Hello everyone,

There was a time in my life as a child where I avoided breakfast in favour of sleeping in. Lucky, for me my mom created delicious and healthy yogurt shakes which I could down in an instant on the way out the door, tricking me into consuming some nutrients in the morning.

However these days, I have come to love breakfast. Even waking up in the morning at 5:30 AM for work, I always take the time to enjoy a healthy breakfast and a cup of coffee before leaving the house. I know I will feel terrible in an hour or 2 if I neglect this morning ritual.

It can be difficult finding fast and delicious breakfasts for those work mornings. I have my staples: Eggs and rye toast, Greek yogurt and granola and my homeade porridge mix, Some mornings I will feel creative and make some sort of vegetables with poached eggs dish, or a healthy pancake, but I find it necessary to change up the menu once and a while to not get too bored with the same old thing everyday.

Bring in the breakfast cookies. A great discovery for me, not only are these delicious, but they are FAST! These days, I typically have a bag of them in the freezer, and will pull out a few in the morning, pop them in the microwave on a low power for a minute, and presto, cookies and coffee for breakfast. Cookies for breakfast? Pinch me, I’m dreaming.

And the good news is these are pretty healthy. Thanks to the bananas, there is only 1/4 cups of added sugar in a batch of 18. That works out just under 4g (or 1 tsp) of added sugar per cookie. Not too bad, especially since you know what you are eating. If you want, you could try reducing the sugar further. I once tried eliminating the brown sugar altogether, but found that this recipe benefits from at least a little. I would suggest cutting it in half to 2 tbsp, but try the full amount in your first batch and reduce from there.

Anyways, enough about sugar, lets talk about some of the other ingredients. Bananas, peanut butter and quick oats make up the base of this recipe, and then you get to try adding a little bit of whatever you like. Nuts, seeds, chocolate chips and dried fruit are possible candidates. See recipe for more suggestions. .

TIPS:
– Try experimenting with the extra ingredients, using whatever you happing to have lying around. My favourite combination is 1/2 cup dried coconut, 1/2 cup raisins, and 1/2 cup chopped walnuts.
– If you have a couple of bananas in your fruit bowl that are way too ripe, this recipe is a great way to use them up
– As mentioned, try reducing the sugar if desired
– These freeze great, so if you make a big batch they should last a while (providing you hoard them to yourself)

Ingredient I can’t live without:

BANANAS
I always have a couple of bananas in my fruit bowl. Evidently, I use them for baking but I also like to cut up 1/2 a banana into small pieces and cook it into my porridge. The banana melts down and sweetens your porridge nicely, a great alternative to adding sugar.

Spice of the week:

CINNAMON
For breakfast, I had to pick cinnamon. I probably add this to every sweet breakfast dish I make. Also a frequent ingredient in Indian recipes.

Well, hopefully this week’s recipe will help change things up in the morning for you once in a while. Special thanks to my nana who provided me with this recipe a while back.

Bon appetit!

Julie

Click here to view prinatable Word version of recipe:
Peanut Butter Banana Breakfast Cookies

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Breakfast Cookies

3 eggs
1 / 2 cup brown sugar
1 tsp salt
2 tsp cinnamon
4 large bananas
1 and 1 / 3 cup peanut butter
4 tsp vanilla

Cream all items together

In separate bowl add:
4 cups quick oats
2 tsp baking soda
Add to above mixture and let sit for 30-60 minutes

2.5 cup of any of the following
Chocolate chips
Dried fruit
Nuts

Add to above mixture

Grease cookie sheet
Drop in tbsp on a sheet
Cooke 350 for 10-12 minutes