My husband recently had his annual guys backpacking, canoeing, activity adventure week with some of his friends. Each year, he plans a 4-6 day trip that involves hiking in remote woods or islands for up to 20 miles a day while carrying 70 pounds of gear on his back and sleeping in a hammock tent. Every year, the guys slightly complain about the activity and then complain about my husband’s ‘anal retentive’ planning strategies, but they keep going back, so it must be fun. this time they added a canoe and portage element that involved less backpacking and more rowing. Which means, more food and weight was not an issue. So, he requested I devise some sort of breakfast cookie to use as a carb source for all of that energy usage. I have never made breakfast cookie before, but figured it would be like making granola with a few eggs and protein added.
What I came up with actually turned out pretty good and has much more protein than any of those granola bars on the market. I decided to keep this recipe in the rotation.
The Hungry Dude Backpacking (Or huge Day) Breakfast cookie
1 cup dried tart cherries
1 cup raisins
1 cup raw walnut halves
1/2 cup raw whole almonds
1 cup whey protein powder
2 cup whole oats
1 cup coconut oil
1 cup flour (I used a gluten free mix by Namaste)
1 and 1/3 cup packed Brown sugar
4 eggs
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1 tablespoon vanilla extract
1 teaspoon salt
1 tablespoon cinnamon
Mix coconut oil in liquid form, eggs, brown sugar, vanilla, and protein powder together.
In separate bowl combine flour, soda, and oats.
Sift dry ingredients into the wet ingredient and mix well.
Add the nuts and fruits and mix until they are well stuck in the dough.
Refrigeratedough one hour.
Scoop out large globs of about tennis ball size and form them into tight balls. Place balls three inches apart on a baking sheet and press down on the dough balls to make them only about 1.5-2 inches high. You can fit about six cookies on a standard cookie sheet. This recipe should make twelve. These are the hungry dude backpacking breakie cookies! So, you want them to be big as a starter to an active day of 20+ miles up and down hills. No wimpy cookies allowed.
Place the sheet in a preheated oven at 375ºF and bake for 18-20 min.
So, these cookies are big. They might be more of a 10AM breakfast cookie if you are not a breakfast person. However, they were a hit with most of the guys, which is rare when I am trying to make something nutritionally healthful. I imagine if you swapped out the flour for more oats, they might make a good lactation cookie as well.
These look like they’d be delicious Macedon cookies! That’s what I’d call them anyway…