Grandma’s Famous Breakfast Cookies Recipe

My grandma had the best oatmeal cookie recipe that made a lightly sweet breakfast cookie. Cookies for breakfast?? Yes! This breakfast cookie recipe is a yummy oatmeal breakfast cookie that is extra delicious when crumbled into a bowl and milk poured on top. Or grab a couple of breakfast cookies for a grab and go breakfast idea. Loaded with the goodness of oats, raisins & walnuts, breakfast cookies are a favorite recipe at my house for generations.

Oatmeal Raisin Breakfast cookies stacked on a plate. - text: grandmas breakfast cookies
Let’s eat cookies for breakfast!

Grandma’s Breakfast Cookies Recipe

The funny thing about this story is my grandma who passed down this recipe never like sweets. She never served dessert and considered anything out of the garden as “sweet enough”.

How she decided that the one time we got cookies at her house was for breakfast, I will never know! But one of the things I love about this breakfast cookie recipe is it is not very sweet and is tastily hearty.

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Ingredients for easy soft & chewy oatmeal raisin walnut cookies - that make great breakfast cookies!
This is what you will need to make breakfast cookies!
  • *1 cup of butter
  • 2 eggs
  • 2/3 cup of milk
  • **1 cup sugar 
  • 1 t baking soda
  • 2 cups of flour
  • 2 cups oatmeal
  • ***1 cup walnuts, optional, see note. 
  • 1 cup of raisins
  • salt
  • 1 tsp. cinnamon
  • 1/2 tsp. nutmeg

*You can substitute 1/2 cup of applesauce for 1/2 cup of the butter.

**You can even decrease the amount of sugar slightly if you are using applesauce.

***If you leave out the nuts, increase the oatmeal by 1/2 cup.

Directions to Make Grandma’s Breakfast Cookies

Each process step of making homemade oatmeal raisin cookies in a grid picture with ingredients and mixing bowls.
Here are the easy steps to making yummy breakfast cookies.

Pre-heat the oven to 350 degrees F.

Step 1

In a mixing bowl, cream together the softened butter and sugar. Then add eggs and milk. You can use a stand or hand mixer for this step, or you can simply use a whisk.

Step 2

In a separate mixing bowl, stir together the remaining ingredients except the raisins and walnuts. Add the dry ingredients to the wet slowly, stirring until combined.

Step 3

Stir in the raisins and walnuts.

Step 3 - Breakfast Cookie Recipe - The sticky, yummy oatmeal raisin breakfast cookie dough in a stainless mixing bowl.

The dough will be quite sticky and the consistency of wet cement…I am serious.

Step 4 

Step 4 - Breakfast cookie recipe - Drop oatmeal cookies on a parchment lined cookie sheet.
Drop the oatmeal batter onto a cookie sheet.

Drop by Tablespoon-fulls onto a parchment lined cookie sheet and bake at 350 until  golden brown – about 8-10 minutes. 

Step 5

Step 5 - Breakfast Cookie Recipe - Oatmeal Raisin Walnut breakfast cookies cooling on a wire rack.
Let the breakfast cookies cool on wire racks!

Cool the cookies on wire racks.

How to Store Oatmeal Breakfast Cookies

  • Store in a sealed plastic container or ziploc bag. They will keep for up to two weeks if stored properly.
  • Or, you can put them in the freezer where they’ll hang out happily for up to 2 months!

Additional tips for making these yummy oatmeal raisin breakfast cookies

  • If you would like perfectly shaped cookies, chill the dough for one hour and roll into balls before baking.
  • When baking cookies, you can bake them 2 cookie sheets at a time. Stagger each cookie sheet on a different height rack, and switch them around half-way through the baking time.
  • Parchment paper on the cookie sheet cuts back on the cleaning, but be careful when placing a parchment lined cookie sheet into the oven. It’s slippery and can slide off the pan easily!
  • If you don’t have parchment paper on hand, grease your cookie sheet before dropping the cookies on them.
breakfast cookies in a bowl as cereal
Nothing better than cookies for breakfast…

How this recipe became a family favorite breakfast recipe.

We are just a wild and crazy bunch.

This recipe is from my grandmother.   It was one of the rare desserts she made except for her infamous garbanzo taffy which will NOT be appearing in a future recipe post.  

Because these oatmeal cookies aren’t very sweet, my family crumbled them up, poured milk over them, and ate them like breakfast cereal.

A pile of oatmeal raisin cookies on a plate with a glass of milk behind it.

This oatmeal breakfast cookie recipe is also something that the boys have access to for snacks. They prefer to eat them as cookies and by the handful.

Yield: 48

Best Ever Oatmeal Breakfast Cookies

Best Ever Oatmeal Breakfast Cookies

Loaded with oats, raisins, & simple ingredients, these soft & chewy healthy breakfast cookies also double as a delicious snack!

Prep Time 10 minutes
Cook Time 20 minutes
Total Time 30 minutes

Ingredients

  • 1 cup of butter
  • 2 eggs
  • 2/3 cup of milk
  • 1 cup sugar
  • 1 t baking soda
  • 2 cups of flour
  • 2 cups oatmeal
  • 1 cup walnuts, optional, see note.
  • 1 cup of raisins
  • salt
  • 1 tsp. cinnamon
  • 1/2 tsp. nutmeg

Instructions

STEP 1: IN A MIXING BOWL, CREAM TOGETHER THE SOFTENED BUTTER AND SUGAR. THEN ADD EGGS AND MILK.

You can use an stand or hand mixer for this step, or you can simply use a whisk.

STEP 2: IN A SEPARATE MIXING BOWL, STIR TOGETHER THE REMAINING INGREDIENTS EXCEPT THE RAISINS AND WALNUTS. ADD THE DRY INGREDIENTS TO THE WET SLOWLY, STIRRING UNTIL COMBINED.


STEP 4: STIR IN THE RAISINS AND WALNUTS.


The dough will be sticky.

STEP 5: DROP BY TABLESPOON-FULLS ONTO A PARCHMENT LINED COOKIE SHEETS AND BAKE AT 350 UNTIL  GOLDEN BROWN – ABOUT 8-10 MINUTES.  


Cool the cookies on wire racks. Store in a sealed plastic container or ziploc bag. They will keep for up to two weeks if stored properly.

Or, you can put them in the freezer where they’ll hang out happily for up to 2 months!

Notes

You can substitute 1/2 cup of applesauce for 1/2 cup of the butter.

You can even decrease the amount of sugar slightly if you are using applesauce.

If you leave out the nuts, increase the oatmeal by 1/2 cup.

Nutrition Information:

Yield:

48

Serving Size:

1

Amount Per Serving: Calories: 105Total Fat: 6gSaturated Fat: 3gTrans Fat: 0gUnsaturated Fat: 3gCholesterol: 18mgSodium: 74mgCarbohydrates: 12gFiber: 1gSugar: 6gProtein: 2g

More Breakfast & Cookie Ideas from Kids Activities Blog

Do you have a favorite family recipe? Have you ever eaten cookies for breakfast?

23 Comments

  1. This recipe sounds easy and great! Love it! My toddler loves things she can hold in her hand and take bites from- she would totally dig this:)

    1. Thanks Shannon, I do think it would go over well. You call anything a cookie and the kids don’t care that they aren’t awful for them.

  2. What’s not to love about cookies for breakfast? These sound delicious. I’ll bet they would be good with dried apricots too…

    1. ooooo….apricots would be GENIUS.

    1. Thanks Hanan! When Rhett saw this pop up on my blog today he demanded that we make more.

  3. Ooh, these look good.

    We do popsicles for breakfast too–just pureed fresh fruits (sometimes mixed with plain yogurt if the consistency needs help). And then you get to be the cool mom who lets them eat popsicles whenever they want to.

    1. mmmm….I have used fruit juice before, but not puree. Will try that!

    2. Marilyn Riccio says:

      what a great idea. I am looking forward to making healthy snacks for my grandson…perfect!!

  4. Yum! This sounds great. My kids will surely love this for their breakfast matched with fresh milk. Thanks for the simple and easy recipe.

  5. Cookies for breakfast and for snacks are really great. Especially with a glass of milk or with a cup of coffee. I will surely love to try your recipe.

    1. oooo…coffee with cookies sounds heavenly.

  6. I just put a batch of these into the oven. Can’t wait for the children to go to bed so *I* can have cookies and milk!

    OK only kidding (a ilttle). I told them they could each have 1. Thanks for a super easy, super delicious recipe!

  7. These look great, my kids love cookies, I wonder if I can use wheat or spelt flour and still have them cakey- I will experiment! thanks!

  8. Mmm.. sounds yummy. I never would’ve thought to try them with milk either. Adding this to my must-try list.

  9. found ya via i heart naptime’s sundae scoop!

    I’m thinking these need to be made tomorrow morning! we are HUGE breakfast for dinner people too…it’s just easier to do at night..no morning rush hahaha.

  10. These would be amazing with a cup of earl grey tea, a sugar cube, and a dash of cream. Now all I need is a quiet place to hide and a good book…..

  11. For the oatmeal ingredient… Can quick oats be used instead ???

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