This breakfast is a cross between two things. My single serving, deep-dish chewy oatmeal cookie and this super simple microwave oatmeal cookie.

It's a little bit gooey, kind of cakey, and soft + chewy. Hence, cookie-bake. No unusual or hard to find flours, just a simple blend of oats, oat flour, and almond meal. You won't even need eggs or flax, but you will need pumpkin. I love me some pumpkin.

Fun thing about this recipe is that you can bake them two different ways. You can split the dough in two and bake in small baking dishes, or you can roll the dough into 6 balls and bake them into actual cookies. The cookies are thick and chewy with a crispy exterior. The cookie-bakes are a bit softer throughout.

The mix-ins are completely customizable. I did a true breakfast version with pecans only and then added a little chocolatey sweetness in the next batch for good measure. Something about pecans + pumpkin just make sense to me. And they're both helping me cope with the fact that we have a solid ONE INCH of snow on the ground.

Hey, fall...

What happened to you? I like you so much. Please come back.

At first glance this recipe looks lengthy, but fear not, it's clunked up with lots of pumpkin spices and silly things like vanilla, pecans, and chocolate chips--my favorite things. I promise it's an easy one to throw together, and I just inhaled the leftovers [from the trial batches] straight from the fridge with a hot cup of coffee. But, that is kind of my norm. I'm impatient when it comes to breakfast.

While chowing down on cold leftovers I also reheated one of the cookie-bakes which worked like a charm. Reheating in a toaster oven, a skillet with a bit of oil, or the microwave will all work.

p.s. They're vegan, too.

Print this!

adapted from: single-serving deep dish oatmeal chocoalte chip cookie If you haven't yet, you must make these! [v+gf]

Oatmeal Pumpkin Cookie Bake for Two

gluten-free, vegan // yields 2 large breakfast cookies

1/2 cup gluten-free rolled oats
3 tablespoons almond meal
2 tablespoons gluten-free oat flour
1/2 teaspoon cinnamon
1/4 teaspoon ginger
1/4 teaspoon baking powder
1/8-1/4 teaspoon salt
1/8 teaspoon nutmeg
1/16 teaspoon clove
1 1/2 tablespoons softened unrefined coconut oil
5 tablespoons pumpkin puree
1-1 1/2 tablespoons maple syrup
1/2 teaspoon vanilla bean paste, or vanilla extract
3 tablespoons chopped pecans
2 tablespoons dark chocolate chips, optional

Preheat oven to 350* F and grease 2, 4-inch baking dishes with a small amount of coconut oil.
Mix the oats, almond meal, oat flour, cinnamon, ginger, baking powder, salt, nutmeg, and clove together in a bowl.
Place the softened coconut oil in the dry ingredient bowl and mix with your fingers until fully incorporated and the mixture is crumbly.
In another bowl whisk the pumpkin, maple syrup, and vanilla bean paste until combined.
Pour over the dry ingredients and mix together with your fingers or a fork until fully combined.
Mix in the chopped pecans and chocolate chips [if using]. The dough will be very sticky and thick.
Split the dough in half and evenly press into your greased baking dishes.
Bake for 11-13 minutes. The center will feel soft and edges will be firm.
Let cool, top as desired, and eat warm.

for cookies: Follow directions 1-6, except do not grease small baking dishes. Roll dough [it will be sticky] into 6 even balls and place on a baking sheet with 1-2 inches between each. Lightly press down with your palm or a fork so the cookies are about 1/2-inch thick. Bake for about 8-9 minutes. Let cool for 5 minutes then remove from the pan and eat.

notes/substitutions: If you don't like pumpkin spice sub mashed banana for pumpkin puree and use 1 teaspoon cinnamon instead of all the other spices. I used 1 tablespoon maple syrup but omit or add more if desired. Softened butter will work instead of coconut oil. Use just under 1 teaspoon pumpkin spice instead of spices called out above.