A Writer's Surprisingly Healthful Breakfast Cookies

[elleng]

Mona Awad, whose novel “Bunny” is out this month, shares her more interesting alternative to oatmeal. . .

Mona’s Breakfast Cookies
1 large ripe banana

2 tablespoons pumpkin purée

½ teaspoon vanilla

½ teaspoon cinnamon

Pinch each of salt, ginger, nutmeg and ground cloves

¼ cup old-fashioned rolled oats

¼ cup quick-cooking rolled oats

Handful of raisins (or dried sweetened cherries or cranberries)

1. Preheat oven to 375 degrees. Meanwhile, mash banana in a bowl. Mix in pumpkin purée, followed by vanilla and spices. Add both kinds of oats and combine with a spoon until a dough forms. Add dried fruit and mix again.

2. Drop spoonfuls of dough onto a baking sheet. (A silicon baking mat is nice if you have one; if not, line with parchment paper.) With your hands, form dough into cookie-shaped discs; this recipe should make 7 to 10 cookies.

3. Bake for 15 to 20 minutes, until cookies are crispy on the outside but still soft in the middle. Do not brown the edges. Pull from the oven, let cool for a minute and then remove cookies with a spatula. Serve warm, preferably with coffee.


https://www.nytimes.com/2019/06/18/t-magazine/mona-awad-oatmeal-cookies.html?

[alwaysinasnit]

1. Thanks. The image (of these cookies) is making my mouth water.

[Dream Girl]

2. These sound delicious but are way too carby for me.

[becca da bakkah]

9. Exactly. These Cookies Are Nothing But......

.....sugar. I don't know what's so healthful about them. I ran the recipe through My Fitness Pal. It comes back as 16 grams of carbs per cookie, yield of 10. With 8 grams of sugar. That's 24 grams of sugar in total. And, for all that, only 2 grams of fiber and 2 protein. Not worth it, IMO. If you eat those for breakfast, chances are you'll be hungry an hour later! No thanks!

[MLAA]

3. Yum! Thank you for sharing.

[BigmanPigman]

4. No sugar or fat, interesting.

[Dream Girl]

10. There is nothing but sugar! Oatmeal, raisins, all of the ingredients are sugar

[BigmanPigman]

11. I mean the typical sugars like sugar, corn syrup, brown sugar, etc.

All carbs are sugar but they aren't listed that way when you see ingredients in a recipe, are they? When you read a typical recipe sugar is listed as separate from fruit, etc.

[Vinca]

5. That sounds like something worth trying. I'm currently sick of all breakfast foods.

Maybe I'll switch apple sauce for pumpkin though so I don't have to open a can of pumpkin for 2 T.

[csziggy]

6. I've been making apple oat spiced muffins for breakfast

And use applesauce and no oil. To simplify making them, I use the unsweetened, unspiced snack cups - White House brand has one that is just apples and apple juice, nothing else.
Since those are pre-measured, it is a lot easier - plus they are sealed and good for months, while once a bottle of applesauce is opened you have to use it pretty quickly.

Here is my recipe:

Mix together:
1 cup old fashioned rolled oats
1 cup 2% milk
1 tsp apple cider vinegar
1 tsp vanilla extract
Microwave for 1 minute, let sit for 20 mins or so.

Mix together:
1/2 cup whole wheat flour
1/2 cup all purpose flour (I have used oat flour which adds more flavor but has less rise)
1/4 cup brown sugar
1/4 cup splenda (or granulated sugar)
1/2 tsp salt
1 tsp cinnamon
1/4 tsp allspice
1/4 tsp nutmeg
1/8 tsp cloves
1/2 tsp baking soda
1 tsp baking powder

Mix into the oat-milk mixture:
1 egg
2 snack cups (or 1 cup) unsweetened, unpsiced apple sauce

Stir in dry ingredients until just mixed.

Preheat oven to 350F. Spray muffin tin with Pam. Spoon mix into cups, fill up, and split all into 12 muffin cups.

Bake for 20-22 minutes. Cool on rack for ten minutes, turn out. If storing, cool until completely room temperature. They reheat well in microwave for 30 seconds for one muffin.

I have one or two for breakfast every day with a cup of hot tea.

[Vinca]

7. Thanks. Those sound good, too. Love the spice combo.

[csziggy]

8. I use the same spices in my banana bread - which also makes great muffins

I tried subbing applesauce for the oil in banana bread, but I didn't like the flavor combo. Oatmeal and apples seem to go together great, though, so this works for me when I don't feel like saving up ripe bananas.