Breakfast Cookies

Name: Breakfast Cookies
Yield: 4 servings
Ingredients: 1 tbsp golden flaxseeds, or 1 whole large egg; 3 tbsp hot water; 1.5 cup old-fashioned rolled oats; 0.75 cup cooked quinoa; 0.25 cup unsweetened shredded coconut or finely chopped nuts; 0.5 tsp ground cinnamon; 0.5 tsp baking powder; 0.5 tsp fine sea salt; 0.25 tsp baking soda; 0.33 cup Date Paste; 0.33 cup coconut or canola oil; 0.25 cup pure maple syrup; 0.5 tsp pure vanilla extract; 0.5 cup chopped dried fruit

From the kitchen of Carly

Chewy oat and quinoa cookies sweetened with date paste, studded with coconut or nuts, and spiced with cinnamon. These grab-and-go breakfast cookies deliver whole grains and natural sweetness without refined sugar, making mornings easier and tastier.

These are the cookies that don't feel like a compromise. Built on oats and quinoa with a flax egg base, they're dense and chewy in the middle, crisp at the edges, and naturally sweetened by date paste and maple syrup. The texture is the whole point: substantial enough to hold you through morning, nothing refined or processed, nothing that tastes like health food. They're real cookies.

Prep: n/a
Cook: n/a
Total: n/a
Servings: 4
Difficulty: medium

Ingredients

4 servings

1 tbspgolden flaxseeds, or 1 whole large egg
3 tbsphot water
1 1/2 cupold-fashioned rolled oats
3/4 cupcooked quinoa
1/4 cupunsweetened shredded coconut or finely chopped nuts
1/2 tspground cinnamon
1/2 tspbaking powder
1/2 tspfine sea salt
1/4 tspbaking soda
1/3 cupDate Paste
1/3 cupcoconut or canola oil
1/4 cuppure maple syrup
1/2 tsppure vanilla extract
1/2 cupchopped dried fruit

Instructions

Position a rack in the center of the oven and preheat to 350°F. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper or a silicone baking mat.
For a flax egg, run the flaxseeds through a clean coffee or spice grinder until they become a fine powder. Whisk the powder together with the water in a small bowl, then set it aside for 10 minutes, whisking occasionally, until the mixture thickens to the consistency of a beaten egg.
Fit a food processor with the steel blade and blitz 3/4 cup of the oats to a flour, a few tweedy bits are fine as long as no whole oats remain. Tip the oat flour into a large bowl, then add the remaining oats, quinoa, coconut, cinnamon, baking powder, salt, and baking soda. Whisk everything together until blended.
Back in the food processor, combine the date paste, oil, maple syrup, and vanilla extract. Add the flax egg (or whole egg if that is what you are using) and blend for a full minute until the mixture is slightly aerated.
Scrape the wet ingredients into the dry and stir until the dough is evenly moistened. Fold in the dried fruit, then let the dough rest for 10 minutes.
With a standard ice cream scoop, drop 9 quarter-cup portions of dough onto the prepared baking sheet, spacing them evenly. Press each one flat with your fingertips to about 1/2-inch thickness, since these cookies spread very little in the oven. Bake for about 30 minutes, until golden. The kitchen will smell amazing when they are close; lift one cookie to check that the bottom is a deep golden color, keeping in mind the centers will still be soft.
Leave the cookies on the baking sheet for 5 minutes, then transfer them to a wire rack to cool completely. Store in an airtight container for up to 3 days.

Tips from the kitchen

Grind your own flaxseeds just before using them, then let the mixture thicken for the full 10 minutes or the cookies won't hold together properly.
Don't skip the initial oat grinding step: it binds the dough and creates that chew. Stop when you see a few tweedy bits, not powder.
If your dough seems too wet after resting, you can refrigerate it for 20 minutes to make scooping easier, but room temperature dough is easier to flatten with your fingers.

Variations

Swap dried fruit: cranberries, apricots, or cherries work just as well as whatever you've got on hand.
Go savory: skip the date paste and increase maple syrup to 1/3 cup, then add 1/4 teaspoon cumin and replace dried fruit with pumpkin seeds and hemp seeds.
Make them richer with brown butter in place of coconut oil, and add 1/4 cup chopped dark chocolate alongside the dried fruit.
Build in protein: replace half the oat flour with almond flour and add 2 tablespoons of almond butter to the wet ingredients.

Make ahead and storage

Store in an airtight container at room temperature for up to 5 days, or freeze for up to 3 months. They don't need reheating if you like them at room temperature, but a 10 second microwave blast warms them through nicely.