thumbprint banana breakfast cookies.

let’s hear it for hearty breakfast cookies!

these are like a loaded & condensed version of banana bread in cookie form…with a dollop of creamy nut butter on top. i prefer the nutella’d ones, obviously. what a dang delight that stuff is.

i used peanut butter on the other cookies, but i wish i’d had almond butter for these! as long as your topping of choice goes alright with banana, go for it. i suppose they’d be good with jam, too!

i always love those thumbprint cookies at christmas time with the frosting. such a classic. how bout a year-round version of those that you can eat for breakfast or snack?! and they’re surprisingly filling.

i was happy to see that these cookies stayed moist up to a week. they taste good cold right out of the fridge, too.

the only reason there’s a little bit of wheat germ in the recipe is because some lady my dad used to work with put wheat germ in her “healthy” chocolate chip cookie recipe and those were really filling, so that’s always a thing in the back of my head. but the wheat germ is totally optional.

i prefer to eat cookies warm and fresh out of the oven, of course. i was just surprised at how well these kept at room temperature or refrigerated and were still chewy. great successsss.

but i was mostly so glad to have these around for breakfast and a quick snack for a whole week!

there’s really only 1 teaspoon of each nut butter on top…it looks like a lot more in the photos. the cookies are somewhat of a treat or dessert if you’re an ultra healthy harriet, but i’ll take a homemade breakfast bar thingy over packaged ones any day.

cookies…they’re what’s for breakfast.

Thumbprint Banana Breakfast Cookies

Makes 18 Cookies

Total Time: 40 minutes

Ingredients:

• 2 cups old fashioned oats

• 3/4 cup almond flour

• 1/4 cup wheat germ (optional)

• 1/4 cup coconut sugar or brown sugar

• 1/2 tsp. baking soda

• 1/2 tsp. baking powder

• 1/4 tsp. cardamom (optional)

• 1/4 tsp. cinnamon

• 1/2 tsp. kosher salt

• 3-4 ripe bananas, mashed

• 1/4 cup coconut oil, melted

• 1/2 cup walnuts, chopped

• 2 tsp. vanilla extract

• 1/4 cup pepitas

• 1/2 TB maple syrup

• 1/3 cup chocolate chips

• peanut butter, almond butter, nutella or any nut butter, for filling

Instructions-

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F and prepare a baking sheet with parchment or cooking spray. In a small bowl, mash the bananas well and set aside. Melt the coconut and let cool.

In a large bowl, combine all the dry ingredients. Add coconut oil, vanilla extract and maple syrup and toss to incorporate. Add the mashed bananas and mix. Gently stir in the walnuts, pepitas, and chocolate chips.

Roll the dough into golf ball sized balls and place on the baking sheet about 2 inches apart. Press down in the center of the ball with your thumb to create a divot.

Bake for 13 minutes and check for doneness. Bake 2 more minutes if the banana still seems soft.

Remove from the oven and press the indents in the cookies down again with the back of a spoon. Let the cookies cool 10 minutes.

Drop a teaspoon of peanut butter, almond butter, or Nutella in the thumbprint of each cookie. Sprinkle with extra cinnamon if desired.

Store in an airtight container at room temperature or in the fridge up to 1 week.

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baked s'mores donuts.

two worlds of my favorite things collide with this here treat i've concocted -

S'MORES & DONUTS.

juuuust fuhgeddaboudiitttttttt!!!!!! 

i'm quite shocked that i haven't made any sort of marshmallowy chocolatey recipes for the blog yet. i freaking LuuUuuRRrrrVvVe all things marshmallow + chocolate. 

so naturally, s'mores have been one of my favorite things since the beginning of time. if you know me, you know.

gimme all the chocolate mallow-filled santas and easter bunnies and pumpkins and all those individually wrapped bundles of fluffy, chewy, mallowy goodness. those things are great..just great.

i was SO pleased that this recipe turned out so well, because the last time i came up with a baked donut recipe it flopped SO badly. it pretty much turned out like a bunch o gross bagels that i couldn't even pass off as bagels if i tried. 

so hoorayyyy for successful recipes! especially when such recipes involve magical ingredients like homemade maaaaarshmallllloooow fluffers and chocolatey cake donuts. 

boil that suga! ^^^ this is what your sugar, water, and light corn syrup will look like when its ready to add to the egg white fluff. hot, sweet candy!

you don't actually need the regular marshmallows...i just put those in the photos for funzies. because marshmallows are cute little fat plumps of sweet, sweet joy.

mmm mmm mmm fresh baked chocolate do-dos. i used coconut oil instead of butter and i think that reeeally took everything to the next level. just that slight hint of coconut in an extra chocolatey donut is so delightful to me. i added a bit of graham crumbs to the batter, too. i thought it added a nice extra bit of texture.

these s'mores donuts are peter-approved! he is hard to please with sweet treats, but he tasted one when it was freshly frosted and said it was reeeeeeeeally good. yessssssss alleluia!! that is like the ultimate win for me.

Baked S'mores Doughnuts

Makes 6 baked doughnuts (this is the pan I use)

Time: 45 minutes

Marshmallow Fluff Frosting (recipe makes a LOT o' mallow - store in airtight container in the fridge)

• 3 egg whites
• 1/2 tsp. cream of tartar
• 3/4 cup light corn syrup
• 2/3 cup white sugar
• 1/3 cup water
• 1 tsp. vanilla
• pinch of salt

In the bowl of your stand mixer (using the whisk attachment), whisk together the egg whites and cream of tartar for one minute until fluffy. In a medium sized sauce pan, heat the sugar, water, and corn syrup on medium heat. Whisk frequently until combination thickens and bubbles. Heat until about 235 degrees F on a candy thermometer.

If you do not have a candy thermometer, you can tell when the mixture is hot enough when it feels thick when stirred, the white sugar is completely dissolved, big clear bubbles form (see photo above), and a thin thread of sugar will form off the tip of a spoon when scooped and slowly drizzled downward back into the pan. (I tried to take a photo of this technique - too hard to deal with the camera and boiling sugar with a ticking time bomb of borderline hard candy)

Pour the hot sugar liquid into the egg white mixture in the mixing bowl. Add the vanilla and salt and whisk on medium/high for about 5 minutes, until stiff marshmallowy peaks form (see photo above). 

Scoop the marshmallow fluff into a container and place in the fridge.

Chocolate Doughnuts (this recipe makes only 6 baked donuts - double the recipe to match the amount of marshmallow fluff)

• 1/2 cup all-purpose flour
• 1/3 cup cake flour
• 1 tsp. baking powder
• 1/4 tsp. salt
• 1/4 cup coconut oil
• 1/3 cup brown sugar
• 1 egg
• 1/4 cup fine graham cracker crumbs
• 1/3 cup buttermilk
• 1 tsp. vanilla
• 2 TB. cocoa powder
• (1) 1.5 oz. Hershey's milk chocolate bar
• 4-6 honey graham crackers

Grease the donut baking pan(s) and preheat oven to 350 degrees F.

In a small food processor or blender, grind up 3 graham crackers until a fine crumbly powder forms. Set aside 1/4 cup of the crumbs.

In a small sauce pan (or in the microwave), melt 1 Hershey bar with 1/4 cup coconut oil.

In a large mixing bowl, cream the egg and brown sugar with a whisk. Add the melted Hershey and coconut oil mixture and stir it all together.

In a separate mixing bowl, combine flours, baking powder, salt, cocoa powder, and graham crumbs and stir with a spoon. Slowly add the dry ingredients to the wet ingredients, stirring in between additions. Lastly, add vanilla and buttermilk and gently fold the mixture together until everything is combined and a thick wet batter is formed.

Add spoonfuls of batter into the donut pan until 3/4 full. To keep the donut pan extra clean, place all batter in a freezer bag and cut one of the corners off to squeeze the batter easily into the donut forms.

Bake for 12 minutes. Remove from oven and immediately turn over onto cooling rack. Cool completely.

Give the cold marshmallow fluff a stir, and use the back of a spoon to frost the donuts. Sprinkle the fine graham cracker crumbs all over the marshmallow fluff. Top with roughly chopped bits of Hershey bar and graham cracker.

ENJOY! S'MORES FOREVAAAA.

WELCOME SUMMER!

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