Cookies for breakfast

This recipe is from my sister-in-law.
Who got it from her best friend.
Who got it from her mother-in-law.
Who got it from her neighbor.
Who over heard his cousin's gardener passing it on to the Peruvian exchange student they were hosting.
Who was trying to make something else entirely and ended up with this.
Or something like that.

Like everyone before me, I've put my own slant on it.  So please slant it for your family.

My favorite part is the first morning we had them, and the kiddos plunked down at the table and said, What's for breakfast?  And I said, cookies.  And they didn't believe me one little bit, until I served...
wait for it...
cookies!
Crazy right?
The look on their faces was priceless.

Before you write me off and flip to the next blog, let me defend myself.  There is only 1 1/2 cups of brown sugar and 1/1/2 cups of butter in the whole recipe, (2 breakfasts for my large crew divvied up between 7 kiddos) and that's not bad at all compared to the sugar-coated crap cereal they like.  And this recipe is incredibly flexible to use what you have on hand.  And these breakfast cookies have lots of good-for-you stuff too!  I serve 1-2 cookies with a glass of milk, possibly yogurt, and fresh fruit for a complete breakfast.

They are also wonderful snacks for growing squirrely kiddos (read: Patch) who need a snack after school.

My batter was pretty orange this time because I used canned pumpkin.

Ingredients
1 1/2 sticks butter (melted)
1 c brown sugar
1 t vanilla
1 c of mashed up fruit/veg (mashed banana or pear, apple sauce, pumpkin puree...)
1 egg
2 c whole wheat flour (okay, just use regular flour if need be)
1/2 c flax seed meal (optional)
1 1/2 t baking soda
1/2 t baking powder
1 c rolled oats
1 c rice crispy cereal  (use 2 c rolled oats if you don't have rice crispy cereal)
1 t cinnamon
1 t nutmeg
1 t clove 
1 c nuts (slivered almonds, chopped pecans...)
1 c dried fruit (raisins, Craisins, chopped apricots...)
***optional - 1/2 c chocolate chips, if you want your children to nominate you for mother of the year

Using an ice cream scoop measures out each cookie so easily!

Mix butter and sugar on high.   Add remaining ingredients and mix just until dough comes together.  Do not over mix.  Use an ice cream scoop to place large balls of dough on greased cookie sheet.  I can only fit 8 cookies per baking sheet.  

These cookies don't really spread much, so halfway through baking,
I actually squish each cookie down with the back of the spatula.     

Bake 20 min. at 350 degrees till brown on the edges but still soft in the middle.
Let cookies rest before removing from baking sheet.  
Freeze 1/2 of the cookies in Ziplock bag for breakfast another day.  
Makes 24 large cookies.