You can make some darn good cookies using steel cut oats! Chewy, soft and lightly sweetened, these banana breakfast steel cut oats cookies are vegan and gluten-free. Easy to make and only 10 simple ingredients required.
If you have no idea what to do with that forgotten bag of steel cut oats, definitely give these breakfast steel cut oats cookies a try! Wholesome, hearty and filling, they are great as a quick breakfast or snack.
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💚Why you will love this recipe
- Incredibly chewy and moist - If you love soft cookies, these banana steel cut oats cookies will be your next favorite! Plus, they are lightly sweetened, and have a mild refreshing banana flavor.
- Filling and hearty - They are jam packed with fiber and slow-digesting oats, hence will keep you full and satisfied for quite a while.
- Easily portable - Making them a great quick snack to take with you on-the-go. These banana breakfast cookies are also great as a lunchbox filler!
- Stores well and freezable - You can easily multiply the ingredients to make a larger batch as part of your meal prep.
🌾What you will need
📃Notes/substitutions
- Oat flour - If you do not have any on hand, make your own by simply blending up some oats in a blender until it is finely ground.
- Peanut butter - Can be substituted with other nut butters like almond or cashew butter. To make it nut-free, use tahini or sunflower seed butter in place.
- Maple syrup - Feel free to use other liquid sweetener like agave syrup or even honey, if not vegan.
- Chocolate chips - An optional ingredient, so feel free to omit to make it sugar-free.
- Gluten-free - Make sure to use certified gluten-free oat flour and steel cut oats.
🔪How to make
Start by cooking your steel cut oats. In a pan or pot, place in oats along with 2 ¼ cups of water, and bring mixture to a boil.
Lower heat to a gentle simmer and cook for 12-15 minutes, or until most water are absorbed by oats. Give it a stir occasionally. You will want the oats mixture to be quite dry, as seen from the picture below. Set aside.
Preheat oven to 180C/350F. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper.
In a bowl, mash bananas until smooth. Add in peanut butter, maple syrup and vanilla extract. Mix well.
Next, add in rest of the ingredients and mix until everything is well incorporated.
Using a cookie dough scoop or spoon, scoop out about 2-3 tablespoons of mixture. Slightly flatten it using the back of a spoon.
Bake for 12-15 minutes, or until they appear to be set.
Let them sit in the pan for 10-15 minutes, before transferring them to a cooling tray.
✔Helpful tips
- Use ripe banana. Specifically, those that are brown and spotty. As banana is one of the main sweetener here, you will want to make sure that they are ripe and sweet.
- Cook your steel cut oats until they are dry. As seen from the process shots above, I have cooked mine until they are really thick and lumpy.
- Your cookie dough will be on the stickier side, so don't freak out as it is completely normal!
- Slightly flatten your cookies before baking using the back of a spoon. As they are made without butter, these steel cut oats cookies will not spread out much.
- Make sure that your cooked oats is at room temperature before adding it in. Or not, your chocolate chips will melt when stirred into the mixture!
✨Variations/optional add-ins
You can swap chocolate chips with the same amount of chopped nuts, be it peanuts, almonds, walnuts or pecans. This provide extra nuttiness and crunch to these steel cut oats cookies!
To make oatmeal raisin cookies, swap chocolate chips with a handful of raisins.
If you fancy some chocolate banana cookies, add in about ¼ cup of cocoa powder or cacao powder.
Lastly, feel free to add in any spices or seasonings that sounds good to you. Ground nutmeg, pumpkin spice or even almond extract all works great in this recipe!
❔Commonly asked questions
Yes, these banana steel cut oats cookies are naturally free from gluten. However, do ensure that you are using certified gluten-free oat flour and steel cut oats as cross-contamination may occur during processing.
Breakfast steel cut oats cookies can be stored in a sealed container and be refrigerated for 3-4 days. You can freeze them too, and they can be kept frozen for 3 months.
To reheat frozen cookies, let them thaw overnight in the fridge, or on countertop for a few hours. You can then proceed on to bake them for 5-10 minutes in an oven preheated to 180C/350F.
To make the heating process quicker, thaw cookies using your microwave's "defrost" function. Then, heat them up for 15-30 seconds, or until thoroughly warmed.
Yes, it is totally possible to use steel cuts oats to make cookies, and this recipe is the living proof! You will need to cook the oats first before using as they are tougher and harder than regular oats.
However, if the cookie recipe calls for rolled or quick oats, you cannot swap it with steel cut, and vice versa. Their texture is vastly different, hence cannot be used interchangeably, especially in baking.
🍽More healthy breakfast recipes
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📖 Recipe
Banana Steel Cut Oats Breakfast Cookies
Ingredients
To cook oats
- ¾ cup steel cut oats
- 2 ¼ cup water
Wet ingredients
- 2 medium ripe banana (about 7 oz / 250g)
- ¼ cup maple syrup
- ¼ cup peanut butter (or other nut/seed butter)
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
Dry ingredients
- 1 ½ cups oat flour use gluten-free if needed (if measured, should be 135g) *
- ⅓ cup chocolate chips (optional)
- 2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
- ½ teaspoon baking powder
- ¼ teaspoon baking soda
Instructions
Cooking oats
- Start by cooking your steel cut oats. In a pan or pot, place in oats along with water, and bring mixture to a boil.2 ¼ cup water, ¾ cup steel cut oats
- Lower heat to a gentle simmer and cook for 12-15 minutes, or until most water are absorbed by oats. Give it a stir occasionally. You will want the oats mixture to be quite dry. Set aside.
Making cookies
- Preheat oven to 180C/350F. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper.
- In a bowl, mash bananas until smooth.2 medium ripe banana
- Add in rest of the wet ingredients and mix well.¼ cup maple syrup, ¼ cup peanut butter, 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- Next, add in dry ingredients along with cooked steel cut oats. Mix until everything is well incorporated.1 ½ cups oat flour, ⅓ cup chocolate chips, 2 teaspoon ground cinnamon, ½ teaspoon baking powder, ¼ teaspoon baking soda
- Using a cookie dough scoop or spoon, scoop out about 2-3 tablespoons of mixture. Slightly flatten it using the back of a spoon.
- Bake for 12-15 minutes, or until they appear to be set.
- Let them sit in the pan for 10-15 minutes, before transferring them to a cooling tray. You can now enjoy your banana steel cut oats cookies!
Notes
- Use ripe banana. Specifically, those that are brown and spotty. As banana is one of the main sweetener here, you will want to make sure that they are ripe and sweet.
- Cook your steel cut oats until they are dry. As seen from the process shots above, I have cooked mine until they are really thick and lumpy.
- Your cookie dough will be on the stickier side, so don't freak out as it is completely normal!
- Slightly flatten your cookies before baking using the back of a spoon. As they are made without butter, these steel cut oats cookies will not spread out much.
- Make sure that your cooked oats is at room temperature before adding it in. Or not, your chocolate chips will melt when stirred into the mixture!
Reheating - To reheat frozen cookies, let them thaw overnight in the fridge, or on countertop for a few hours. You can then proceed on to bake them for 5-10 minutes in an oven preheated to 180C/350F.
To make the heating process quicker, thaw cookies using your microwave's "defrost" function. Then, heat them up for 15-30 seconds, or until thoroughly warmed.
Nutrition
Nutrition info calculated is just a rough estimate and is provided as a courtesy. Bear in mind that value will vary based on variables like specific brand or type of product used. To obtain the most accurate representation, it is highly recommended that you calculate it on your own with the actual amount and type of ingredient used.
Curt
Love the recipe, added some orange zest, diced apricots and slivered almonds.
Jim Mee Sha
I am so happy to hear that!
Susan
I love this recipe and make it a few times a month, so I always have some in the freezer to have for breakfast most days. I play with the ingredients. I use whole wheat flour instead of oat, and raisins and dates instead of the chocolate chips. I typically mix in wheat germ, flaxseed and chia too. So delicious and healthy! My favorite breakfast.
Meesha
Happy to hear that! I need to try out your variation, it sounds delish!
Curti
Great cookies, added some orange zest, diced apricots and sliced almonds. Great stuff!
Meesha
I am happy to hear that!
Sally
I had success making oatmeal cookies with "quicker" steel cut oats that take about 8 minutes. Do think I could substitute them in this recipe? Also, would pumpkin work as a substitute for banana?
Meesha
I personally have yet to try cooking with quick steel-cut oats, but from quick research, you might have to reduce water for cooking oats to 1-1.5 cups, and slightly reduce the cooking time. As for the banana, you could try substituting with equal amount of pumpkin puree, but you might have to add a splash of plant milk if the cookie batter is too thick. Hope that helps!
Liz
Love the recipe but why did you put the ingredients in with the Directions? You already had these in the separate ingredients.
Took me time to sort it out. If you don’t use conventional formatting my recipe database can’t organise it properly. Just really annoying.
But the cookies a good so thanks for that.
Meesha
Some people find it useful to not constantly scroll up to look at the ingredients everytime.😊
Dev
Very good recipe. I made it per the directions and they were easy and delicious. Perfectly sweet considering they have no sugar. Not a strong banana flavor for those who don’t particularly like bananas. Eaten warm they’re like “oatmeal without the bowl” so my next batch I’ll trade the chocolate chips for my favorite oatmeal mix-ins: walnuts, dates, dried cranberries, and raisins. I won’t feel guilty eating these for breakfast.
Meesha
Happy to hear that you like it😊
Joanne
Can I use Almond flour instead of oat flour?
Meesha
Although I have yet to try it myself, I do believe it will work from past experience. However, you might have to adjust the amount use, and I recommend starting with a cup of almond flour, and adding more from there. Hope this helps!