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Cranberry Dark Chocolate Breakfast Cookies

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This post for Cranberry Dark Chocolate Breakfast Cookies updated April 2016 as part of the #ThrowbackThursday photography project where I add better photos to already delicious recipes! Enjoy!

Loaded with oats, nuts, dried cranberries, and dark chocolate, these make-ahead breakfast cookies are freezer-friendly & pair perfectly with a latte or milk. Recipe on GoodieGodmother.com

I thought I’d have plenty of time to relax and catch up on my blogging over maternity leave… I’m off for a few weeks with just an infant at home, I’ll have plenty of time! How much work could one tiny human be?

I hear those of you with children laughing. It’s okay, you were right, they’re a lot more time consuming than one would think, but that’s partially because they’re so cute! How do you say no to an infant napping on you?

A quick recap of where I’ve gone the past few weeks…

Loaded with oats, nuts, dried cranberries, and dark chocolate, these make-ahead breakfast cookies are freezer-friendly & pair perfectly with a latte or milk. Recipe on GoodieGodmother.com

Before baby girl made her appearance, my family came in for the holidays, so the Godfather and I had a total of 8 adults and three small dogs running around. It was a bit chaotic and tiring (I was 9 months pregnant after all), but it was lots of fun to have them here for Christmas. We played tourist, baked, relaxed, and just enjoyed time together. We also took some family photos with Samantha Lovett Photography to commemorate the event. The whole clan:

2013-12-24 16.49.55-1

My sisters left shortly after Christmas, but my parents remained a bit longer. They helped us prepare for baby’s arrival and were hoping she would make an appearance before they had to go. We knew she would come in time, and as a first-time parent, I explained to her we had certain stipulations: I didn’t want her to be born before she was considered full-term (so 39 weeks minimum), nor did I want her to be born on the Godfather’s birthday, and ideally, she wouldn’t arrive until after a social commitment we had made on January 4th. We got two out of three, a pretty good start I think in the “children who listen to their parents” department. Our pixie arrived the morning of January 2nd, and she got the chance to spend some time with Grandma and Grandpa before they went home the next day. I’m glad they got to meet her!

Loaded with oats, nuts, dried cranberries, and dark chocolate, these make-ahead breakfast cookies are freezer-friendly & pair perfectly with a latte or milk. Recipe on GoodieGodmother.com

I’ll spare you details, but delivery went quickly and smoothly, and the staff at the Lompoc hospital were incredible. I am very happy we stayed in town for the delivery and had Dr. Huss as our OB and definitely recommend both.

Loaded with oats, nuts, dried cranberries, and dark chocolate, these make-ahead breakfast cookies are freezer-friendly & pair perfectly with a latte or milk. Recipe on GoodieGodmother.com

We brought baby home, introduced her to her furry big sister, and got to work on settling in with our new addition and with one tiny exception for newborn pictures, I was on a kitchen ban for two weeks thanks to some wonderful friends who brought us dinners, and cooking by the Godfather. I can’t say it wasn’t nice, and much needed because I was (am!) exhausted, but I missed playing in the kitchen. I can’t wait until our little one grows up enough to play with me; she always relaxes when she hears the kitchen noises (cabinet doors, pots and pans, the mixers). Like the result of my little kitchen adventures for the pictures? Styling and photo by one of my very talented personal friends, the fabulous Melissa at Folks Photography:

2014-01-07 16.27.30

After two weeks though, I’m done! I’m definitely not ready to head back at the capacity I was (sometimes 10+ hours a day in the kitchen), but it was time to make something for our home and I needed to figure out something I could have on hand when I’m up at all hours of the night feeding the baby. It had to be something portable, small, and easy to eat with one hand and minimal dirty dishes. Oh, and I had to be able to make it with ingredients I had on hand because I didn’t want to run to the store or order in specialty items we can’t find easily here in small-town California.

Breakfast Cookie Batter

These cookies were the answer. I didn’t have brewers yeast, so opted for a “breakfast cookie” instead of a lactation cookie. I also feel it has broader appeal, and I wanted to experiment with something the Godfather would feel comfortable eating too. Just the term “lactation cookie” sounds like it would have most men reaching for something else in the kitchen. These are choc full of good-for-you things though, so I wanted them to be something everyone in our house (all two of us eating them) would enjoy.unnamed

A small note – if you don’t have coconut flour on hand, you can substitute all-purpose flour too. You may also use store bought almond flour, but I wanted more crunch, so I ground my own and only pulsed until it reached a very coarse, rather nonuniform meal.

Loaded with oats, nuts, dried cranberries, and dark chocolate, these make-ahead breakfast cookies are freezer-friendly & pair perfectly with a latte or milk. Recipe on GoodieGodmother.com

The below recipe was a minor modification on the Kitchen Sink Cookies by Amanda at Once Upon a Recipe‘s guest post on Sarcastic Cooking.

Chocolate Cranberry Breakfast Cookies

 

Loaded with oats, nuts, dried cranberries, and dark chocolate, these make-ahead breakfast cookies are freezer-friendly & pair perfectly with a latte or milk. Recipe on GoodieGodmother.com

Loaded with oats, nuts, dried cranberries, and dark chocolate, these make-ahead breakfast cookies are freezer-friendly & pair perfectly with a latte or milk. Recipe on GoodieGodmother.com

Cranberry Dark Chocolate Breakfast Cookies

Yield: 18 cookiesd
Prep Time: 10 minutes
Cook Time: 10 minutes
Total Time: 20 minutes

Ingredients

  • 1 cup whole raw almonds
  • 1½ cups old fashioned rolled oats
  • ⅓ cup coconut flour
  • ½ cup ground flax
  • 1 teaspoon baking soda
  • ½ tsp. salt
  • 1 tsp. ground cinnamon
  • ½ cup almond butter
  • ¼ cup coconut oil, melted
  • ½ cup honey
  • 1 egg
  • 1 tsp. vanilla
  • ½ cup dried cranberries
  • ½ cup dark chocolate chips

Instructions

  1. Preheat oven to 375 degrees F. Line baking sheets with parchment paper.
  2. Pulse the almonds in a food processor several times until they have made a course meal.
  3. Combine the almond meal, oats, coconut flour, ground flax, baking soda, salt, and cinnamon in a medium bowl.
  4. Place the almond butter, coconut oil, honey, egg, and vanilla extract in the food processor and process a few seconds to blend the ingredients well.
  5. Add the almond butter mixture to the dry mixture, incorporate, then add the cranberries and chocolate chips (and anything else that might strike your fancy - coconut would be a great addition)
  6. Using a medium scoop, scoop dough onto the prepared baking sheets about 2 inches apart. Flatten slightly.
  7. Bake for 8-10 minutes, or until lightly browned around the bottom edges. Watch them closely because they will dry out if you over-bake!
  8. Allow to cool for about 5 minutes on the baking sheets before moving to a wire rack to cool completely.
  9. These will keep up to a week in an airtight container at room temperature, but they also freeze well. I put the cooled cookies in the freezer and microwave 15-20 seconds to thaw and slightly warm.

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Hillary Reeves

Tuesday 23rd of August 2016

ok BRILLIANT WOMAN. more cookies for bfat please omnomom

Meaghan | Cook. Craft. Love.

Friday 19th of August 2016

Sweet HRH! You think I could use almond flour in these with the same result? I have a bag I'm trying to use up!

Mary (The Goodie Godmother)

Friday 19th of August 2016

Totally! I've done it. You get a smoother texture, but they're still delicious!

Whitney

Tuesday 16th of August 2016

I need to get some coconut flour! These cookies have all of my favorite things... plus you're telling me I can eat them for breakfast, and there's absolutely nothing wrong with that. These are a must-make!

Mary (The Goodie Godmother)

Wednesday 17th of August 2016

They're super convenient to keep in the freezer too. Because crazy mornings are exactly when you need cookies for breakfast haha

Byron Thomas

Monday 15th of August 2016

What a lovely post! I loved reading about your life, Mary. I mean, the recipe looks wonderfully scrumptious, but that baby pic steals the entire show. ;)

Mary (The Goodie Godmother)

Wednesday 17th of August 2016

Little Miss does have a way of doing that. :-p

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