Thank you to Baker’s for sponsoring today’s back to school recipe, Monster Breakfast Cookies. The whole family will love this fun, grab-n-go breakfast.
As a homeschool family back to school means something a bit different for us, though we still have some of the same morning challenges as public school families. Public school families are getting back in the groove of getting up and getting ready to head out the door to school. We’re actually doing that too!
When public school is back in session, that’s when homeschool families get back into field trips, visiting museums and other educational attractions that are no longer populated by the summer crowds. We’re also getting up early so we don’t miss any out of the home classes offered by different organizations, including homeschool co ops. For me, I can’t be late either because I often teach some of those classes.
I’m not a morning person so getting up and cooking up a full bacon and eggs breakfast isn’t going to happen on these days. I’ll be first to admit it. For our household, I recognize we need something quick, easy and something we can grab-n-go if we need to race out of the house fast so we’re not late.
Fruit is always a fantastic choice, but that’s not a complete breakfast. I usually keep bananas on hand at home because everyone likes them and they are perfect for baking. Check out these beautiful bright yellow bananas I found at Bakers the other day!
Breakfast cookies are quick and easy to make, plus they use up those bananas. Personally I like to eat bananas when they are bright yellow, no spots, maybe even still slightly green. I know, I’m weird, but once those brown spots start showing up it’s time to bake something with them unless the kids get to them first.
Today I’m sharing my Monster Breakfast Cookie recipe. It’s something fun to celebrate back to school, it can easily be adjusted to include different add in ingredients if you don’t want to add in the chocolate every time, they are delicious and a great way to use up those bananas!
Monster Breakfast Cookies
Start with your ingredients. I let those bright yellow bananas from Bakers ripen so they are sweeter for baking. Once they start getting brown spots you know you’re on the right track. For one batch of breakfast cookies start with one banana, mashed, two cups of rolled oats, 1/2 cup chunky peanut butter, 1/4 cup pure maple syrup, 1/3 cup dark chocolate chips and 1/3 cup M&M’s. That’s it! No extra flour, butter or sugar required.
Preheat your oven to 350 degrees and line a baking sheet with parchment paper. I tried adding all of the ingredients to the bowl at one time, and it worked for this recipe, however it didn’t mix as well and the M&M’s came out faded because the liquid nature of the maple syrup started to take the color off of them. Oops. You can do it this way, but I made them again with the same ingredients in a little different process and it worked better. I consider this the speed method if you don’t care how they look.
The prep method that works better is to start with your mashed banana and mix in the peanut butter and maple syrup until combined and smooth (not counting the peanut chunks from the peanut butter). Next stir in the oats until well combined. This is your base cookie mix. Technically you could bake them like this, but then they wouldn’t be monster cookies. When you’re ready to form your cookies fold in the chocolate chips and M&M’s.
On the parchment spoon a heaping mound where you want a cookie and form it into a cookie shape. Pressing it gently to make sure it sticks together. You can give it smoother edges or leave it a bit more rustic. Your choice. Don’t worry, these will bake up sturdy even if they don’t look that way at this point.
I can get between eight and twelve cookies out of one batch pending how big I make the cookies. I usually average about ten cookies.
Bake cookies for ten minutes, remove from the oven and allow to cool for about five minutes before removing them to a wire rack to finish cooling.
That’s it! My kids give these thumbs up and I love how filling they are. Serve them up with an additional piece of fruit and a glass of milk. It makes a great breakfast for either at home or on the run. Perfect for back to school mornings.
Ingredients
- 1 ripe banana, mashed
- 1/2 cup chunky peanut butter
- 1/4 cup pure maple syrup
- 2 cups rolled oats
- 1/3 cup dark chocolate chips
- 1/3 cup M&M's
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 350 degrees and line a baking sheet with parchment paper.
- Combine banana, peanut butter and maple syrup until mixed well.
- Stir in oats.
- Fold in chocolate and M&M's.
- Spoon mounds of mixture onto parchment where you want cookies. Use your hands to form them into cookie shapes, pressing gently to make sure they stick together.
- Bake for 10 minutes. Remove them from the oven and allow them to cool 5 minutes on the baking sheet before removing them to a wire rack to finish cooling.
What’s your favorite back to school breakfast? Share your favorites in the comments below.
Looks real yummy! Bet our kids (and their parents… ahemmmm) will be drooling all over these for back to school and beyond! Would love to feature these on #HungryFriday!!!
I would be honored to have this recipe featured in #hungryFriday. Our whole family is in love with this recipe, and the kids are thrilled they can make them (all except the baking part, and that’s the easy part for me!). Great way to get kids involved in the kitchen to help with back to school morning prep time.
Looks so yummy!!!! Any ideas or suggestion if we cant use Peanut Butter? One of the little ones is allergic! I need all the help I can get in the mornings!
If it’s a peanut allergy, but tree nuts are fine, then I suggest another nut butter, almond butter, cashew butter. Sunflower seed butter would also be a great alternative. I also know there are a lot of chocolate spreads out there. I haven’t tried any of them in this recipe, but it would be a delicious food experiment. Even if they didn’t hold up form the results would still be fantastic! I hope you can find an alternative that works for you for this recipe!
Great thanks so much! Ill give it a try and let you know!
Could you use honey instead of maple syrup?
I have never used honey in this recipe, but I don’t see why not. I think it would work great as a sweetener, and it might even work better to help bind the cookies together since it’s stickier.
I made a double batch of these, and they taste great (I added some dried cranberries and unsweetened shaved coconut), BUT they didn’t set up at all. They have baked and cooled, but are still just about as soft as before they baked. They certainly can’t be picked up and eaten like a cookie – more like scraped up and eaten with a fork or spoon. Any suggestions for next time?
With added ingredients it’s possible you need a little something more to hold them all together. Maybe try a bit more peanut butter and/or maple syrup to see if that holds them together better. When I make these they do hold their shape, but they are a bit harder to form before I bake them. It’s also possible you need to get the prebaked form a bit tighter. I hope one of these tips helps you!