Cookies for Breakfast?

Our family celebrates our daughters' birthdays with a day where the birthday girl gets to pick an activity for the family to do together on the weekend, and gets to choose where we will have dinner. Should the actual birthday fall on a weeknight, she also gets to choose dinner for that evening, and gets to open gifts that day.

Oh, and I also bring in a birthday treat for the elementary class to share at snack. Since we aren't having a "party" that friends from school can attend. No problem right?

Um, WRONG. This school year, snack time was before lunch, actually before 10:30 am. While my daughters both wanted me to bring in cupcakes or cookies, I can only imagine how much their teachers would want to strangle me if I brought in sugar laden cupcakes or cookies for 20 kids to inhale before lunchtime. And really, I don't care to be "the mom who sugared up the kids". After all, it was a school. It might go on my permanent record.

So, once again, I came up with a compromise. "What if", I said, "Mommy can find a breakfast cookie for your birthday treat?" "Sure!", they each said near their respective birthdays. And Mommy breathed a sigh of relief, knowing that her permanent record would not be amended in the near future.

And there you have it. That's the story of why I found the recipe below. I don't remember where I found it...I searched for "breakfast cookie" on Google and liked this one. It is easy, and the cookies are really good. It doubles easily, and really kinda sorta needs to be doubled. 24 cookies just isn't that many.

Grown ups totally love these. I've found that kids tend to either love them or um, not like them so much. The grape nuts, somehow, keep their crunchy goodness after the baking. I don't know how, ask Alton Brown...he'll either know or figure it out. I just know that the Grape Nuts add a very nice crunch to the cookie. The orange concentrate and zest adds a lovely flavor. There is sugar in the cookie batter, but it's not overwhelming. And so, half the kids in each of my daughter's classes this year said, "I don't like it. Don't you have any with chocolate chips?" And after I politely informed them, "No, honey, I don't", they skipped back to their table and ate whatever snack they brought to school that day. See? Doesn't matter much. Except, I knew I wasn't going to be in "trouble" with the teacher. And my kids love them and it was their birthday treat, so really, I didn't care if no one else ate them. I also knew they had all brought in snack anyway, so no one was going to *starve* before lunch.

Please try these breakfast cookies. They are good for when you are running out the door on the way to school, or as a snack for both kids and adults. I'm just warning you---if you serve them to kids who are expecting chocolate in cookies, they will probably not be thrilled. At least not initially.

They really are good though. Especially with coffee. But hey, don't give that to the kids. It might go on your permanent record.

Breakfast Cookies

Ingredients

1/2 cup butter, softened

1/2 cup sugar

1 egg

2 tablespoons frozen orange juice concentrate, thawed

1 tablespoon orange zest

1-1/4 cups all-purpose flour

1 teaspoon baking powder

1/2 cup wheat and barley nugget cereal (eg. Grapenuts TM)


Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C). In medium bowl, cream together butter and sugar until light and fluffy. Beat in the egg, orange juice concentrate, and orange zest. Combine the flour and baking powder; mix into the fluffy mixture until blended. Stir in cereal. Drop by teaspoonfuls 2 inches apart on ungreased cookie sheet. Bake 10 to 12 minutes or until edges are golden. Remove from cookie sheet for cooling. Makes about 2 dozen cookies.


How To Make Grape Nuts Cereal At Home (Oh, it can't be that difficult, and you probably have everything in your house already! I admit I haven't done this yet myself, but really...doesn't sound that complicated!)

3 1/2 cups sifted whole wheat flour

1 tsp. baking soda

1/2 cup brown sugar

2 cups milk

2 tbsp. vinegar

3/4 tsp. salt

Mix flour, baking soda, sugar and salt. Stir vinegar into milk and add to flour mixture. Beat until smooth. Spread dough 1/4-inch thick on a greased cookie sheet. Bake in a 375F. oven about 15 mins. When cool, grind in a food processor. Don't dry out completely or you'll get flour. Let it finish drying after grinding. Before serving, mix in anything else you would like; nuts and fruit go especially well. Yeah, I wouldn't mix anything else in myself...I'm kinda like that. But hey, you're not me...go for it!