Breakfast cookie

Monday morning meeting tomorrow, so I made snacks.  These are supposed to be healthy cookies, suitable for breakfast, fortified with lots of granola-y stuff.

The author of this recipe is a food scientist, but that doesn't mean she's a good baker, or a good blogger.  She didn't say how many this made, or even how big they're supposed to be. (What's a 1.5-ounce ice cream scoop??)  I suppose I should have checked her photos again before making them, but it still didn't help that I didn't have the scoop.  And she cheated by putting her almonds on top before baking instead of mixing them in, making the cookies look a lot chunkier than they are.

Hers

I mostly used the original recipe directly and made one dozen cookies, with just a few change ups.  Here's what I used:

1 cup all purpose flour

¼ cup whole wheat flour

¾ cup old-fashioned large flake rolled oats

1 teaspoon cinnamon

1 teaspoon turmeric

1/2 teaspoon baking soda

1/2 teaspoon baking powder

1/4 teaspoon salt

6 tablespoons unsalted butter, room temperature

¾ cup packed light brown sugar

1 tablespoon molasses

2 ½ tablespoons golden honey

zest of ½ orange (optional)

1 large egg, room temperature

1 teaspoon vanilla

2 tablespoons flax seeds

1/2 cup whole almonds or walnuts, toasted

1/3 cup sunflower seeds, toasted

(1/4 cup golden raisins)

1/4 cup dried cranberries

Preheat your oven to 350F.  Lightly grease two baking sheets and set aside.  In a medium bowl, whisk together the first eight (dry) ingredients.  In a large bowl, beat together on high speed butter, sugar, honey, and orange zest until smooth and creamy, about 1 minute.  Beat in egg, vanilla, and flax seeds until smooth. Add flour mixture all at once to the butter mixture and beat on low speed until it is mostly combined, about 10 to 15 seconds.  Use a rubber spatula to fold in nuts, seeds, and fruit all at once. Use a tablespoon (or a 1½-ounce ice cream scoop) to drop large, plum-sized scoops of dough onto the prepared baking sheets, spacing them 2 inches apart.  Flatten each cookie slightly; bake until golden brown around edges, about *10-12 minutes. Let cool on the pan for about 1 minute before transferring them to a wire rack to cool.

Well these weren't quite what I had in mind. I was picturing something far more chunky and less dessert-like. These were WAY too sweet for a breakfast cookie, and not nearly chunky enough. They need more whole wheat flour, about ½ cup less sugar and at least half again as many nuts and maybe sunflower seeds, if not double. (I'd play around with the balance between sugar, honey, and raisins.) I’d probably leave out the raisins entirely and replace with more cranberries.  (I couldn't even taste the cranberries.)  At one time her recipe said it made 16 cookies; I made one dozen and had to bake them about an extra 5 minutes.

Conclusion:  Meh.  I probably wouldn't make these again unless I needed something quick and easy to bring to another meeting.  I wish I'd thought of it sooner, but coffee flour might have been a good addition.

Recipe:  The Breakfast Club Cookie via Scientifically Sweet