Recipe: On-The-Run Morning Cookies

ON-THE-RUN MORNING COOKIES

"Good ideas will make the rounds, and this one started with Margaret Fox's Breakfast Cookies at Cafe Beaujolais in Mendocino, California. I've lost track of what was in the original recipe, but I remember being so charmed by the idea of having a big fat good-for-you cookie for breakfast that I headed straight for the kitchen to make my own. I keep changing the nut butter, cereal, and flavorings, depending on what's around, but this version is what's in my cookie jar as I write."

4 tablespoons (1/2 stick) butter, at room temperature
1/4 cup safflower or canola oil
1 egg
1/3 cup almond butter
1 teaspoon almond extract
1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
3/4 cup lightly packed brown sugar
1 cup flour
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/4 cup wheat germ
1 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 cup Cheerios
1/2 cup Rice Krispies
1/2 cup chopped toasted almonds or 1/3 cup currants
12 whole unblanched almonds

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F and line a cookie pan with parchment paper.

Place the butter, oil, egg, nut butter, extracts, and sugar in a food processor and puree until smooth.

In a large bowl, whisk to combine the flour, salt, wheat germ, and baking powder. Add and mix in the wet ingredients and fold in the cereals and chopped nuts. (The dough will be stiff.) Place golf-ball-size clumps of dough on the cookie pan, press a whole almond in the center of each cookie.

Bake for 15 minutes or until the bottoms are light brown. Cool on a rack.

Makes 12 cookies
Source: The Weekend Chef: 192 Smart Recipes for Relaxed Cooking Ahead, by Barbara Witt