Ginger Spice Breakfast Cookies

Sunday is a standard meal prep day for most. It's not always Sunday for me, but when it happens, I go big.  It ensures I have plenty of healthy options available for the week and frankly, it saves me a ton of money. One of my staple items to meal prep are these breakfast cookies. They're not cookies in the sense that you need to feel any sort of guilt or have to seriously restrict yourself. I call them cookies because they're shaped in some sort of cookie identity. But you can also shape them into bars. I just find using a cookie scooper is much easier and provides me with a bit more self control. 

I usually have a base for this recipe and then tweak the flavor profiles by switching up a few of the ingredients. Chocolate chips + dried cranberries, and dried blueberries + lemon are two of my favorites. But lately I've been in a ginger kick and have been trying to include it in as many recipes as possible. The great thing about these cookies is that I use ginger in a variety of forms. You get the sharp, intense bite from the fresh ginger, the fun and sugary taste from the candied ginger, and the background profile of the ginger power. Feel free to mix up the flavor profiles and use whichever ingredients fit your taste buds!

Ginger Spice Breakfast Cookies

Makes 40 cookies

Ingredients:

1 1/2 cups cinnamon apple applesauce

1/4 cup fresh ginger; chopped

2 eggs2 cups rolled oats; process into coarse flour (you want a mix of flour and whole oats)

1/4 tsp salt

1 tsp cinnamon powder

1/2 tsp ginger powder

6 stevia packets

3 vega vanilla protein and greens packets (or 3 servings of any vanilla protein powder)

1/2 tsp baking powder

1/2 tsp baking soda

1/2 cup chopped walnuts

1/2 cup ginger chips (any candied ginger works. just make sure it's coarsely chopped)

Directions:​

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

2. In a large mixing bowl, combine wet ingredients: applesauce, fresh ginger, and eggs. 

3. In a food processor, combine the dry ingredients: rolled oats, salt, cinnamon powder, ginger powder, stevia, protein powder, baking powder, and baking soda. Pulse until half of the oats are processed into a flour and half remain intact. 

4. Combine wet ingredients into food processor with dry ingredients. Pulse till combined.

5. Add walnuts and ginger chips and pulse till combined. 

6. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper or grease baking sheet. 

7. Scoop dough onto baking sheet and cook for 28-33 minutes. Baking times vary. Check cookies at the 28 mark. Pull cookies out once tops have browned and they feel slightly firm in the middle. 

I store my cookies in a ziplock in the freezer. They last for 1-2 months. To be honest, they've never lasted longer in my house. I take them on the road for on-the-go snacks. Pop 3 of them for a light pre-workout. And spread honey and almond butter on them when I'm craving something sweet.  I generally use a smashed banana base instead of apple sauce, but I wanted to come up with a slighter lower carb option. Smashed bananas work amazingly well in this recipe and add a bit more sweetness! Feel free to sub 2 very ripe bananas with the applesauce.