Integrative Nutrition Recipes

Cookies – For Breakfast!

If you’re bored with your usual breakfasts, maybe you need to start eating cookies first thing in the morning. Breakfast cookies are the perfect way to shake up your morning routine, and they can be quite healthy too. These soft, crispy-edged cookies are made with protein- and fiber-packed almond and coconut flour, as well as oats, dried cranberries, and maple syrup. They’re gluten-free, refined sugar-free, and the ultimate grab-and-go breakfast. A homemade cookie and a cup of coffee feels indulgent and luxurious, but the healthy balance of protein, fat, and slow-burning carbs these cookies provide will fuel you for your busy day and help you avoid a blood sugar crash midmorning. If you have a little extra time, crumble a cookie into a bowl of Greek yogurt. Instant cookie granola!

Since most of us don’t have tons of extra time for baking, this recipe is streamlined to deliver big flavor with minimal effort. The butter is melted instead of creamed, meaning that you don’t have to mess with a mixer. The cookies are flavored with a scrumptious combination of cinnamon and nutmeg, so your house will smell amazingly cozy while they’re baking. Whip up a batch this weekend, pop the cookies in the freezer, and set one out each night as an easy workday breakfast for the next morning.

Powerhouse Ingredients to Start Your Day Right

Each of the ingredients in the recipe offer a variety of whole foods based minerals, micronutrients, and macronutrients that will help your body function at its highest capacity. Check out just a sampling of the amazing ways in which these ingredients support your body’s systems:

• Almond flour. This low-carb, gluten-free flour is an excellent source of potassium, which can help to regulate blood sugar.¹
• Coconut flour. Coconut flour is a great source of medium chain fatty acids, or MCFAs, a type of energy-boosting fat that can speed up your metabolism and stabilize your blood sugar levels.²
• Rolled oats. Oats are the only source of a unique type of antioxidants called avenanthramides, which are believed to protect against heart disease.³
• Cranberries are an amazingly synergistic superfood, known to protect against cancer and a variety of infections.⁴
• Maple syrup. Maple syrup is a mineral-loaded, all natural sweetener that provides 18% of the recommended daily value of zinc, which plays an important role in immune function. It offers so much more nutrition than refined, ‘empty calorie’ sweeteners like white sugar.⁵

Gluten-Free Cranberry Oat Breakfast Cookies (Makes 11-12 medium-sized cookies)

Dry Ingredients:

1 1/2 cups blanched almond flour

1/4 cup coconut flour

1/4 cup coconut sugar

1 teaspoon cinnamon

1/2 teaspoon nutmeg

1/2 teaspoon baking soda

Pinch of salt

1 cup rolled oats

1/2 cup dried cranberries

Wet Ingredients:

1 egg

1/2 cup butter, melted

1/4 cup maple syrup

1/3 cup applesauce (the little single-serve kids’ applesauce cups are just the right size)

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 350º F and line two sheet pans with parchment paper.
2. Measure the dry ingredients into a medium-sized bowl and stir together with a large spoon, breaking up any flour or cranberry clumps as you go.
3. Whisk the egg, maple syrup, applesauce, and vanilla together in a small bowl with a fork.
4. Add the butter and applesauce mixture to the dry ingredients and stir until a you have a cohesive dough. It will be a bit sticky but will thicken as it sits and the coconut flour absorbs more liquid.
5. Scoop dough by the quarter-cupful onto prepared pans – 5-6 cookies per pan. These cookies don’t spread very much so press them down slightly with your fingertips (wetting your fingertips prior to touching the dough will make the process less messy).
6. Bake cookies for about 12 minutes, rotating pans front-to-back and putting the top pan on the bottom rack and vice versa halfway through. When done, cookies should feel just set in the middle and will have turned a light golden-brown.
7. Cool cookies for a few minutes on pan, then transfer to a wire rack to cool completely. Store in an airtight container at room temperature for three days or in the refrigerator for up to a week. You could also freeze the cookies and microwave them individually before eating. They will keep for two months in the freezer.

Recipe Notes:

• If you prefer, substitute any dried fruit for the cranberries. Raisins, minced dried apricots, and dried pineapple bits are all delicious.
• Use coconut oil instead of butter for dairy-free cookies.

Integrative Nutrition is the world’s largest nutrition school and Health Coach Training Program. Through our innovative, one-year online course, students learn the principles of health coaching, business skills, and over 100 different dietary theories with lectures by the world’s leading experts.

Sources:

1. http://healthyeating.sfgate.com/benefits-blanched-almond-flour-2996.html
2. https://draxe.com/coconut-flour-nutrition/
3. https://authoritynutrition.com/foods/oats/
4. http://www.whfoods.com/genpage.php?tname=foodspice&dbid=145
5. http://www.purecanadamaple.com/benefits-of-maple-syrup/maple-syrup-nutrition/