My kids have been Nutrigrain (or Walmart generic) bars since W was at least 9 months old...that's a long time considering he'll be 3 next month! At $0.25 a bar, that wasn't too bad when I was just feeding him. But, AB came along, and that girl was an EATER. She would eat TWO (count them -- 1, 2) bars each morning. That bumped it up to $0.75 for breakfast...plus milk. The darn things are sooooo sweet on top of the fact that there are lots of ingredients that I scratch my head as I read them wondering what in the world they truly are and why was it necessary to put them in my babies' breakfast? With my challenge to myself, I decided that I would NOT buy any more "bars." Unfortunately, I forgot to mention it to hubby, and he came home one day with a couple of boxes because the kids were out. What a sweet, thoughtful man! At that point, I shared with him, in the finest Christian fashion of course, -- Don't buy any more bars.
We had a variety of things for breakfast to fill the void of the bars -- oatmeal...lots of oatmeal, cheese & crackers, fruit with peanut butter toast, bagels.... What I wanted was something that would be easy to make, I could make ahead and would be quick to eat that AB could eat independently. We have to leave for Jazzercise or to take W to "school" by 8:15 at the earliest. (I know. That really sounds late to me, but getting the kids up at 7:15 so that they can see Daddy before he goes to work leaves us 45 minutes to get three of us ready. Sometimes it's super easy, other times I'm running around like the proverbial decapitated chicken. *sigh*) Ease and independence were necessities.
My first thought was baked oatmeal. "Aunt" Jane in Papua New Guinea made the best baked oatmeal. Oh my gravy...that was almost more like cake, lightly sweet, super fluffy, could be eaten in squares by hand...my mouth is watering now...I think I'll have to email her for the recipe.... My concern was the kids squeezing too hard and it falling apart and being more mess than breakfast. In talking with my middle sis, I discovered that she makes a breakfast cookie. This, I could handle, so I had her email me the recipe. I've included the recipe as she sent it to me below. I made it the first time according to her recipe, but it was WAAAAAAY too sweet for me. I put notes in purple showing how I changed them up when I made them this morning. The notes in green are for how I plan to do it next time. I really enjoyed them this morning -- needed a glass of milk to go with them, though. They're not dry, but very dense.
I was trying to figure out how much this recipe costs to make. I'll have to look up some prices to find out, but today it made 16 cookies -- enough for five breakfasts for the kids and me. So...I am confident that they're much less expensive than "bars," and I know exactly what's going into them!
If you try these out, let me know. I'm curious to know your thoughts and if you made any adjustments to what's below.
The recipe my sis sent me was a single recipe, but since we always make it doubled, the quantities listed below are for a doubled recipe and will make 16-18 cookies.
Breakfast Cookies
2 large bananas smashed up
We had a variety of things for breakfast to fill the void of the bars -- oatmeal...lots of oatmeal, cheese & crackers, fruit with peanut butter toast, bagels.... What I wanted was something that would be easy to make, I could make ahead and would be quick to eat that AB could eat independently. We have to leave for Jazzercise or to take W to "school" by 8:15 at the earliest. (I know. That really sounds late to me, but getting the kids up at 7:15 so that they can see Daddy before he goes to work leaves us 45 minutes to get three of us ready. Sometimes it's super easy, other times I'm running around like the proverbial decapitated chicken. *sigh*) Ease and independence were necessities.
My first thought was baked oatmeal. "Aunt" Jane in Papua New Guinea made the best baked oatmeal. Oh my gravy...that was almost more like cake, lightly sweet, super fluffy, could be eaten in squares by hand...my mouth is watering now...I think I'll have to email her for the recipe.... My concern was the kids squeezing too hard and it falling apart and being more mess than breakfast. In talking with my middle sis, I discovered that she makes a breakfast cookie. This, I could handle, so I had her email me the recipe. I've included the recipe as she sent it to me below. I made it the first time according to her recipe, but it was WAAAAAAY too sweet for me. I put notes in purple showing how I changed them up when I made them this morning. The notes in green are for how I plan to do it next time. I really enjoyed them this morning -- needed a glass of milk to go with them, though. They're not dry, but very dense.
I was trying to figure out how much this recipe costs to make. I'll have to look up some prices to find out, but today it made 16 cookies -- enough for five breakfasts for the kids and me. So...I am confident that they're much less expensive than "bars," and I know exactly what's going into them!
If you try these out, let me know. I'm curious to know your thoughts and if you made any adjustments to what's below.
The recipe my sis sent me was a single recipe, but since we always make it doubled, the quantities listed below are for a doubled recipe and will make 16-18 cookies.
Breakfast Cookies
2 large bananas smashed up
1 c peanut butter
1 c honey (1/4 c honey)
2 Tbsp molasses
2 tsp vanilla
1/2 c applesauce next time
1/2 c applesauce next time
mix all that together
separately mix up
2 c oats (1 c quick cook oats and 1 c old fashioned rolled oats)
1 c whole wheat flour
1/2 c dry milk
4 tsp cinnamon (2 tsp cinnamon, 1/2 tsp allspice & 1/2 tsp cloves)
1/2 c wheat germ next time
1/2 c wheat germ next time
1/2 tsp baking soda
it doesn't call for salt, but I add l 1/2 tsp to a doubled recipe (with decreasing the sweetness, next time I'll cut the salt back to 1 tsp)
add the dry to the wet and get everything wet, then stir in about 1 c cranberries (or whatever else you want to add -- I use raisins in 2/3 of the batter and keep 1/3 plain. W's in an anti-raisin phase. :)
cook on a buttered pan (I use my unbuttered baking stones) - use 1/4 cup scoops, then flatten with a wet spatula (I haven't had to have my spatula wet.)
350 14 - 16 minutes
They do keep, but it's pretty easy to mix them up in the a.m. (If you're storing them, I highly recommend putting a square of wax paper between the cookies so that they don't stick together.)
I'm looking forward to hearing about your foray into breakfast cookies, or yogurt, or whatever else you might be venturing forth to try! :-)
I'm looking forward to hearing about your foray into breakfast cookies, or yogurt, or whatever else you might be venturing forth to try! :-)
Bread. And coffee. Sorry kids. You are old enought to make cereal. hahahahaahahhah!
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