I keep a stash of date-oat bars and breakfast cookies in the freezer all the time - both made-up inventions... =)
Â
The date bars are just oats, millet, and fresh dates mixed together, pressed into a pan, and baked at 350 until they looked done. If you can get them, Barhi dates taste like caramel and are deliciously mushy, which makes them mix easier. You can use any grain you like, btw - I actually don't like millet and was using it up in these, so the next batch will probably have flax meal or something instead.Â
Â
The breakfast cookies are any standard oatmeal cookie recipe (back of the box) with the following subs: take out half the butter and replace with half pumpkin puree or applesauce and half yogurt (vegans can swap out all the butter for fruit puree, but they'll be quite dry); reduce the sugar by half and add a couple of tablespoons blackstrap molasses (can be quite bitter, so don't go crazy with it); replace half to all of the flour with whole wheat or any combo of other meals (I like to throw in some flax meal; I've also used part buckwheat flour - if you replace all the white flour, use whole wheat pastry flour. Pure whole grain flour makes the cookies quite dense.); add any combo of dried fruit, nuts and seeds - I usually use raisins, cranberries, walnuts, and pumpkin seeds. They won't "melt" in the oven like regular cookies because of the missing butter, so I've started adding a thumbprint in the center that I can fill with cream cheese, jam, nut butter, or icing if I'm feeling decadent. ;) The reasons for the subs: less sugar and butter, beta carotene in the pumpkin, iron and potassium in the blackstrap, calcium and protein in the yogurt, folic acid in the pumpkin seeds, everything else for obvious health reasons.
Â
Both of them are higher in sugar than I like for an everyday breakfast, but both can be eaten in the car seat without making too much of a mess if we're in a big hurry, and calling something a "breakfast cookie" means it's never refused... =)
