Tropical Breakfast Cookies

So originally I thought I would be sure to do something crafty first... but lets face it, I spend a lot of time in the kitchen...

I have never been a big breakfast person, but I'm trying to eat healthier and they say breakfast is very important. So I wanted to find a grab-and-go type breakfast option (or snack). I've been making oatmeal at my desk so the first thing that came to my mind was oatmeal cookies - a healthy kind. So I set my mind to figuring out a tropical oatmeal cookie - something that wouldn't be too sweet and would be at least kind of filling... and the Tropical Breakfast Cookie was born.

It took some extra chopping since I only had whole almonds and decided on tropical dried fruits (pineapple, papaya, and mango -- yummy!). But other than that it was very easy. You could probably by sliced almonds and bite sized dried fruit to make it easier.

In addition to being pretty easy to put together - it only requires one bowl, a blender, and a cookie sheet... this equals quick and easy clean-up too :)

Ingredients:

1.5 Cup Oatmeal

1 Cup Unsweetened Shredded Coconut

2 Tbl. Flax Seed (fine milled)

.5 tsp Sea Salt

.75 Cup Almonds (whole)

7 Ounce Sun-Maid Tropical Trio Dried Fruit (you'll use about half the bag)

29 Ounce Pear Halves (can holds 7 halves, need 4 - the smaller can may have 4, I didn't have a smaller can so I am not sure)

4 Tbl. Coconut Oil (melted)

1 Tbl. Agave Nectar

1 tsp Vanilla Extract

If you use whole almonds and the bag of dried fruit like I did, you'll have to chop them... I measured the almonds whole, but I chopped the dried fruit and put the pieces in a 3/4 cup measuring cup as I went. I made sure to grab a different piece of fruit each time so that I'd get a good mixture of pineapple, papaya, and mango.

In a large bowl combine almonds with oatmeal, coconut flakes, flax seed, salt, and dried fruit.

Place 4 pear halves into a blender and blend until smooth. It will make a little less than a cup. Pour into almond mixture along with coconut oil, agave nectar, and vanilla. Mix until well combined. I used my hands, it made it easier - but if you don't want such a messy process I recommend a wooden spoon :)

*Sadly, I forgot to take a picture of this... sorry*

Once things are mixed, preheat oven to 350 degrees F and line a cookie sheet with parchment paper and lightly grease with cooking spray. I know - you're thinking why wait this long to preheat the oven... you'll understand that shortly :)

On cookie sheet, press 2 tablespoons of mixture into a 2-inch round cookie cutter to form each cookie. This is what takes time - by the time you're done, the oven should be preheated. Now you could probably use an ice cream scoop to measure them out and then gently press them down. This may change the size a little and therefore impact cooking time some, but it would make it a quicker process. My ice cream scoop recently broke so it wasn't really an option for me.

Bake at 350° for 25 - 30 minutes or until fragrant and golden. Cool on pan. You can bag two cookies in a snack bag and have them ready to grab and go.

Yields about 20 semi-sweet, tropical oat cookies. The cookies are just lightly sweetened, just enough to not be too sweet for breakfast but still yummy.

I tried to calculate the nutrition facts as best I could. Each cookie is around 160 calories and almost 3 grams of dietary fiber... assuming I calculated it out correctly :)

All in all, I figure they're not too bad for helping replace my missing breakfast. I may even be trying to figure out additional flavor combinations so that I can have some options in the morning.