Breakfast Cookies

Ingredients:

• 2 c brown sugar
• 2 1/2 c rolled oats
• 4 c flour (I use whole wheat)
• 1 T baking soda
• 1 t baking powder
• 1 t salt
• 2 t cinnamon
• 1/4 c olive oil
• 1/2 c prune baby food (this is 2 "stage 1" containers)
• 4 T water
• 5 egg whites
• 2 t vanilla extract
• 3/4 c raisins
• 1/2 c chopped walnuts
• 1/3 c chocolate chips
• 1/2 c coconut flakes

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 350.  Grease cookie sheets or line with parchment paper
2. In a large bowl (I use my Kitchen Aid mixer), stir together the brown sugar, oats, flour, baking soda, baking powder, salt, and cinnamon.
3. Make a well in the center and pour in the olive oil, prune puree, water, egg whites, and vanilla.  Mix until well blended.  This will give you a great arm workout if you're not using a Kitchen Aid mixer! Stir in the raisins, walnuts, chocolate chips and coconut last.
4. Scoop cookies with an ice cream scoop or roll into golf-ball sized balls.  Place cookies 2 inches apart on prepared cookie sheets and flatten to 1/2 inch tall with wet hands (dough is sticky, so wet hands is the key to working with it).  These cookies do not flatten much while baking.
5. Bake 8 minutes for chewy cookies and 10-12 minutes for more crisper cookies (I usually cook mine for 8-9 minutes).  Cookies will not get crisp.  Let set for a few minutes then transfer to wire rack to cool.  Makes 24.

***These cookies did not turn out as well when I tried cooking them on a cooking stone, a regular cookie sheet worked better.

Roger LOVES these cookies for breakfast as well as fuel during long bike workouts. They also make a great snack! This recipe was inspired by the ever delicious (and much more expensive) Baker's Breakfast Cookie and is something I have tweaked over the last 5 or 6 years.  I highly recommend using the Kitchen Aid mixer for an easy and speedy recipe!