The wise woman who said “a balanced diet is a cookie in each hand” might not have specifically had these Granola Cookies in mind, but I can’t think of a cookie recipe more fitting of the phrase!
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These healthy granola cookies are nutritiously crafted with 100% whole grains (a combo of whole wheat flour and oatmeal granola) and include plenty of peanut butter for added protein and that hubba hubba flavor.
If you are a fan of these Healthy Peanut Butter Oatmeal Cookies, I know you’ll love these peanut butter granola cookies too.
Both wholesome and sweet, if you are looking for a more nutritious cookie to add to your diet, these beauties strike a true balance.
These cookies earn the “granola” in their name in two different, delicious ways.
- First, they incorporate granola into the batter. The granola creates surprise bits of texture and makes the cookies all the more addictive. If you’ve ever opened a bag of granola and not been able to stop snacking, you know the feeling! For recipes, check out my Healthy Granola and Ridiculously Addictive Maple Quinoa Granola in my cookbook. Or, use your favorite store-bought granola.
- Second, they play on the granola concept by including other classic granola mix-ins like dried fruit, nuts, and chocolate chips.
Know that these healthy granola cookies are thick, soft, and chewy, and that the use of granola itself does not make them crunchy.
Rather, the granola creates dimension and makes every bite a sweet surprise. (If you prefer crunchy granola cookies, baking these longer will only dry them out, not create more crunch; I’d suggest trying these Vegan Peanut Butter Cookies instead).
Along with bringing a little texture to these oatmeal granola cookies (the oatmeal is the granola itself), the Honey Oat Granola also is a delectable stand-alone product for your pantry.
In addition to using it to bake cookies, try granola stirred up with fruit and yogurt, on top of cooked breakfast oatmeal for texture (it’s dreamy on top of these Overnight Slow Cooker Steel Cut Oats), and scatter it over a scoop of ice cream for dessert.
These peanut butter granola cookies further embody the spirit of granola because you can add any number of mix-ins to the recipe, such as chocolate chips, dried fruit, or nuts.
Here, dried cranberries and pecans are a perfect combination. Just like these hit Healthy Oatmeal Cookies, you can mix in whatever dried fruit or nuts you have in your pantry.
How To Make Granola Cookies
These versatile cookies are quick to whip up and can be customized to any of your favorite mix-ins.
The Ingredients
- Peanut Butter. Incredibly scrumptious, creamy goodness that flavors every bite of these cookies. I recommend using a shelf-stable creamy peanut butter for this recipe, as the natural kinds that need to be stirred can separate in baking.
- Brown Sugar. For just the right amount of sweetness and to help the cookies be ultra moist and chewy.
- Milk. I used nonfat milk, but any milk you have on hand will work here.
- Vanilla + Cinnamon. While they don’t overpower the cookies, these two cozy ingredients enhance the other flavors in an all-important way.
- White Whole Wheat Flour. Whole wheat flour is my sneaky way to make these cookies extra wholesome. Whole wheat is good because it gives an extra boost of fiber and vitamins (read more benefits here), and it adds just a touch of nutty flavor.
- Bob’s Red Mill Granola. As we discussed above, I love using Bob’s Red Mill Honey Oat Granola for this recipe, but their Classic Granola would also be delicious here.
- Mix-ins. A spectacular combination of chocolate chips, dried fruit, and chopped nuts. These mix-ins round out the granola vibe and make the cookies impossible to resist.
The Directions
- Beat the butter, peanut butter, and sugar together until combined.
- Beat in the egg, milk, and vanilla.
- Add the cinnamon and salt.
- Add the flour, mixing until the dough comes together.
- Stir in the granola, chocolate chips, cranberries, and nuts.
- Drop cookies onto a parchment-lined baking sheet, flattening the tops slightly.
- Bake at 350 degrees F for 10 to 13 minutes. Let cool, then DIG IN!
Make Ahead and Storage Tips
- To Store. Leftover cookies can be stored in an airtight storage container at room temperature for up to 1 week.
- To Freeze Baked Cookies. Freeze cookies in an airtight freezer-safe storage container for up to 3 months. Thaw and enjoy as desired.
- To Freeze Cookie Dough. Scoop the unbaked cookies onto a parchment-lined baking sheet as directed, and freeze until solid. Transfer the frozen cookies to an airtight freezer-safe storage container for up to 3 months. Remove and bake from frozen as directed, adding a few minutes to the baking time if needed.
More Favorite Healthy Cookie Recipes
- No Bake. If you like the sound of granola cookies no bake style, these Energy Balls are a tried and true recipe with a similar flavor. Be sure to check out my Healthy No Bake Cookies too.
- Grain Free. In need of a grain-free cookie recipe? Check out my crowd-pleasing Almond Flour Cookies or Coconut Flour Cookies.
- Fun Flavors. You’ll love the unique flavors of these Pumpkin Snickerdoodles, Carrot Cookies, and Apple Oatmeal Cookies.
- And all these delicious cookie recipes!
Because of this variability of possible nutritious mix-ins, these simple granola cookies are ideal to serve to kids, either as a dessert or as an extra-special snack.
I can also attest that adults love them! I recently brought these cranberry granola cookies to an outdoor gathering, and several of my neighbors asked for the recipe on the spot. Don’t be surprised when you receive requests too.
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Granola Cookies
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Ingredients
- 4 tablespoons unsalted butter at room temperature
- ½ cup creamy peanut butter*
- ½ cup light brown sugar
- 1 large egg
- 2 tablespoons nonfat milk or milk of choice
- 1 ½ teaspoons pure vanilla extract
- ½ teaspoon ground cinnamon
- ¼ teaspoon kosher salt
- ¾ cup white whole wheat flour
- 1 cup prepared granola check out my healthy granola
- ⅓ cup mini chocolate chips
- ¼ cup dried cranberries or other dried fruit of choice: raisins or golden raisins, chopped dried cherries, chopped dried apricots
- ¼ cup chopped nuts of choice: pecans almonds, or walnuts (I used pecans)
Instructions
- Place a rack in the center of your oven and preheat the oven to 350 degrees F. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper or a silicone baking mat.
- In the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment or a large mixing bowl, place the butter, peanut butter, and brown sugar. Beat on medium-high speed for 2 minutes, until lightened in color and smoothly combined.
- Scrape down the bowl. Add the egg, milk, and vanilla and beat to combine. Stop the mixer to scrape down the bowl again as needed.
- Sprinkle the cinnamon and salt over the top.
- Sprinkle on the flour. Mix on low speed, just until the dough comes together and all bits of dry flour disappear.
- By hand or with the mixer on low, gently stir in the granola, chocolate chips, cranberries, and nuts.
- Portion the batter by generous ¼-cup-sized mounds onto the baking sheet, placing each cookie about 2 inches apart. With your fingers, gently flatten each cookie a little bit (they will not spread much during baking).
- Bake the granola cookies for 10 to 13 minutes, until lightly browned and dry to the touch at the edges and still slightly soft and the centers. The cookies will look a little underdone in the middle, but do not over bake or they will be dry. Let the cookies cool on the baking sheet for 3 minutes, then gently transfer to a wire rack to finish cooling completely. (I slide the parchment paper straight onto the rack).
Video
Notes
- *While runny nut butters made with only nuts (or nuts and salt) are my favorite for snacking, in baking they are less predictable. I recommend using a peanut butter that is stable at room temperature (I used Jif Natural).
- TO STORE: Leftover cookies can be stored at room temperature for up to 1 week.
- TO FREEZE: Freeze cookies in an airtight freezer-safe storage container for up to 3 months. Thaw and enjoy as desired. See blog post above for tips to freeze unbaked cookie dough to have on hand.
Nutrition
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I made these cookies today, they are delicious. Do you think they would work as a bar cookie?
I’m so happy that you enjoyed them, Christine! I’ve only tried them as written, so it would be an experiment. If you decide to try it, I’d love to hear how it goes!
These weren’t bad, they just weren’t particularly good either. I used raisins, some leftover cinnamon granola (which I thought would complement nicely), milk chocolate chips, regular old Jif creamy, and subbed all purpose flour. My thought was that these cookies (while they don’t have leavening) are huge! I’d like them better much smaller because they’re pretty rich in my opinion. I might try them again and see if the add ins just didn’t work together as well as I’d like, and maybe might try for a smaller scoop (and closely watch the time)
I’m sorry to hear that you had trouble with the recipe, Teri. The amounts, flavorings and timing have worked well for myself (and others) so I wished it would have been a hit for you too! I know it can be so disappointing to try a new recipe and it does not turn out for you.
Hi Erin! I just received my cook book! Wonderful! It is actually a wedding gift to a great niece. I enjoy your emails of delicious recipes very much. With most of the news bad, I revel in your notes and the good foods. Thank you!
This truly MADE my day, Diane! Thank you so much for your support of my book and for sharing it with others!
Thank you for sharing your beautiful recipes!
Thank you for sharing this wonderful review, Rasbhari!
Hello first of all thank you for this recipe. I would like to ask if there is a substitute for the peanut butter you might recommend? [I’m not particularly fond of the strong pb flavor].
Hi Kim! You could try a different nut butter that you prefer. I hope you enjoy the recipe!
Made these today (grateful for the small quantity recipe!) – I also had leftover granola which was just sufficient for this recipe. Used spelt flour… made them a bit sturdier and soaked up a bit of oil from the natural pb. Delicious – thanks!
I’m so happy that you enjoyed them, Renata! Thank you for sharing this kind review!
These are really yummy! Thank you for the recipe, I had a ton of homemade granola that I needed to use up and this helped! I used what I had on hand which was almond butter, walnuts, and dates, and they were totally delish.
So happy to hear it, thank you!
Awesome recipe. I took a few liberties and used oat flour (Bob’s of course!) and oat milk and low carb granola. So good. Keeper.
I’m so happy that you enjoyed them, Andrew! Thank you for sharing this kind review!
I have used this recipe blueprint many times; from a molasses spice direction to lemon, orange, chocolate cocoa…am usually using trader joe granola and Quaker Oats as a base…with nuts, chips and dried fruit on hand the sky is the limit here…at 350 for 10 minutes you got fast tasty cookies….just have to be sure and not get them too dry but that’s easy…no other granola cookie recipe needed ….cooked fruit would be awesome too..
I’m so happy that you’ve enjoyed the cookies, David! Thank you for sharing this kind review!
These were … not good. Lumpy and bitter. Not sure what went wrong, since I only subbed raisins for the cranberries and omitted the nuts.
I’m sorry to hear that these weren’t a hit for you. Unfortunately, it’s so hard to say what might’ve gone wrong without being in the kitchen with you. I (and other readers) have truly enjoyed them, so I wish they would’ve been a hit for you too!
Made a double batch to give to friends they are delicious it’s a keeper ❤️
Hi Mary Anne! So glad you enjoyed the recipe! Thank you for this kind review!
No quantities attached to the ingredients?
Hi Paul! I’m so confused because I see it on my end! It’s located in the recipe card right above where you commented. You can even click the “jump to recipe” button at the top of the page to get you there faster. Could you please check again? Thank you!
Weird, I can see it on my laptop but not my phone, its obviously a problem with my phone, apologies! Thanks for replying, looking forward to getting baking tomorrow!
Hope you enjoy them Paul! Thank you!
I made the cookies tonight, they were awesome ❤️Thank you!
Hi Shari! So glad you enjoyed the recipe! Thank you for this kind review!
I want to share more, Erin ❤️I made the cookies for my Man to share with his kids and he said, “Oh no, these are grown up cookies! I’m freezing them for me!” Then he saved half of the last cookie for me, so sweet. I love the recipe because I can try different granolas from our local co-op to mix it up. Also I tried dark chocolate with the first batch but milk chocolate is really nice in my view, less overpowering. They really are great for me as a runner to keep one in my pocket on a long run or snowshoe. Last thought, a post here asked for peanut butter substitutes. I highly recommend almond butter. Thanks again!
Hi Shari! So glad you enjoyed it! Thank you for this kind review!
Can you skip the egg and add a mashed banana instead? I would love to bake this in a vegan way :)
Hi Greta! I’ve only tested the recipe as written, so it would be an experiment. I believe it would change the consistency of the cookie. If you decide to try it, I’d love to hear how it goes!
What a great recipe, thank you so much . I used abc butter as my daughter can’t have peanut butter, and white choc chips with cranberries. I can see this is going to be a regular recipe for me , so easy to swap up combinations. I look forward to using Inca berries, my favourite. Now just to pack these away before I eat them all 😊
Hi Sue! So glad you enjoyed the recipe! Thank you for this kind review!
so chewy and good!
Hi Tyler! So glad you enjoyed the recipe! Thank you for this kind review!
Dang, girl! This is a great basic recipe! I substituted all sorts of things and they still came out great! Bravo!
So glad you enjoyed them, Susan! Thank you!