Let Them Eat Cookies! (Breakfast Cookie Recipe w/ Nutritional Info)

Cookies for Breakfast? Why not?

COOKIES? FOR BREAKFAST?

Yes, my friends, it has come to this. What I am still hungry for is cookies. The thing is, I haven't read very far in my new book What Are You Hungry For? by Deepak Chopra, and I have to eat, so yesterday it occurred to me that while The Hole in My Soul needs spiritual and emotional feeding, I still need to eat. If I'm going to eat, I better be offering my body something that offers physical sustenance.  Enter:  Breakfast Cookies!

Bill Cosby fans understand how cake can be the perfect breakfast food, so my cookies aren't too far of a stretch. Seriously, though, they offer oats, bananas, coconut oil, egg...plenty of good stuff to offer your picky eaters at the breakfast table. These also make a great any-time snack. Lately, Facebook and Pinterest have been inundated with recipes using ripe bananas and oatmeal, so I thought I'd give this idea a go in my own test kitchen. 

THE BASICS

The basic recipe calls for very ripe bananas and oatmeal. There just happened to be three REALLY ripe bananas on the kitchen counter, and rather than entertain another infestation of fruit flies, I decided to actually incorporate them in my recipe.

ADAPTATIONS  

Unfortunately, I didn't have as much oatmeal on hand as I thought, so I had to improvise. (This is usually how recipe adaptations begin for me. I've baked enough to know there are plenty of ways to tweak a recipe to use what is available.)  Keep in mind that you can use any puréed fruit or vegetable (think "applesauce or pumpkin") for the bananas. You can use your favorite flour for the oatmeal, but if you're going gluten-free, oatmeal is a great way to go. I know we like things a little sweeter in our house, so I added stevia and brown sugar, but the purist's recipes don't add any sweetener, since the bananas are "sweet enough." (I know; I'm bad.) I threw in an egg for the tiniest bit of protein, and to help make the cookies a little lighter.

(***Hop over to my friend Stella's blog Stella Starshine to see how easily she and her husband adjusted the recipe when only a couple of ingredients were readily available in their kitchen. Her story will entertain you, and if you worry that making changes will hurt the recipe, I think you'll be pleasantly surprised!)

INGREDIENTS

3 REALLY ripe bananas (the riper, the sweeter)

1/3 c. coconut oil, melted, or your choice of oil

1 egg

1 t. vanilla

1/2 c. stevia

1/2 c. brown sugar

3 c. oatmeal (or lightly blended old-fashioned oats, or whole wheat flour, or any combination of the flours you have on hand. Mine was made of 2 c. blended oats, and 1 c. whole wheat flour)

1/4 c. coconut PLUS 1/4 c. raisins (you choose: coconut, raisins, craisins, dried cherries or blueberries...)

1/2 c. chocolate chips (totally optional, unless you're in our family, then they're totally required, and included in the nutritional info)

1/2 c. nuts (again, optional. For nutrition info, I did not add these. Peanut butter would be good, too!)

1 t. cinnamon

1 t. soda

DIRECTIONS

Flatten cookies into the shape you desire; they won't change shape while baking.

Bake at 350 degrees for 20 minutes, ON PARCHMENT PAPER. (The ingredients will leave a very sticky residue on your cookie sheets.)

Enjoy these at breakfast, after school, or any time the sweet tooth hits you. 

Nutritional information determined by My Fitness Pal, below.