, and studded with pepitas.
- Prep
- 15 min
- Cook
- 17 min
- Rest
- 20 min
- Serves
- 7
Healthy Pumpkin Oatmeal Breakfast Cookies with Pepitas and Dried Cranberries is a vegan breakfast recipe made with old-fashioned rolled oats, ground flaxseed, ground cinnamon. It takes 32 minutes of hands-on time, plus 20 minutes resting, serves 7, and each serving has 274 calories, 8 g of protein and 6 g of fiber.
These are made to be eaten for breakfast, not as dessert. There's no flour, egg or added sugar beyond a little maple. Ripe banana does most of the sweetening, and grinding part of the oats gives the cookies enough body to hold together without flour. Ground flax and sunflower seed butter bind the batter, so the recipe is also nut-free. A 10-minute rest lets the oats and flax soak up liquid, which keeps the cookies tender instead of crumbly.
A dietary need (low-sugar, flourless) + meal type (oat, flax and sunflower-seed-butter breakfast cookie sweetened mainly by banana and a little maple, instead of a chewy chocolate chip dessert cookie with flour and coconut sugar) take on our Chewy Vegan Pumpkin Chocolate Chip Cookies.
Ingredients
- 2 cups162 gold-fashioned rolled oats, divided, use certified gluten-free oats if needed
- 3 tbsp21 gground flaxseed
- 1½ tsp3.9 gground cinnamon
- ½ tsp0.9 gground ginger
- ¼ tsp0.6 gground nutmeg
- 1 tsp4.6 gbaking powder
- ¼ tsp1.5 gfine salt
- 1 large153 gvery ripe banana, well mashed (about 1/2 cup)
- ½ cup123 gpumpkin puree (not pumpkin pie filling)
- ⅓ cup84 gunsweetened sunflower seed butter, well stirred
- 2 tbsp40 gpure maple syrup
- 1 tsp4.2 gvanilla extract
- 1 tsp5.1 glemon juice, keeps the sunflower seed butter from turning the insides green
- ⅓ cup43 graw pumpkin seeds (pepitas)
- ⅓ cup40 gdried cranberries, roughly chopped, juice-sweetened or unsweetened if you can find them
Topping
- 2 tbsp16 gpumpkin seeds, for pressing on top (optional)
Kit: food processor or blender, large mixing bowl, baking sheet, parchment paper, 3-tablespoon cookie scoop, wire rack
Tips
- Use a banana with lots of brown spots. Since there's very little added sweetener, a riper banana makes noticeably sweeter cookies.
- If you use no-stir sunflower seed butter, which is thicker, and the batter is too stiff to scoop after resting, stir in 1–2 tablespoons of plant milk.
- Sunflower seeds contain a compound that can turn green when it meets leaveners. It's harmless. The lemon juice and a full cooling time help prevent it.
- Pat the pumpkin puree dry if it's watery. Too much moisture makes the centers gummy.
Swap ideas
- Peanut butter or almond butter instead of sunflower seed butter
- Gives a rounder, nuttier flavor and no risk of green insides, but the cookies are no longer nut-free.
- Chopped pecans or walnuts instead of pumpkin seeds
- Gives a richer, more autumnal crunch. Leave them out if you need the cookies nut-free.
- Chopped dates or raisins instead of dried cranberries
- Makes the cookies sweeter and less tart. Dates add a caramel note.
- Chia seeds instead of ground flaxseed
- Binds just as well and gives slightly firmer cookies with visible specks.
The numbers
Nutrition per serving
274kcal per serving
Everything else · 7 servings per recipe
- Saturated fat
- 1.5 g 8%
- Sugars
- 12.6 g
- Sodium
- 158 mg 7%
- Potassium
- 362 mg 8%
- Calcium
- 87 mg 7%
- Iron
- 2.7 mg 15%
- Vitamin C
- 3 mg 4%
- Vitamin B12
- 0 µg 0%
% Daily Value on a 2,000 calorie diet. Calculated from USDA FoodData Central values for each ingredient; optional ingredients are excluded. Estimates vary with brands and portions.
Sources: Cereals, oats, regular and quick, not fortified, dry, Seeds, flaxseed, Spices, cinnamon, ground, Spices, ginger, ground, Spices, nutmeg, ground, Leavening agents, baking powder, double-acting, sodium aluminum sulfate, Salt, table, Bananas, raw, Pumpkin, canned, without salt, Seeds, sunflower seed butter, without salt (SR Legacy), Syrups, maple, Vanilla extract, Lemon juice, raw, Seeds, pumpkin and squash seed kernels, dried, Cranberries, dried, sweetened (Includes foods for USDA's Food Distribution Program)
Method
Heat the oven to 350°F (175°C) and line a baking sheet with parchment paper.
Pulse 1/2 cup of the oats in a food processor or blender until they look like coarse flour, 10–15 seconds. Tip them into a large bowl and add the rest of the whole oats, the ground flaxseed, cinnamon, ginger, nutmeg, baking powder and salt. Whisk to combine.
In a second bowl, mash the banana until it's almost smooth. Then whisk in the pumpkin puree, sunflower seed butter, maple syrup, vanilla and lemon juice until the mixture is glossy and evenly orange.
Pour the wet mixture into the oat mixture and stir until no dry oats are left. Fold in the 1/3 cup pumpkin seeds and the dried cranberries. The batter will be thick and sticky.
Let the batter sit for 10 minutes so the oats and flax can soak up the liquid. This firms it up so it's easier to scoop.
Scoop 3-tablespoon mounds onto the baking sheet about 1 inch apart. You should get about 14. These cookies won't spread in the oven, so use a damp palm or the back of a spoon to flatten each one into a round about 1/2 inch thick. Press a few extra pumpkin seeds on top if you're using them.
Bake for 16–18 minutes, until the edges are lightly golden, the tops look dry and the centers feel set when you press them gently.
Leave the cookies on the baking sheet for 10 minutes, then move them to a wire rack. They firm up as they cool, so let them cool completely before storing.
Storage: Keep in an airtight container in the fridge for up to 5 days, with parchment between the layers. They also keep at room temperature for 1 day. To freeze, store them in a freezer bag for up to 3 months. Thaw overnight in the fridge or warm them in a 300°F oven for 5 minutes.
Questions
- How much protein is in healthy pumpkin oatmeal breakfast cookies with pepitas and dried cranberries?
- Each of the 7 servings has 8 g of protein, 6 g of fiber and 274 calories, calculated from USDA FoodData Central values for every ingredient.
- Is healthy pumpkin oatmeal breakfast cookies with pepitas and dried cranberries vegan?
- Yes. It contains no dairy, eggs, honey or other animal products.
- How long does healthy pumpkin oatmeal breakfast cookies with pepitas and dried cranberries take to make?
- 15 minutes of prep and 17 minutes of cooking, so 32 minutes of hands-on time, plus 20 minutes of unattended resting.
- Can you make healthy pumpkin oatmeal breakfast cookies with pepitas and dried cranberries ahead?
- Keep in an airtight container in the fridge for up to 5 days, with parchment between the layers. They also keep at room temperature for 1 day. To freeze, store them in a freezer bag for up to 3 months. Thaw overnight in the fridge or warm them in a 300°F oven for 5 minutes.
- What can I substitute in healthy pumpkin oatmeal breakfast cookies with pepitas and dried cranberries?
- Peanut butter or almond butter instead of sunflower seed butter — gives a rounder, nuttier flavor and no risk of green insides, but the cookies are no longer nut-free.. Chopped pecans or walnuts instead of pumpkin seeds — gives a richer, more autumnal crunch. leave them out if you need the cookies nut-free.. Chopped dates or raisins instead of dried cranberries — makes the cookies sweeter and less tart. dates add a caramel note.. Chia seeds instead of ground flaxseed — binds just as well and gives slightly firmer cookies with visible specks..
- Does healthy pumpkin oatmeal breakfast cookies with pepitas and dried cranberries contain gluten?
- Yes — the ingredient list includes gluten. Check the labels on the products you buy if you're cooking for an allergy.
Nutrition is calculated from USDA data for every ingredient — how we work it out.
Published October 8, 2026 ·American
