Breakfast Cookies

Let's be honest, all cookies are breakfast cookies if you're grabbing something on the way out the door.  These are just more nutritious.  They're a lot like Oatmeal Everything Cookies without the egg or flour.  If you get GF-certified oats, they're good for that.  They're also vegan if the added sweetener is.  Basically, they're cookie-shaped granola bars, and there's nothing to prevent you from making them bar-shaped by baking them in a cake pan, turning out, and cutting the bars.

Because I was making these for tea snacks, I kept them small.  Some recipes I found have you using 1/4 C of batter apiece.  That's good if they're actually to take in the car with a cup of coffee for a driving breakfast.  I did a rounded tablespoon, almost an ounce, and got 15.  Two or three would be a meal.

Nearly all recipes agreed that you can freeze the finished product.  I wasn't sure because of the peanut butter.  The oils in nut butters do odd things once they're frozen.  Maybe having them mixed with the oats and/or baked keeps the oils from separating or caking.

1-1/4 C rolled oats
1 banana
*1/2 C peanut or other nut butter
1/2 tsp vanilla
1/8 tsp salt
*1/2 tsp cinnamon
*2 Tb chocolate or vanilla chips
1/2 C dried fruit, chopped
*2 Tb coconut flakes
2 Tb chopped or slivered nuts
*2 Tb honey or maple syrup

1.  Preheat oven to 350º.  Grease two baking sheets or line with parchment paper or silpat.

2.  You can make this in a bowl by hand, but I got lazy and dumped everything in the stand mixer.  Cream together banana and peanut butter.

3.  Stir in remaining ingredients.  I used figs for my dried fruit, so I subbed 1 Tb boiling water for half of the honey.  If using a less sweet fruit or unsweetened nut butter, you'll probably want to use the full amount.

4.  Scoop batter onto baking sheets to desired size.  Flatten the scoops, as they won't spread out in the oven.  Bake until bottoms begin to brown, about 10 minutes.  Cool on the pan until firm enough to move, about 10 minutes, then finish cooling on a rack.

Makes about 1 dozen, depending on size

Difficulty rating  π