Recipe: Better Than Breakfast Cookies

Due to popular demand (ok, five people on my personal Facebook page :P) here is my recipe for "Better Than Breakfast Cookies". They have no flour, no dairy, no egg, no oil and no refined sugar. That means they can easily be gluten-free and vegan friendly. (With a few tiny modifications.)

I originally found the recipe for "Breakfast Cookies" on Pinterest. Then I tweaked it. It's what I do. Here is my version...

Ingredients:
~ 5 small bananas
~ 1/2 cup unsweetened applesauce
~ 1/2 cup honey
~ 1 Tbs vanilla
~ 3 cups whole grain quick oats
~ 1/2 cup regular (coarse) oats
~ 2 Tbs ground flax
~ 1 Tbs chia seeds
~ 2 tsp cinnamon
~ 1/2 tsp nutmeg
~ 1/2 tsp kosher salt
~ 1/2 cup chopped dried red dates
~ 1/2 cup dark chocolate chips

Instructions:
Mash the bananas with the applesauce and vanilla. Add everything else and blend well. Drop onto parchment paper covered baking sheets. Bake at 350°F for 30-35 minutes. Makes three dozen.

Note: 
The cookies will not 'melt' as they bake. The will keep the exact shape you drop them in. For that reason, I recommend flattening them a bit so the still bake evenly. 

For gluten-free cookies, just make sure you buy oats that are labelled "gluten-free". Oats are naturally gluten-free but because of how/where they are processed, they "may contain wheat ingredients" unless otherwise stated.

For vegan friendly, omit the honey and make sure your chocolate chips don't contain milk solids. 

Alterations:
Make these your own! You can play around with the ratios of bananas to applesauce and sub in some almond "milk" if you like. For less sugar content (even though it is all naturally occurring, there is still sugar) you can omit the honey and chocolate chips. I really like cinnamon and nutmeg but you could also add some cardamom, cloves, or other spices, maybe some cocoa powder. I happen to have dried red dates (so good!) but you can use any dried fruit. Feel free to throw in some nuts if you like... Have fun with it!

Here is the nutritional information per cookie (calculated on Spark Recipes) if you follow my recipe exactly:

Nutrition Facts
36 Servings
Amount Per Serving

Calories   62.5
Total Fat   1.0 g
    Saturated Fat   0.1 g
    Polyunsaturated Fat   0.2 g
    Monounsaturated Fat   0.1 g
Cholesterol    0.0 mg
Sodium   50.3 mg
Potassium   72.7 mg
Total Carbohydrate   10.9 g
    Dietary Fibre    1.6 g
    Sugars    6.1 g
Protein   1.4 g

Vitamin A   0.2 %
Vitamin B-12   0.0 %
Vitamin B-6   4.3 %
Vitamin C   2.3 %
Vitamin D   0.0 %
Vitamin E   0.3 %
Calcium   0.5 %
Copper   1.6 %
Folate   1.0 %
Iron   1.3 %
Magnesium   2.1 %
Manganese   7.9 %
Niacin   0.6 %
Pantothenic Acid   0.7 %
Phosphorus   1.5 %
Riboflavin   1.2 %
Selenium   0.3 %
Thiamin   1.6 %
Zinc   0.8 %

*Percent Daily Values are based on a 2,000 calorie diet. Your daily values may be higher or lower depending on your calorie needs