Breakfast Cookies

Earlier in the summer I was able to judge a 4-H foods & nutrition contest in Riley County, Kansas. This was a fun experience to do conference judging with young 4-Her's. I honestly had some of the best baked goods around. There were only a few that I wouldn't want to eat again. I was amazed that several of the recipes were a healthier alternative baked product maybe made with yogurt or applesauce instead of fat and less sugar than typical recipes. I was impressed and then learned that these 4-Her's had dietitian mothers. Surprise, surprise. 

There was one recipe that as a nutrition educator myself, I felt good about coming home with and making myself. The recipe was courtesy of the Better Homes Special Interest - Our Best Diabetic Recipes.

Combine: 

• 1 large mashed banana
• 1/2 cup natural peanut butter, (I use either fresh-ground nut butter or best choice brand contents: peanuts, salt) You do not need any added sugar or fat in the peanut butter
• 1/2 cup honey
• 1 tsp vanilla

This will look like a delightful soup. I've consider using this as my next favorite fruit dip, graham cracker dip, or simply eating it with a spoon. Avoid this urge in order to complete the cookies though! Yum.

Combine:

• 1 cup old fashioned oats
• 1/2 cup whole wheat flour
• 1/4 cup nonfat dry milk powder
• 2 tsp ground cinnamon
• 1/4 tsp baking soda

Stir this dry mixture into the wet mixture and add 1 cup of dried cranberries, berries, or raisins. Another good idea when using dried fruit in cookies is to let them soak in room temp. water for about 5 minutes. Drain the water and use the slightly re-hydrated fruit in your cookies. If you don't they will tend to absorb the moisture in your product and can leave them a bit dry. Just a hint, you certainly don't have to do this. 

I used raisins this time and my dough looked like this:

Out of the oven. I must admit that my oven bakes horribly for this perfectionist baker called me. The heating element on the top does not work when doing regular baking, so everything bakes from the bottom. I honestly had these on the top rack of the oven and they still don't have a ton of color on the top. They will get burnt on the bottom before the top looks golden brown. Frustrating, but what can I do? I alerted my landlord that the top heating element didn't work and his response was, turn it to broil. It does work on broil function but seriously?

I cannot give these cookies enough credit. I made them a month ago before I went on a week vacation. I left them at home and came back. Two weeks after the fact, they still tasted good. I continued to eat them into week three of their life. This is just an amazing example of the natural preservative value of honey. Love it!

This past week I've enjoyed one before my morning runs as a great energy boost and I have to control myself to limit two a day. Although they are diabetic friendly, I don't need to be eating too many in one day!