Happy New Year! Let’s make a healthy start. It’s no secret I love maple. This particular recipe has been a huge breakfast favorite of mine for the past six months, along with my other Healthy Breakfast Cookies.
These have another advantage, too… other than stronger maple flavor. They are fast to prepare. Even with my slow stovetop, I can whip these up and have them cooling in about 20 minutes.
Plus, these are fantastic to make and freeze! Since I eat three for breakfast, that means I can have a week’s worth of breakfast stashed away for now or later.
These are similar to the Maple Nut Butter No-Bakes I posted a while back, but this breakfast version is a heck of a lot healthier. No sugar. No butter. I like the taste more, too. It has a great, mild maple and nut butter flavor to it, and the oats soak just enough so that the cookies are perfectly chewy.
Customize these all kinds of ways, too. Use apple butter, pumpkin butter, etc. I’ve made them with cashew butter and almond butter, and combinations thereof. You could certainly use other kinds of milk, too, but I stick with unsweetened vanilla almond milk.
Greatly modified from Cookin’ Canuck.
Bready or Not: Healthy No-Bake Maple Breakfast Cookies
Ingredients
- 2 1/2 cups old-fashioned rolled oats
- 1 tsp vanilla extract
- 1/2 - 1 tsp maple flavor to preference
- 1/2 cup apple butter or other fruit butter
- 1/2 cup + 2 Tb almond milk
- 1/2 cup almond butter or other nut butter
- 1/4 cup + 2 Tb pure maple syrup
- sprinkle salt
- 1/2 cup pepitas or other seeds/nuts, optional
Instructions
- Measure out the oats and the two extracts, keeping them separate, and have ready near the stove. Prepare a large baking sheet with full coverage of wax paper.
- In a medium saucepan, mix together the apple butter, almond milk, maple syrup, and salt. Heat on medium, stirring often.
- After about ten minutes, the mixture will thicken; cook it at that level for another minute or two. If you have a candy thermometer, this thickening starts at about 180-degrees; that few minutes will take it to 200-degrees, and make sure it gets no hotter than that. Remove the pot from heat.
- Stir in the oats followed by the two extracts. Add pepitas or nuts, if desired. Stir until everything is covered.
- Use a tablespoon scoop to dole out cookies onto the prepared wax paper. This will be about 20 cookies or about 29 if seeds/nuts are added. Once they are all scooped, use your fingers to gently press in stray oats.
- Let cool for about 30 minutes. They can be kept sealed at room temperature but taste even better from the fridge; store between layers of wax paper. They can also be frozen.
- OM NOM NOM!
