breakfast cookies and living your very best life.

I’ve been trying to ask myself the question lately: “What would make you feel like you’re living your very best life?”Not that I’m not loving my life, but you know, I always hold myself to standards that I’ve never met - and I tell myself that if I met them, I’d be happier.Some of these never-meet-able standards are waking up at 5am, exercising every morning, followed by yoga and sugar-free, spinach filled-but-doesn’t-taste-like-spinach protein shake and mediation and getting some productive work done at record speed before my son wakes up.Also, in my dream world, my week also consists of meal planning, eating mostly vegetables all day, never craving bread, consistently getting 8 hours of sleep, spending quality time with my son and never losing my patience, getting everything on my to-do list done and a home cooked dinner on the table.The real start of my every day looks like this: *Hits the snooze button.* Should I work out today? Can I move? What time is it? What time did I go to bed? *Head hits pillow for at least 10 more minutes.*Sometimes I work out, sometimes I die while working out and other days I sleep more or actually wake up early and work. I never make protein shakes in the morning for fear the sound of the blender will wake up my people so I opt for a steaming cup of hot cocoa (I know) or peppermint tea instead with toast or eggs. Totally similar to a protein shake and spinach, so winning.A month ago I felt like Beyonce and actually meal planned (although I’m sure Beyonce has someone to meal plan + cook for her) - like I put healthy salads into jars for every day of the week, labeled them and everything and ate fish as my main source of protein ALL WEEK - and felt like a complete baller. (Am I dating myself by using that term? Baller is still so funny and accurate to me. Love me.)But after this first week of meal planning I realized how much money and time I spent on meals and just as quickly as it all started, I fell right back into my terrible habit of “What should I (we) eat today? Eggs and something to do with spinach? PB and J’s for lunch? Who wants some cheese and grapes? Perfect.”I don’t really know why I am sharing all of this other than I am doing the best I can dang it.And you probably are too okay?Which is why we should eat cookies for breakfast. Maybe to celebrate the fact that we got out of bed today and made salads in a jar for a week once? Yay?Okay, good talk. Make these breakfast cookies. They’re better than spinach.Oh! And hopefully you've noticed THE BRAND NEW SITE!!!! Huge thank you to my husband and best friend ever (they're the same person luckily) for working tirelessly to get this site up and running.And thank you to all of YOU for continuing to be here. Really.See you soon. xo

gooey chocolaty + peanut buttery + oaty breakfast cookies

This is a recipe I shared with my “make a salad in a jar” healthy workshop at Anthropologie at the beginning of the year. I’ve held it hostage for a while just because it’s taken a while to perfect it and I wanted to reward my workshop attendees with an exclusive recipe.

Should I open up my own bakery someday or author a cookbook, this is definitely a cookie I want to make and serve. Think, healthy-ish granola bar but more gooey and less crunchy. I love them warm and they never get old.

• ¾ cup / 106g oat flour ((see bakers note about amount of flour))
• 2 cups / 197g gluten-free oats ((all oats are gluten free, but just make sure you’re buying ones that haven’t bee processed with wheat))
• ¼ teaspoon baking soda
• 2 tablespoons ground flax seed
• ½ teaspoon medium-grain kosher salt ((if using sea salt increase start with ½ teaspoon test and taste - you may need 1 whole teaspoon) )
• ¼ cup + 2 tablespoons / 68g unsweetened applesauce
• ¼ cup / 50g dark muscovado sugar or dark brown sugar
• 1 tablespoon maple syrup ((kinda optional))
• ½ cup / 150g peanut butter or almond butter ((salted or unsalted, but I usually use salted))
• ¼ cup / 56g coconut oil (soft or melted)
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• ½ cup / 60g dried cherries
• ⅓ cup / 438g walnuts, chopped
• 1 cup / 170g dark chocolate chocolate chips (optional)

1. Preheat oven to 350° F / 180° C and line a baking pan with parchment paper. 

2. Measure all of your dry ingredients (oat flour, oats, salt, soda + flax) and put them in a bowl and mix. In an electric mixer beat coconut oil with the sugars (brown sugar + maple syrup) and peanut butter, 5 minutes. Mix in applesauce and vanilla. Add dried cherries, walnuts and chocolate chips. Keep in mind you might have to scrape the bowl a few times to get everything mixed properly. 

3. Form balls (about ¼ cup in size) and when placed on your cookie sheet, press down, flattening the tops of the cookies just slightly. These cookies don’t move much once they are formed into balls, so I press them to flatten them out a bit. Feel free to press chocolate chips in the tops of the cookies too.

4. Bake for 12-15 mins - or a little longer if you want them a bit crispier on the outside. I like them a little underdone.

5. These cookies keep for 1 week in the fridge or 3-4 days at room temperature.

bakers notes: So, adding the right amount of oat flour here will vary based on where you live and what the weather is like that day. If it’s super humid, you may end up using the full amount recommended, I often find myself teetering on ½ cup. If you live in a dry place, you may only need a couple of tablespoons to hold it all together.

If you find that your mixture is too dry, add a couple tablespoons of your favorite milk. (Dairy or non-dairy). The mixture should stick together and be able to hold in a cookie ball shape and not be terribly crumbly. It's hard to overwork these or ruin these so don't worry too much about over-mixing.

Raisins or dried cranberries can easily replace the dried cherries here but don't have quite the same tang. Also if you’re gonna use chocolate make sure they’re dark chocolate chips - at least 70% chocolate or else the chocolate is too sweet.