Giant Breakfast Cookies
With over 4 grams of fiber per cookie, this trumps a bagel or muffin for breakfast. Moist prunes like Sunsweet Premium or St. Dalfour French Prunes will keep these cookies soft while drier ones will make a crispier cookie. I sometimes add chopped mission figs along with the prunes. And the darker the chocolate, the more health benefits. - Jenny Jones
Prep Time: 15 minutes
Cook Time: 15 minutes
Total Time: 30 minutes
Makes: Twelve
Ingredients:
- 1 cup whole wheat pastry flour
- 1 cup regular rolled oats
- 1 cup high fiber cereal (Nature's Path Smart Bran or Kellogg's All Bran Original) or wheat bran
- 3/4 teaspoon baking soda
- 1/2 teaspoon baking powder
- 1/4 teaspoon salt
- 1/2 cup vegetable oil (I use avocado oil)
- 1/3 cup white sugar
- 1/3 cup brown sugar
- 1 egg
- 1 teaspoon vanilla
- 1/2 to 1 cup chopped prunes
- 2 to 4 Tablespoons dark chocolate (I use chopped 70% chocolate)
Instructions:
- Preheat oven to 350° F.
- Line a baking sheet with parchment paper.
- Combine flour thru salt in a bowl and set aside.
- Beat oil, sugars, egg & vanilla about 2-3 minutes until thick.
- Fold in dry ingredients, prunes, & chopped chocolate. Mixture will be very thick and sticky.
- Shape into 2-inch balls and place on baking sheet (6 cookies per sheet). Using a wet fork, press down to 1/2-inch thickness.
- Bake 12-14 minutes. (for crisper cookies, press thinner and bake longer)
No whole wheat pastry flour? See Substitutions in my blog.
Notes: Store cookies separated with wax paper, refrigerated, or freeze. For more on this recipe in my blog click here.
These days I use wheat bran instead of cereal for these cookies and I prefer St.Dalfour French prunes and adjusted the recipe to reflect that.
Hello, would you happen to have the calories per cookie and fiber amount? Thank you.
Already made these breakfast cookies twice this week. I substitute egg beaters for the egg. I’ve used whole wheat flour both times, as I didn’t have the WW pastry flour on hand. Added raisins instead of prunes. My question is do you have a calorie amount per cookies? Thanks Jenny
Hi Jenny,
Firstly a million thanks for such easy, wonderful recipes ! I tried this cookie recipe but used pure wholewheat flour(no pastry) , added sesame seeds & raisins instead of prunes, used only brown sugar & some honey!!! Aaannnndddd they turned out so delicious… packed with nutrition & just so filling…..
Thank you again! 🙂
Hi Jenny! I’ve made these twice now…each time I subbed 1/2 cup natural wheat bran with the bran cereal called for. Also i used white flour ( thats all i had)and a dark chocolate bar chopped up. So delicious! I plan to keep making this! I love that they are packed with nutrients! Thanks Jenny, u rock!
Hi Jenny, you can find whole wheat pastry flour sold in bulk at large Smart and Final store. The price is so much better too!
Thanks, that’s really good to know.
Hey Jenny, i was wondering if there is a difference between Whole Wheat PASTRY flour and Whole wheat flour
Yes, they are different. https://www.jennycancook.com/flour-basics/
I have tried many recipes from the cooking shows but they never turn out. All yours that I tried did even WW bread though I have a bread maker that doesn’t work either. Thank you sooooo much
maureen
Can I use all purpose flour if I do not have pastry flour?
Yes, you can use all-purpose flour.
Delicious !!!!?
Can I use dried figs instead of prunes?
Dried figs don’t have the moisture of prunes but I guess you could try.
Thank you for the great recipe. Would it be ok if I use dates instead of prunes?
Dates may make the cookies excessively sweet.
Have you tried baking this in a 9×13 pan for bars instead of cookies? Any idea on how long to bake?
I have never tried but it sounds like a good idea. I can only guess you would bake for about 30 minutes but I would start checking at 20 and 25. Please share if you make them this way.
Greetings from the Philippines, i would just like to thank you for giving simple yet great tasting recipes…. i would also like to ask if its ok to use all purpose flour with the cookie recipe in as much as i could not find any wheat pastry flour within our province…. thanks so much in advance….
Yes, all-purpose flour can be used.
According to MyFitnessPal there are 247 calories per breakfast cookie if made according to recipe ingredients/instructions.
Every time I make these cookies I can’t believe I’m actually doing it. I always mess up somewhere. But these are the best. I announce I’m making THE cookies and I am soooo popular.
I don’t change a thing, and everyone in my family would not eat prunes if offered. So there you go.
Yum.
Did I say I get faster everytime?
I made these last weekend to have on hand for my son and his wife and 3 young sons when they came for Easter. They were so delicious and you really cannot taste the prunes. Just the yumminess. I sent my daughter-in-law home with the recipe (she and our son loved them) and some of the ingredients. These will be great for the boys when they balk at breakfast and don’t get enough fiber. They’ll think they’re getting a special treat.
Could you use bran buds in this recipe?
I’m just not sure. I looked at a photo and since they are like little balls, I’m not sure they will open up when baked. I’m sorry I am unable to say for sure. If you can find All Bran Original, it’s really good for this recipe (which I am making right now!)
I have made this recipe lots of times with both buds and originals. I like the originals better because they seem to make a lighter, crunchier cookie. But I also found that although they seem like the same productlon the outside, the buds can’t claim to be free of artificial flavouring or colour. Just another reason I like the originals better. The skinny little original sticks are clean.
Marg, you probably know the answer to your Bran Buds question by now … I just tried it, but I gave those buds a good spin in a small blender first, to break them down. The cookies are unquestionably good because Jenny’s recipe is excellent and works with many substitutions and variations; that said, I think these breakfast cookies would have been even better if I had used original All Bran, which, as processed cereals go, is a good and versatile one to have around.
I bought Bran Buds with some skepticism after going to three grocery stores and finding no All Bran! If you look on the listed ingredients, Bran Buds contain sugar (so I cut the sugar called for in Jenny’s recipe), salt, baking soda etc. They don’t compare with original All Bran and I will Never buy Bran Buds again.
But, the cookies are tasty (just made a half batch), munching one with tea right now. Hope that helps.
I love your recipe , I made this chewy yummy breakfast cookies they came out gr8t ! Thanks , but just wanted to know how many calories is each cookie if possible !
I’m sorry I don’t count calories so I’m not able to say.
Thank u . I still love it n keep eating it ! I can’t stop ! It’s so yummy
Thanks Jenny I tried a lot of your recipes , and all turned out soo good ! Love watching you
Lol, counting calories is so outdated! Just eat and let live. That’s what I say. Thank you Jenny for all the delicious recipes.
Stupid reply re sugar. If I are going to have a blog research info!
I’ve made this twice in the last week, and it’s awesome. I subbed some of the whole wheat flour with almond meal and used only half the amount of sweetener (1/3 cup maple syrup) called. Plus, I added walnuts and some coconut powder just because …. The neat thing about this cookie is that it’s customizable, just like homemade granola.
These cookies are great! I made them with whole wheat flour (not pastry flour) and added 1/3 cup of maple syrup only. That was sweet enough!
I made them this morning too – I love this cookie!
Making them for the second time they are great.
Made the no knead bread, rolls, and just finished eating the blueberry pancakes …’molto delizioso’! I want to make these with a few alterations. Would it be OK to use Sprouted Ancient Maze flakes for the cereal, coconut sugar in place of the white and brown sugar, and since my digestion and prunes don’t get along, use turkish apricots instead…I’m addicted to them. 🙂
Your alterations sound like they will work. The prunes I use are very moist so the cookies may not be as soft but it sounds like they will taste good and may be little crispier. I hope they turn out – let me know.
Found the whole wheat pastry flour at whole foods. Just made my first batch of these. They are dee-lish. So happy I have a healthy cookie recipe. Won’t be buying store bought cookies anymore:)
Where do you buy whole wheat pastry flour?
Looked in a few grocery stores and no one carries it. Can regular whole wheat flour substitute?
My grocery stores here in Los Angeles carry it (Bob’s Red Mill brand) as well Whole Foods. If your grocer does not have it, you could probably find it at a health food store. It’s worth searching for and I know you can get it online. I use it in most of my baking including the new and improved lemon brownies (see my blog posting today). It’s a much finer grind than regular whole wheat flour so you get a much lighter baked good than you would with regular whole wheat flour.
These sound great – and easy too. Do you think dates – rather than prunes – would work in these cookies? I really dislike prunes. 🙁
You could try dates but they have a lot of sugar – twice as much as prunes so you may need to reduce the sugar to 1/4 cup of each white and brown. They also may not provide as much moisture as the prunes. My personal second choice would be dried mission figs because they are moist and chewy and have a rich flavor. I can tell you that the chocolate flavor overpowers the prunes in this cookie and I believe prunes have the most immune-boosting properties.