Birthday Cake Breakfast Cookies
Kids will love baking and eating these nutritious, fiber-rich cookies that taste like “funfetti” cake! Birthday Cake Breakfast Cookies are a balanced addition to breakfast, snack time, or lunch boxes. You can make the cookies with wheat flour or almond flour to make them gluten-free. They are also easy to make dairy and egg-free.
Kids in the Kitchen:
- Measure and Mix: If baking with younger kids or if you want to reduce the mess, you can measure some or all of the ingredients before baking. If you want your child to learn and practice measuring, leave a few ingredients like the baking powder and oats for them to measure and add to the bowl.
- Use a large bowl. Mixing in a large bowl means less mess when cooking with kids. I try and always and demonstrate what speed I’d like kids to stir before letting them have a turn. Most likely, their mixing will result in at least a little spillage, but that’s ok. With practice, kids will eventually learn to better control the spoon or spatula.
- Scoop: Kids can help scoop the batter onto the pan by holding the scoop or measuring cup with you. If your child wants to do it on their own, you can point to the place on the baking sheet where the batter should go.
- Sprinkle: If your child only does one things to help with this recipe, have it be to place a pinch of sprinkles on top of each cookie before baking. So fun!
Subs and Tips for making Birthday Cake Breakfast Cookies:
- Flour: White whole wheat flour has a more mild taste than the traditional whole wheat flour. I like to buy the King Arthur brand. If you don’t have white whole wheat flour, use half regular whole wheat and half all-purpose flour to get similar results. You can also use all all-purpose flour if you prefer a more bakery-style tasting cookie.
- Gluten-free: To make these gluten free, you can use a gluten-free flour blend. You can also try using a combination of oat flour and almond flour (which I find is a good sub for regular flour). Make sure to use gluten-free oats as well.
- No applesauce?: You can use mashed banana instead. Just be aware that applesauce tends to be a little less sweet than mashed bananas, so you can reduce the amount of sweetener or omit it if you prefer.
- Sprinkles: You can use any kind of sprinkles you like for this recipe. These Color Kitchen dye-free sprinkles are what I used in the photographs in this post. I also like to ask for a tub of sprinkles at the Whole Foods bakery (they are also dye-free). More sprinkle options are on my Amazon store HERE.
- Helpful Equipment: Parchment paper sheets and cookie scoops are some essential baking tools that I couldn’t live without. See those and others on my Baking Essentials Amazon list HERE.
Birthday Cake Breakfast Cookies
Cookies that taste like birthday cake but are nutritious enough for breakfast or snacks!
Ingredients
- 1/2 cup unsweetened applesauce
- 1 egg or 1/4 cup more applesauce
- 1/4 cup neutral oil (avocado or vegetable)
- 1/4 cup maple syrup or honey
- 1 tsp vanilla extract
- 1/4 tsp almond extract optional but recommended
- 3 Tbsp ground flax seed (flax meal) preferably the golden variety
- 2 Tbsp hemp seeds or chia seeds
- 1 cup instant "quick cooking" oats*
- 1 tsp baking powder
- 1/4 tsp salt
- 1/2 cup whole wheat, all-purpose, or a combo of both 1 cup almond flour for gluten-free version
- 1/4 cup rainbow sprinkles
Instructions
- Heat the oven to 350 degrees. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper or a silicone mat.
- In a large bowl, mix the applesauce, egg, oil, maple syrup, vanilla, and almond extract.
- Add the oats, baking powder, salt, flour, and half of the sprinkles. Use a large spoon or rubber spatula to mix until everything is just combined.
- Scoop the mixture into 12 cookies (about 2 heaping tablespoons each). Flatten the tops of the cookies with the back of the scoop/spoon then sprinkle the remaining sprinkles on each cookie.
- Bake until the cookies no longer look wet in the center and are lightly golden brown around the edges, 12 to 14 minutes. (If you are using almond flour, they will need 3 to 4 more minutes longer.)
- Let the cookies cool then store in an airtight container at room temperature for a day and then in the refrigerator for 4 days. Cookies can be frozen for 1 month.
Other Recipes to Try:
Kid-Friendly Make Ahead Breakfasts for a huge list of breakfast ideas!