Banana & Chocolate Breakfast Cookies
The Thanksgiving countdown is upon us and I’m completely unprepared. I’m not cooking Thanksgiving this year, because we will be visiting family, but it’s my first year with a food blog. What does that mean? Apparently, I need to be posting gorgeous, exciting new Thanksgiving recipes like mad. I’m looking at my fellow bloggers (those ones with much more experienced than me) and they are clearly on a mission. A well planned out mission.
I don’t have one of those, so I’m left feeling a little inadequate with my sad little banana & chocolate breakfast cookies. They don’t have pumpkin, cranberries or nutmeg (but, please, feel free to add those ingredients). These cookies are filled with healthy bits that taste like not-healthy bits and they are meant to be eaten on any regular day. Filled with banana, whole wheat, flax meal, chia seeds, nuts and chocolate chips, they have a soft, cake-like texture and are full surprises in each bite. I make these differently every time. Sometimes I add almond butter, protein powder, raisins or dried cherries. Other times, I pack them with lots of dark chocolate chips. That’s the beauty of this recipe. It’s forgiving. You get about 30 cookies, and they freeze well. Make a bunch and you have breakfast cookies to take with you to work, stick in the kid’s lunches or just enjoy for dessert.
I promise next year to post a bazillion holiday recipes. In a well-thought out fashion. I’ll start planning now. For now, we eat cookies.
Ingredients
- 1/4 cup refined coconut oil (melted if necessary)
- ½ cup packed dark-brown sugar
- 5 tablespoons water
- 2 tablespoons flax seed meal
- 2 eggs
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- 2 cups whole wheat flour
- 1 teaspoon baking soda
- 1 teaspoon salt
- 3 cups oatmeal
- 1/2 cup chocolate chips
- ½ cup walnuts, pumpkin seeds or sunflower seeds
- ½ cup dried fruit (or more chocolate or nuts)
- 2 tablespoon chia seeds
- 3 tablespoons peanut, almond or cashew butter
- 3 medium ripe bananas
Method
Preheat oven to 350° F/ 180° C
In a small mixing bowl, combine flax meal and water. Set aside.
Mash the bananas with a fork until they are smooth. Add the nut butter, coconut oil, brown sugar, vanilla extract and eggs. Stir until combined.
Add the whole wheat flour, flax meal, baking soda, chia seeds and salt. Stir until well combined. Stir in the oatmeal, chocolate chips, nuts, seeds and/or dried fruit.
Drop by the spoonful onto a cookie sheet. Bake for 8-12 minutes. The bottom of the cookie should be very lightly browned on the bottom.
Oh they look SO good!!
Thanks Wendy! They are so yummy for breakfast. We ate them so fast!
Even with just bananas your cookies look awesome. In addition they’re healthy to boot…bananas are really good for kids as they’re rich in potassium, which is good for bone development….so they’re not really sad 🙂
Like you I too am in my first year of blogging and when I see blogs like yours I get inspired to put in more hard work.. and time, which is a dear commodity when you have your hands full looking after a boisterous toddler…. most of my recipes are pretty simplistic actually like this one of fried bananas…doesn’t require too much effort or time yet nutritious 🙂
http://www.mummumtime.com/2013/04/fried-bananas.html
Oh and I forgot to add, I love that they’re made of wheat flour instead of white flour 🙂
Thank you Mukta!
My little one won’t eat bananas at the moment, but he sure will eat these cookies! I like to make a huge batch and keep the rest in the freezer for an easy breakfast. They sure help with a little one running around.