Morning Oat Cookies

After discovering my intolerance to gluten I've been struggling to find breakfast food items that I actually want to eat in the morning. I'm not sure about you, but I just don't wake up hungry! I usually force myself to scarf something down in hopes that it will keep me energized through the first few hours of work until I get a chance to eat again on my first break. I know, not exactly that big of a deal - but when I saw this recipe for an egg, flour, sugar, and butter free breakfast cookies I figured I would have to give them a try! I mean cookies! For breakfast? Who can wake up and say no to that? Certainly not me! I altered the recipe quite a bit (as usual) and behold - the most delicious and healthy morning oat cookies:



The verdict? Amazing! Such a tasty little delights that pack a punch to keep me moving in the morning and best of all - they don't have loads of unhealthy ingredients so they are guilt free eating! But that's not all, they are enormously easy to make and with a little weekend effort you can have super quick (great on the go) snacks all week long! Nummers! Here's my adapted recipe:

1 and 1/2 cup oats
1 cup coconut flakes
1/4 cup almond flour (available at most health food stores)
3/4 cup mixed nuts, finely chopped (I used a mix of almonds, walnuts, and pecans)
1 cup dried fruit (I used 1/2 dried cranberries and 1/2 raisins)
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 and 1/2 teaspoon cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon allspice
dash of ground cloves, nutmeg, and ground ginger (I like my spices)

3 cups of unsweetened apple sauce (I used 2 apple and 1 blueberry apple)
1/4 cup canola oil
1 teaspoon vanilla extract

Preheat your oven to 350 F, then grab a bowl and mix all the dry ingredients together. Make sure the dried fruit doesn't clump together too much and make sure it is evenly mixed in. Next take a separate bowl and mix the apple sauce, canola, and vanilla. Then all you have to do is add your wet mixture to your dry, stir up a storm, form them into little balls and bake! I used my silicone baking mats on regular cookie sheets (so handy) but I'm sure parchment paper would also do the job. Then you just let the cookies bake for about 20 minutes until the edges are golden brown. Hooray! You're done! Eat up!

Yum! The original recipe called for mashed banana but after a childhood of amoxicillin treated ear infections I have grown to loathe all things banana. The apple seemed to pair really nicely with all the fall spices and gave it a hint of natural sweetness and (of course) some much needed moisture. I also trend towards adding much more cinnamon and vanilla to pretty much any recipe that calls for it too. The only thing I'd me tempted to change for next time is maybe chop the nuts a little less finely so you can really taste the chunks in each cookie (I do like my chunky foods). Mmm! So what do you think? Anyone out there willing to have your morning breakfast mind blown and try them?