These easy keto breakfast cookies are simple to make and taste like maple oatmeal. A delicious way to start your day off right.
Cookies for breakfast that taste like your favorite oatmeal, topped with brown sugar and maple syrup? Sign me up!
But of course, these keto breakfast cookies contain no oatmeal, no brown sugar, and no maple syrup. They’re also dairy free and contain an extra boost of protein in the form of collagen peptides.
How is that possible? Through the magic of keto ingenuity, my friends.
I will admit, I leaned heavily on my keto oatmeal cookie recipe to create these breakfast cookies. Because that formula of grinding flaked coconut and sliced almonds really works to simulate the real deal. Oat-like texture and flavor, without all the carbs.
Collagen in keto baked goods
You may have noticed that I use whey or egg white protein in many of my baked goods. This is to mimic gluten, which is a protein, and it helps baked goods rise properly and gives them more structure.
Many readers ask if they can use collagen protein to substitute, but more often than not, I say no. Because for cakes and muffins, collagen protein can make them very gummy and hard to cook through. Trust me, I’ve tried. And been frustrated and disappointed every time.
So why does collagen work in these keto breakfast cookies? Because they aren’t meant to rise and be fluffy like cake. The collagen acts as a great binder, since they have no flour.
It also gives them an extra punch of nutrition and protein, which we can all use more of at breakfast.
How to make keto maple breakfast cookies
- The first step is to make your keto “oatmeal”. Ideally, you want an even split between flaked coconut and sliced almonds, for the best chewy texture. Grind these both up together in a food processor until they resemble oat flakes.
- Add the sweetener and collagen right into the food processor and pulse a few more times to get a nice even distribution, then transfer to a bowl.
- I really do recommend a brown sugar replacement for these cookies, to get them true oatmeal flavor. I like Swerve Brown, but other “golden” erythritol blends, like Lakanto, should work as well.
- The almond butter should be the creamy kind. Melting it slightly makes it easier to mix with the other ingredients.
- Since maple syrup isn’t keto friendly, we use maple extract to get that delicious flavor. I find maple extract quite strong so 1 teaspoon is enough for my taste.
- These cookies do seem to leach a lot of oil during baking, but it re-absorbs as they cool. Use a rimmed baking sheet so you don’t end up with oil spilling onto the bottom of your oven.
How to store keto breakfast cookies
Almost all keto cookie recipes should be good on the counter for 3 days or so, stored in a covered container.
Harder baked cookies, like keto cut out sugar cookies or keto biscotti, are often fine on the counter for up to a week.
But the soft baked style, like these, should be refrigerated if they will be around longer than a few days. They can be frozen as well, for an easy grab-and-go keto breakfast.
Ready to make some delicious keto breakfast cookies?
More keto breakfast cookies and bars
- Lemon Poppyseed Breakfast Cookies
- Keto Pumpkin Breakfast Bars
- Blueberry Breakfast Bars
- Cranberry Orange Breakfast Cookies
- Pumpkin Chocolate Chip Breakfast Cookies
- Savory Breakfast Cookies
Keto Maple Breakfast Cookies
Ingredients
- ½ cup flaked coconut
- ½ cup sliced almonds
- ½ cup Swerve Brown
- ⅓ cup collagen peptides
- ½ cup almond butter slightly melted
- 1 large egg
- 1 teaspoon maple extract
- ½ teaspoon vanilla extract
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 350F and line a large rimmed baking sheet with a silicone liner.
- In a food processor, combine the coconut and almonds, and grind until they resemble oat flakes. Add the sweetener and collagen, and pulse a few more times to combine.
- Transfer to a large bowl and stir in the almond butter, egg, and extracts until well combined. Use about 2 tablespoons for each cookie and roll into balls.
- Place on the prepared baking sheet and press down to about ½ inch thick. Bake 15 to 20 minutes, until golden and firm to the touch. Remove and let cool on the pan. Do note: the cookies may release a lot of grease during baking but this will reabsorb as they cool.
Madeleine says
Loved these!
As I live in New Zealand, where there is no brown sweetener and no maple extract and, I do not know what it is about foreign sweeteners, but I always have to cut the sweetener down to 1/3 or it is inedible with American/Canadian recipes, but I do not have to with Australian and NZ recipies (maybe our sweetener is sweeter here? We have different brands) I did these with:
– 3 tbsp erythritol/stevia blend
– 1/2 tsp molasses
– 1 tbsp sugar free maple syrup
– 1 small egg (in case the extra liquids in my sugar/flavouring messed things up)
I also threw in a scant sprinklng of dried cranberries to make them feel more oatmeal raisin.
They were just perfect. The most delicious, chewy, keto cookie ever! Very filling too. I can see myself taking them camping, for weekends when I am out riding my horse and I need a meal for my pocket!
Carolyn says
It’s tough when we’re dealing with different products across borders! Take a look at your bag of “erythritol/stevia” blend. Does it say how sweet it is in relation to sugar? I suspect it’s one of the sweeteners that is more intense than sugar (often they are 2x as sweet). Swerve measures exactly like sugar but many sweeteners don’t. It’s hard to figure out those ratios!
Martine says
Made this, this afternoon and they are YUMMY! Best cookies so far. I will totally have this with my coffee for breakfast.
I did decrease the quantity of sugar to 1/3 cup and it seems like a nice level of sweetness to me.
PS. I did notice that the metric information for the collagen appears to be wrong. I have been measuring my ingredients with cups and weighing them to check if I can trust them. They seem fairly accurate except for the collagen.
Martine says
PS. I want to add they were great with coffee and even got a big thumbs up from my husband who hates every keto “replacement” recipe I make. He ordered me not to change the recipe going forward. Not that I had planned to as it’s pretty perfect as it is (with my small tweak of reducing sugar to 1/3 cup). I also used whole almonds instead of sliced, since this is what I had on hand. It just means a bit more processing in the food processor. I’ll keep doing that as whole almonds are cheaper than sliced ones.
Kimberly Hinkle says
What can I replace collegen peptides with?
Carolyn says
Nothing. It’s pretty important for the recipe.
Marla says
Good thing I read the comments before making the recipe. I’ve made these before (just didn’t remember!) and learned quickly what NOT to do this time (like packing the brown sweetener). I didn’t have enough almond butter so added a bit of peanut butter and they came out great. Though next time I need to use the Pampered chef medium cookie scoop instead of the large (opps!) Thank you as always, for sharing your wonderful recipes!
jackie M says
I use Great Lakes collagen protein (which I have). Is this the same thing as the Perfect Keto Collagen? Or should I order the perfect Keto Collagen. This whole collagen / protein thing confuses me still :>! Thanks, these look absolutely yum yum…
Carolyn says
That should be just fine, as long as it’s the green can and not the orange one. 🙂 Great Lakes can confuse people because the company name is “Great Lakes Gelatin”.
Becky Dennis says
A big hit with the family, and not too much work for the cook (me). Very filling, so two people can split one for a sweet snack.
Carolyn says
Happy to hear it!
Dee Dee says
Just made these. They are delicious. I didn’t have enough almond butter, so I used 1/4 almond, 1/4 peanut butter and I could have stirred better. I also used Great Lakes collagen, since I didn’t have any peptides. These are moist and chewy and still warm. They didn’t have a lot of oil although they are a bit sticky on the bottom! I turned them upside down to dry out a bit. It seemed to help. Thanks again for a lovely alternative to breakfast. I am always looking for low carb, high calorie, high fat foods. I play walking soccer and pickleball and can’t seem to get enough calories in me.
Carolyn says
Glad it worked out!
Kathy Cooke says
Delicious! I doubled the recipe and pressed it into a greased 9×9” pan. Very easy to throw together. Baked for 22 minutes, as the top wasn’t yet firm. Lovely color and smells wonderful with the caramel extract! These were damn near impossible to get out of the pan though! Next time I’ll make sure to line it with greased parchment paper.
Monika says
Hi,
What kind of collogen peptide do you recommend?
Thanks!
Carolyn says
Really love the ones from Perfect Keto (the unflavoured is good for baking with but the salted caramel is divine in coffee!) and if you use ALLDAY15 you get 15% off.
https://shop.perfectketo.com/products/perfect-keto-grass-fed-keto-collagen-with-mct?variant=44301377045
Marla says
Interesting recipe and I had to try it right a way this morning. All I had on hand was the PerfectKeto Salted Caramel collagen powder so I used it. I also pack my brown sugar but the cookies actually ended up being way to sweet! Because of the use of those ingredients? Maybe all 3 flavors were a bit much. I ate one warm right out of the oven so I could have it with my coffee. It will be interesting to see how it tastes tomorrow.
Carolyn says
So please understand that using the salted caramel means you added even more sweetener. Also, my recipe does not specify to pack the brown sweetener… so yes, you over-sweetened it a lot!
Mori says
I love the Perfect Keto collagen powders and actually use the vanilla in my Iced coffee every morning (and in my vanilla ice cream). Guess I need to try the salted caramel. As it happens, I used my maple extract this week for the first time to make maple walnut pecan ice cream, inspired by your ice cream post. Used some PK collagen in there, as well. Totally yummy! Would never have known maple extract existed if it weren’t for you. So thank you times infinity! Can’t wait to make these cookies.
Carolyn says
The salted caramel is SO GOOD!
Miriah Baxter says
If I don’t have maple extract do you think I could use some of my sugar free maple syrup?
Carolyn says
Yes, but I think you would need to cut back on other liquids to offset it.
Rena Conaway says
Hi! First of all let me say thank you so much for the work that you do it helps me so much in reaching my health goals… I’ve already lost 76 pounds and have made so many of your wonderful recipes… So keep up the good work… There are lots of folks who need you! Anyway I have a question about this recipe… Instead of collagen peptides, could protein powder be used… Is that the same thing? I was just curious also if I wanted to always add a punch of protein to a recipe how could I swap that out for example, I want to make your lemon poppyseed breakfast cookies but I would like to add some protein powder to that to amp up the protein… Any rule you follow in baking for this or any suggestion would be greatly appreciated. I consider you the go to for all of my keto baking…thank you so much I appreciate it.
Thank you…Rena
Rena says
Just read the other comments about the collagen…could still use advice about adding protein powder in other recipes as mentioned above if you have any pointers…thanks!
Carolyn says
No, collagen and whey work very differently so that’s why I recommend NEVER using collagen in cakes and muffins (makes them gummy), whereas I wouldn’t recommend whey here, as it wouldn’t help them old together.
Karen says
You make the comparson between whey powder & collagen protein n your preamble, could the whey protein be used here? I don’t have access to collagen proten as far as I know. If I do try to substitute the why, would the amount be the same?
Carolyn says
No… they really work very differently and collagen helps these hold together.
Lori says
Can I use great lakes gelatin instead of collagen peptides? Its what I have
Carolyn says
I didn’t try it that way so you will need to experiment. Not sure it will produce the right texture.
Amy says
Just made these! Yummy. I was short on the 1/2 almond butter so I add some coconut butter. Baked up great! Thank you for the recipe. I’ve been looking for one with collagen.
Mary S says
Can I use Raw Organic Protein powder in place of collagen peptides?
Carolyn says
I am doubtful it will have the same effect, since collagen is a binder in this recipe. But you may have to experiment!
Susie says
These are delicious! I didn’t think I could have a crunchy, chewy cookie on Keto! Thank you for sharing the recipe! I really miss chewy (glutenous) bread on Keto. Have you used the collagen peptides in a sourdough type bread, or to make scones not so moist & cakey (more biscuity) as the Keto recipes typically are?
Carolyn says
I have not done so yet… will get thinking about that!
Diane says
I just made these…. they are amazing!! These will be a great grab and go breakfast with a cup of coffee. Thank you for another great recipe!
Carolyn says
Glad to hear it!
txgrandma says
I made these right away as written, except I substituted pecans for almonds. (I live in TX and pecans are plentiful!) I also doubled the recipe and pressed them into an 8 x 8 inch pan and baked a little longer. They turned out great and will be a nice accompaniment to a protein at breakfast. Thanks for sharing!
Beth says
I was just wondering about using pecans instead. Thanks.
Cookie says
Can we use whey powder, instead of collagen 🤔