Best Breakfast Cookies

The best Breakfast Cookie has arrived.  This recipe has everything good in it.  Oats, wheat flour, honey, brown sugar, almonds, and dried fruit.  There is very little sugar and very little fat.  They are high in fiber and potassium and heart healthy.  I did a lot of research about breakfast cookies prior to putting one out here for all of you because it was important to me to load them up with the good stuff and minimize the junk while maintaining great texture and moistness.  They are an excellent way to start your day.  I encourage you to make them and see for yourself.  The proof is in the.....cookie.

Ingredients

1 C whole wheat flour

1/4 C all purpose flour

1/2 t baking soda

1/2 t salt

1 t ground cinnamon

1/4 t ground nutmeg

2 T butter

1/4 C canola oil

1/2 C brown sugar

2 T honey

1 egg

1 small jar banana baby food

1 t. vanilla extract

1/4 C flax seed

3/4 C rolled oats

3/4 C dried fruit (raisins, craisins, plums, pineapple)

1/4 C. sliced almonds

Directions

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

In a bowl, mix together the flours, salt, baking soda, cinnamon, and nutmeg.  Set aside.

In a mixing bowl with attachment, cream together butter, oil, sugar and honey.  Add egg, banana baby food and vanilla and mix thoroughly until batter is smooth.  Add flour mixture until combined.  At this time, you will need to add the healthy stuff; flax seed, oats, dried fruit and nuts and fold them into batter using a rubber spatula and scraping down sides of the bowl until thoroughly combined. 

You will need to resist the urge to add more flour.  This dough is going to be sticky.  Try wetting your hands before handling dough.  Prepare your baking sheets (I use two).  Roll dough into balls of desired shape, place on cookie sheet and flatten them with your hand.  Mine are usually 3 inches across and a 1/2 inch thick.  Bake for 12 minutes.  Depending on size, bigger cookies should bake for 14 and smaller for 10 minutes and should make 8 to 12 cookies.  I like to sprinkle some oats or dried fruit on the top prior to baking.  When cookies are done, remove from oven, let them cool and after about five minutes, transfer them to wire rack until completely cooled.  Store in an airtight container in the fridgerator until ready to use.  They are excellent with coffee or tea.  My two year old loves them with milk!

You can easily change the last few ingredients of this recipe and add some others if you are looking to change the flavor.  For example, make them Hawaiian by removing the flax seed, raisins and almonds and adding coconut, dried pineapple and macadamia nuts.  You can use any combination and any kind of dried fruit or nuts you can come up with.