The Perfect Fall Breakfast Cookie

The Perfect Fall Breakfast Cookie

When I was a child, I didn’t care much about growing up.  At 10 years old, when all my classmates were dreaming about which car they wanted to drive someday, I chose “limo”.  Riding in a limo was the least like riding in a car—you could watch movies!  And you didn’t have to drive!

However, I suppose I was intrigued by the idea that adults could have cookies for breakfast.  What I didn’t know then was that, as an adult, I would understand the health repercussions.  (Not to say that cookies are bad…just bad in the quantities that I like to eat them.)

Enter…the perfect breakfast cookie!  Eggless, butterless, but yummyful!

I got this recipe from Joy the Baker online.  I fully recommend checking out the original site—I did not do the sunflower seeds or sugar and her cookies look gorgeous!  I also love her raspberry cupcakes...

http://www.joythebaker.com/blog/2011/04/vegan-chocolate-chocolate-chip-cookies/comment-page-3/#comments
 
Ingredients

• 2 1/2 cups all-purpose flour (I used wheat and it worked fine!)
• 1/2 cup unsweetened cocoa powder
• 1 teaspoon baking powder
• 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1 cup sugar (vegan)
• 2 tablespoons flax seed meal
• 1/2 cup applesauce (my dough came out dry so I added a little extra applesauce & oil)
• 1/4 cup canola oil
• 1/2 cup chocolate coated sunflower seeds
• 1/2 cup chocolate chips (or 1 cup vegan chocolate chips)
• 1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract

Cooking Directions

• Place a rack in the center and upper third of the oven and preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Line two baking sheets with parchment paper and set aside.
• In a medium bowl, whisk together flour, cocoa powder, baking powder, baking soda, and salt. Set aside.
• In a small bowl, carefully whisk together sugar, flax seed meal, applesauce, oil and vanilla extract.
• Pour the wet ingredients, all at once, into the dry ingredients. Add the chocolate chunks (and sunflower seeds, if using) and stir together with a spatula. The dough will be fairly thick. Stir until all of the dry ingredients are just moistened. You can even use your hands if necessary, but try not to knead and overwork the dough. Dump dough out onto a piece of waxed paper or plastic wrap.
• Form into a disk, wrap, and refrigerate for one hour (or overnight).

This is why they are great for BREAKFAST.  Make the dough the night before, let it chill overnight, and you have fresh cookies in the morning with barely any effort!  You can make as many as you want and leave the rest of the dough so you can do it all again the next day!

• Once chilled, scoop dough by the tablespoonful into balls. Roll in granulated sugar, place on prepared cookie sheets, and press them down, just slightly with the heel of your hand. These cookies won't spread much.
• Bake for 9 to 10 minutes. Cookies should still be slightly soft in the middle. Remove from the oven. Allow to cool on the baking sheet for 5 minutes, before removing to a wire rack to cool completely. Cookies will keep, in an airtight container, at room temperature, for up to 5 days.

**For extra deliciousness:  add 1 teaspoon instant espresso powder and 1/4 teaspoon ground cinnamon to the dry ingredients, sift together, and proceed as recipe instructs.

What makes the cookies “fall” cookies, you ask?  That’s simple: place a pressed fall leaf next to your plate of cookies.  Ta-da!  You’re in the spirit of the season!  Cookies for breakfast should really be available year-round, and this one is easily adaptable.  For spring, put a flower on your table.  For summer, a bowl of sand with a shell in it.  (Then you can imagine you’re eating your cookies on the beach!)  For winter, a snowball.  Or, if you prefer less cleanup at the end of your meal, a paper snowflake.