Note: This recipe is being added without photos for the time being. I will add in pictures the very next time that I make this recipe. I am sorry for the unfinished state of this post.
When my youngest was born 11 years ago, my mom came and spent a month with us to help me adapt to having 3 little ones. It was a fun time and there are a lot of fond memories from that time period. One of the family favorites that came from that period was “Breakfast Cookies.” Basically, my mom was feeling feisty and logicked out that the ingredients in the cookies are just a baked form of what we have for breakfast anyways, so why not eat cookies for breakfast? Made sense to me and the two older siblings enjoyed the rare treat of cookies for breakfast.
Some days I do not want cookies that are super sweet, so I will cut back on the sugar a bit, especially since the raisins / dried cranberries add a natural sweetness that really shines through. I also love the addition of flax seeds which give added nutrition and an extra flavor to these cookies.
And, an extra note about butter vs margarine vs shortening. You can use any of them in these cookies. Butter (ALWAYS USE UNSALTED BUTTER WHEN BAKING PLEASE!!!!) will give slightly thinner and crispier cookies with a hint of nuttiness in the flavor. Margarine will give softer and puffier cookies. Vegetable shortening gives very flat cookies, but there is something lacking in the flavor. You can also use half of one and half of the other to get a texture and flavor combination that you like. Just experiment and figure out what works best for you.
Ingredients:
- 2 c. flour (can be substituted with a gluten-free cup-for-cup blend)
- 1 tsp baking soda
- 1 tsp baking powder
- 1 tsp salt
- 2 Tbsp flax seeds (optional)
- 1 c unsalted butter (or margarine or vegetable shortening)
- 3/4 c sugar
- 3/4 c brown sugar
- 2 eggs
- 2 tsp vanilla
- 3 c oats
- 2 c raisins or dried cranberries (or a blend, could sub in other diced fruit as well)
Directions:
Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Prepare your baking sheets by spraying them with cooking spray or lining them with parchment paper.
In a bowl combine the flour, baking soda, baking powder, salt, and flax seeds.
In a large bowl cream the butter, sugar, and brown sugar together. (This means beat them together until you have a light and fluffy mixture. If doing this by hand, let your butter soften first to save your arm) Add in the eggs and vanilla and mix well.
Add half of the flour mixture to the butter mixture and mix in. Repeat with the remainder of the flour mixture. Stir in the oats and dried fruits until evenly mixed in.
Scoop the dough onto the prepared cookies sheets in approximately 1 Tablespoon scoops, leaving space between them because they WILL spread. (On a normal cookie sheet you can expect to get about 12 cookies per batch.) Bake them for 11-13 minutes until they look golden brown. They will be ridiculously soft, so allow them to sit for 2 minutes on the cookie sheet and set up before you take them off the cookie sheet and move them to a wire rack to cool.
Enjoy!
Feeding Friends 