Oatmeal Banana Breakfast Cookies

On an online forum, a Mom recommended a recipe for Oatmeal Banana Breakfast Cookies that she uses with her family. The recipe was alluring and I decided to give it a try. As you can imagine, with four babies, it is not always easy to get to the store when I am sparked with inspiration. So, I substituted using what I had on hand. You can read the original recipe, by following the link above.

Oatmeal Banana Breakfast Cookies:

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees.

Ingredients:
1/2 cup peanut butter
1/2 cup butter, softened
3/4 cup packed brown sugar
1 egg
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
2 mashed ripe bananas (I softened our bananas in the microwave for 30 seconds as bananas do not have time to ripen in our house)
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/4 teaspoon salt
3/4 cup all-purpose flour
3/4 cup whole wheat flour
1 cup cheerios, crushed into a powder which makes about 1/4 to 1/3 cup
2 cups rolled oats (I was out so I used baby oatmeal)
1 cup dried cherries or raisins (I used raisins because they are smaller, to avoid a choke hazard)

In a large mixing bowl, beat the peanut butter and butter with an electric mixer for 30 seconds.

Add the brown sugar and beat until combined. Beat in the egg and vanilla until mixed. Then, beat in the bananas, baking soda and salt. I decided to spare you a picture of this step as it was not very pretty.

I crushed the cheerios inside a plastic bag using the flat side of a tenderizer.

Other methods of crushing cheerios could be a food processor or a mortar and pestle. The cheerios were my substitute for toasted wheat germ. Next, mix in the flours and the crushed cheerios. Stir in the oats and raisins. Drop by 1/4 cup measures onto ungreased cookie sheets. Form dough into circles using your hands.

I used silpat liners under the cookies for easy clean-up. Bake at 350 degrees for 15-16 minutes or until the edges are brown. After one minute, transfer to wire racks to cool. Serve within 24 hours or freeze.

These cookies did not last 24 hours, so there was no need to freeze.

The babies had never been given a whole cookie. Food is usually broken into bite sized bits. Since these cookies were very soft, I decided to see what they would do with them. The boys all tried putting the cookies in their mouths, but did not know how to bite off a piece. So, I broke them up. Capri figured out how to take bites. All were delighted to have the chance to hold an entire cookie.

Xayden tried to tackle the whole cookie

but conceded to devour a small bite.

Capri held her cookie like a sandwich

and ate it bite by bite.

Ryder poked at his cookie

and then put the edge in his mouth, unsure of how to proceed.

Grayson was thrilled just to have a cookie on his plate

and picked off a raisin before it was broken into pieces for easy eating.

Oatmeal banana breakfast cookies will be a tradition in our house. Some day, I may sneak in some butterscotch chips to make them reminiscent of oatmeal scotchies. Do you have favorite family recipes? I would love to hear your stories and ideas. As always, comments are welcome.

Oatmeal Banana Breakfast Cookies

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