Oatmeal Breakfast Cookies

Mmm. I love a good oatmeal cookie. If you read the post you will discover that the creator, Matt Maranian, of this recipe dislikes breakfast but loves cookies and wants to legitimize the breakfast cookie. I would say that he was successful at least in creating a healthy and very tasty cookie. (My wife has begged me to make another batch.) Now whether it can be legitimized as a breakfast item remains to be seen. I for one am on board.

I have just a couple notes: 1. You can use raisins or dates. Both a very good. 2. You can use chopped or sliced almonds.

• One 15 oz can chickpeas, thoroughly drained in a strainer
• 2 tablespoons olive oil
• ½ cup chunky peanut butter with no added sugars or sweeteners
• ½ cup local organic honey
• 3 tsp vanilla extract
• 2 tsp almond extract
• 1 tsp cinnamon
• 1 tsp baking powder
• 1/4 teaspoon kosher salt
• Heaping 1/3 cup raw oats
• Heaping 1/3 cup sliced almonds
• ¼ cup packed raisins
• Parchment paper (very important)

While the chickpeas are draining, roast the almonds in a skillet over medium/low heat, stirring and tossing frequently, until the almonds are fragrant and start to brown. Remove from heat, and slide the almonds into a small bowl. Mash the chickpeas and olive oil together with a potato masher until you no longer see any solid pieces of chickpea.

Add the honey, peanut butter, vanilla, both extracts, baking powder, and salt to the chickpea paste, and blend with a mixer on high speed for about five minutes, scraping the sides of the bowl every minute or so, until the batter looks like chunky peanut butter and starts sticking together. Toss in the oats, toasted almonds, and raisins, and fold into the batter with a rubber spatula until everything is just mixed. 

Cover the dough with plastic wrap and refrigerate until the dough is chilled and firm, at least 30 minutes and up to several hours. 

Preheat the oven to 350º. Using a tablespoon-size soupspoon, scoop the dough by the heaping spoonful, and, using a second spoon, scrape onto the parchment (you don’t need to allow a lot of space on the sheet between cookies, as they don’t spread much while baking). 

Bake for 20 minutes, or until the tips and edges of the cookies become dark golden brown. If they look a bit like they’ve burned, it’s okay, for some reason they don’t taste burned even when they are, don’t ask me why. Cool on a wire rack. For best results, once cooled, seal in an airtight container and keep refrigerated.