Breakfast cookies

Cookies… for breakfast! You heard it here first; pro-athletes eat cookies for breakfast. These are my favorites.

Inspiration:

You heard it here first, pro-athletes eat cookies for breakfast. And I am here to tell you all about it.

These are a great breakfast cookie for runners (or any endurance athlete) as we all know, breakfast is the most important meal of the day. Sometimes before a long run, eating a bowl of oats just doesn't sound that good. Most days I swim (way to) early in the morning, leaving me limited on time to prepare breakfast. And sometimes, a cookie for breakfast just sounds good. So there!

With a portable, sweet-treat like this, just grab a breakfast cookie, a slurp or two of coffee and you are good-to-go.

The ingredients in these cookies are a good combination of fast-burning carbs as well as slow-burning, low-glycemic carbs that will fuel you for a longer workout. I like these cookies as they aren't overly sweet. The base of this recipe is mashed bananas (natural sweetener), whole-grain oatmeal, almond butter (hello, healthy fats!), and an egg to keep everything together. These breakfast cookies are also a blank canvas for mix-in options, making it easy to please a variety of cravings or use what you have on hand. I tend to dump in all the nuts, fruits, and of course mini-chocolate chips.

Ingredients:

Makes 12+ large cookies

2 cups rolled oats
1 cup whole wheat flour
1 teaspoon cinnamon
1 teaspoon sea salt
1 teaspoon baking powder
¼ cup coconut oil, melted
¼ cup maple syrup
⅓ cup almond butter
2 ripe bananas, mashed
½ teaspoon vanilla extract
1 egg, room temperature

Choose-your-own mix-ins:

2 tablespoons chia seeds, hemp hearts, flax seeds, millet or quinoa
½ cup raisins, dried cherries or dried cranberries, diced apricots or dates
½ cup almonds, walnuts, hazelnuts, or pecans, shredded coconut
½ cup mini chocolate chips
zest of 1 orange

Instructions:

Preheat oven to 350° F and prepare a baking sheet with parchment paper.

In a large bowl, combine oats, flour, cinnamon, salt, and baking powder and set aside.

In a small bowl, combine coconut oil, maple syrup, almond butter, mashed bananas, vanilla and egg and mix well.

Add the wet ingredients to the dry ingredients along with the mix-ins of your choice. Stir to combine, but do not overmix.

Scoop scant ¼ cup portions onto the baking sheet and flatten each cookie with your fingers to about ½ inch thickness.

Bake for 15-20 minutes until just taking on a little color.

Enjoy warm or at room temperature for breakfast.

A few quick notes:

Want to make these gluten-free? Use GF oats and substitute oat flour for whole wheat flour.

Have a nut allergy? Substitute tahini or sesame butter for the almond butter.

Don’t eat eggs? Substitute a flax egg: Mix 1 tablespoon of flax meal with 3 tablespoons of water. Mix together and let rest for a few minutes.