Healthy Oatmeal Cookies that are soft and chewy, sweetened with honey, and filled with your favorite trail mix. A wholesome and delicious treat for lunchboxes, snacking, or dessert.
Today I’m sharing a recipe for a classic cookie with a delicious twist – Oatmeal Trail Mix Cookies. These cookies are soft and chewy, sweetened with brown sugar and honey, filled with your favorite trail mix, and loaded with Bob’s Red Mill Old Fashioned Rolled Oats.
Cookie perfection is coming your way!
I created this recipe because I wanted a snack/treat for my kids that was both delicious and wholesome. With the back to school season in high gear I’m always on the lookout for lunch box snacks, after school treats, or quick grab and go breakfasts for this busy time of year.
My family loves trail mix, so I decided to take our favorite trail mix and add it to oatmeal cookies. In an effort to make these cookies a little more nutritious I used white whole wheat flour, I swapped some of the refined sugar for honey, and I used my favorite Old Fashioned Rolled Oats from Bob’s Red Mill.
Oats are an incredibly versatile whole grain; they are rich in dietary fiber and can help reduce cholesterol. My family loves oats in any recipe – Overnight Oats, Granola, Baked Oatmeal – they devour it all. Although if I’m being completely honest, my kids would definitely say that these cookies rank as their favorite way to eat oats.
Healthy Oatmeal Cookies
I call these cookies “healthy”, because they are more wholesome than a traditional cookie. In addition to oats, they also include whole wheat flour, honey, nuts, seeds and dried fruit.
If you have children that you’re sending off to school they would be thrilled to find one of these cookies in their lunchbox. My son, Jake, is ecstatic when I surprise him with an occasional treat in his lunch. These cookies also make a great after school snack for welcoming your little ones home from school. Or wait until after dinner and share a plate of cookies as a family (adults love these too!). They are perfect anytime, anywhere!
Tip: These cookies keep well for several days. Make a batch at the beginning of the week and enjoy them in the days ahead.
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Oatmeal Trail Mix Cookies
Ingredients
- 1/2 cup unsalted butter softened
- 1/2 cup light brown sugar make sure it's fresh and soft
- 1/4 cup honey
- 1 egg
- 1 teaspoon vanilla
- 1 1/4 cups Bob's Red Mill Old Fashioned Rolled Oats
- 3/4 cup white whole wheat flour
- 1/2 teaspoon baking powder
- 1/4 teaspoon salt
- 1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
- 1 1/2 cups roughly chopped trail mix divided (see note)
Instructions
- With a hand mixer or stand mixer, beat butter, brown sugar and honey for 2-3 minutes, until smooth and creamy. Add egg and vanilla and beat to combine.
- In a separate bowl, combine oats, flour, baking powder, salt and cinnamon. Add the dry ingredients to the wet ingredients and mix until combined. Stir in 1 cup of trail mix by hand. Cover the dough and refrigerate for two hours or up to overnight (you can skip this step and bake immediately, but I prefer the final texture after chilling).
- Preheat oven to 350°F. Line two baking sheets with parchment paper or silicone liners. Scoop the dough into two tablespoon balls and place a couple inches apart on the baking sheets. Use the remaining 1/2 cup trail mix to press some pieces onto the top of each dough ball (this makes the trail mix more visible and makes for a prettier cookie). Lightly press down on the dough balls to flatten just slightly. Bake for 9-11 minutes (see note), until the edges of the cookies are done and the very center is still slightly underdone. Do not over bake, as they will finish cooking on the baking sheet. Place the baking sheets on wire racks and allow the cookies to cool completely.
Recipe Notes
Trail mix: You can use a store bought variety or you can make your own by combining nuts, seeds, dried fruit and/or chocolate chips. The combination I like best for these cookies is a mixture of pecans, walnuts, almonds, pepitas, dried cranberries, raisins, and chocolate chips.
Bake time: If using less than 2 tablespoon dough balls, lower baking time by a couple of minutes. The center of the cookies should look slightly underdone when you pull them from the oven.
I was selected for this opportunity as a member of Clever Girls and the content and opinions expressed here are all my own.
Ohh i am a chewy cookie addict, so it´s probably not a bad idea to make them a tiny bit healthier 😉
These look so yummy!! I might have to make them today!
These look so yummy! I always need a sweet treat at night, so this would be a great healthier alternative.
I love oatmeal cookies, and I love the idea of doing them with lots of yummy trail mix ingredients. The more ingredients, the merrier!
Yum! I think it’s time to bake cookies!
These look delicious and totally guilt-free to feed the kiddos.
I’ve been wanting to try the Red Mill products. My sister always uses them and told me it’s pretty good. These trail mix cookies look really tasty! My son loves trail mix so he would love these cookies!
Yum these look amazing! I love oatmeal cookies. xx
This looks fantastic! Beautiful photography, as well!
These look so delicious and healthy! Definitely going to try them. YUM.
This recipe doesn’t work at all for some reason they just melted and burnt ! They wouldn’t cook properly at all .
Hi, Morgan. After reading your comment I retested this recipe and the cookies came out fine for me. If your cookies melted, most likely your butter was too soft (possibly even beginning to melt) when you prepared the dough. Also, you used real butter, right? Not butter substitute or margarine? It should have been 1/2 cup/1 stick/8 tablespoons of butter. If they burnt your oven temp might be running high or your dough balls might have been smaller than mine and needed less cooking time. The only other factor I can think of is the trail mix that you used. I typically use a mixture of nuts, dried fruit and chocolate chips – maybe your mix had something different that might have affected the texture? I’m sorry this recipe didn’t work for you. I’ve tested it several times and I am confident that it should work as written. Thanks for stopping by.
Can I substitute Almond four for the white flour?
Hi, Sonya. That will change the texture of the cookies quite a bit. My concern is that they wouldn’t hold their shape without the wheat flour. If you’re looking to eliminate wheat flour you could sub a cup-for-cup gluten free blend. Best of luck if you give it a shot.
OMG these are so yumm and healthy too. I want to try these!
Loving all the fruits and nuts in these, I’ll choose sticky oatmeal cookies over any other cookie any day of the week 🙂
Yum! These looks delicious and I love that each cookie delivers protein. What a great idea! Thanks for sharing! Luci’s Morsels | fashion. food. frivolity.
These cookies look amazing, and your photos are stunning! I love Bob’s Red Mill. I live in Asia part of the year and I can get so many speciality flours and ingredients because that brand is carried all over here.
Yes! Love the look of these, they’s be just perfect when camping 🙂
Jane x
These cookies look absolutely DELISH! Your photography is stunning! 🙂 I am going to make these for my family.
How can I make this cookie diabetic
Hi, Tanya. If you’re looking to reduce the sugar you can trying swapping the brown sugar for a low sugar replacement like Splenda Brown Sugar Blend. I’ve never tried it though so I can’t say for sure.
I made these today. They turned out very yummy! Thanks for the great recipe.
So glad that you liked them! Thanks for stopping by!
Can you substitute the butter for oil?
I would not recommend it. I think the cookies would spread way too much when they’re baking.
Do you have any nutritional information on these cookies? They look really good and I would like to try them but I don’t want to purchase ingredients without knowing the calories count!
Hi, Kay. Sorry that it took me so long to get back to you. I have added nutrition info to the recipe card. Here is a link to the post. https://wp.me/p4pSZM-1Sy
Hello! These look amazing! Do you have a recipe of the trail mix you like to use? Thanks!
Hi, Laura. The combination I like best for these cookies is a mixture of pecans, walnuts, almonds, pepitas, dried cranberries, raisins, and chocolate chips. No specific measurements of each ingredient, as I usually just throw together whatever odds and ends I have. It is really personal preference. Thanks for stopping by!
I just love this recipe and make these cookies frequently. They’re great for throwing in my backpack as a energizing and luxurious hiking snack. I think that they are improved on by doubling the cinnamon, adding a 1/4 tsp of orange extract, and sprinkling the top of the ready-to-bake cookies with a pinch of coarse salt. I also just mix the whole cup-and-a-half of trail mix into the dough. These are super quick and easy to prepare, fairly healthy, and extremely satisfying in flavor. Give them a try!
Hi, Justine. That’s great to hear. Thanks for sharing your adaptations, and thanks for stopping by!