Carrot Breakfast Cookies
Carrot Breakfast Cookies
Starting the new year off right matters. Let’s face it. The holidays may have been brutal to your waist line and your eating habits, so let’s own it and get back to your good patterns or perhaps it’s time to establish new and improved patterns. These breakfast cookies are a great transition from holiday pastries and french toast because they are sweetened with pure maple syrup and brown sugar, but are not overly sweet. Plus they’re made with wholesome whole wheat flour, walnuts and grated carrots, ingredients you likely have been ignoring in the past few weeks.
Eating breakfast is one of the most important patterns to establish when trying to lose weight. Over the many years I’ve been a dietitian, eating breakfast continues to top lists of traits of individuals who have lost and kept weight off successfully. Check out this article I wrote a few years ago titled, Five Highly Effective Habits to Keep Weight Off Forever. Eating Breakfast, tops the list!
It’s mostly about maintaining a steady blood sugar. When blood sugar is steady, the body doesn’t release as much insulin, a hormone responsible for lowering blood sugar when it gets too high, like when you eat super sweet food on an empty stomach, and which also triggers the production of fat since the body needs a place to put those extra sugar calories.
A healthy breakfast should consist of three essential elements: 1) Protein, 2) Whole Grains and 3) some kind of Fruit and/or Vegetable. These breakfast cookies have the whole grain category covered nicely. The added carrot may count for the produce but adding a small clementine or half a banana will add more fiber and nutrients. I’d also suggest adding 1/2 cup Greek yogurt or 1/2 cup milk for the protein to create a complete wholesome breakfast.
One more plug for breakfast. Think about the word “Breakfast”. Break the Fast. Fasting is going without food for a period of time and in most cases can range from 10 to 16 hours depending on when you ate dinner the night before. That’s a long time to go without eating, so breaking the fast with a morning meal makes good metabolic sense. Its gets the body’s “machine” running as it works to utilize the nutrients eaten.
Enjoy these delicious breakfast cookies chock-full of wholesome ingredients. This is a cookie you can feel good about eating.
- Carrot Breakfast Cookies
- 1 cup oats (I use old-fashioned, not quick-cooking)
- 3/4 cup whole wheat flour
- 1 1/2 tsp baking powder
- 1 tsp cinnamon
- 1/4 tsp salt
- 1 egg
- 1 tsp vanilla
- 1/2 cup maple syrup
- 1/3 cup brown sugar
- 2 Tbsp butter, melted
- 3/4 cup finely grated carrots (2 medium)
- 1/4 cup finely chopped walnuts
- Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Line 2 baking sheets with parchment paper.
- Combine oats, flour, baking powder, cinnamon and salt in a medium bowl; stir to combine.
- Combine egg, vanilla, maple syrup, brown sugar and melted butter in a large bowl; whisk to combine.
- Add the oat mixture to the egg mixture and stir to combine. Add the carrots and walnuts and stir until just combined, avoiding over-mixing. Chill dough for 30 minutes.
- Drop large tablespoon-size balls of dough onto the baking sheets, leaving an inch or two between each. Bake for 13 to 14 minutes or until cookies are brown at the edges and just set on top. Let cool for a few minutes before transferring to a rack to cool completely.
- Cookies will store in an airtight container for up to 5 days or freeze for up to 2 months.
You might also enjoy:
Quick and Easy Breakfast Burritos
Kaye Prime
Hi Karen – these sound yummy! Hope all is well with you!
Anonymous
These are yummy! But can you tell me the calorie count?
Karen
I’m so glad you enjoyed them. Each cookie is approximately 145 calories, 6 grams fat, 17 grams carbohydrate with 2 grams fiber and 4 grams sugar, 6 grams protein. Couple this with a Greek yogurt (100 calories and 15 grams protein) you have a very healthy high protein breakfast.