Apple and Cranberry Breakfast Cookies

Makes 10-12 large cookies

There’s a lot of things I love about blogging but one of the things is the wonderful people it’s brought into my life. I started following Mona on Instagram after she emailed me on thyroid related business and it turns out she is a baker extraordinaire. Her IG feed is so pretty and so delicious and it wasn’t long before I was begging her to send me some of her recipes which she very kindly did. I actually have a folder of recipes “Mona’s to Make” but these cookies are first up, and let me tell you they did not disappoint. Here’s Mona’s cookies – it was love at first sight…

I guess they get the name Breakfast Cookies because they’re jam packed with fresh and dried fruit and oats too, plus some value added LSA, but to be honest, they’re so yummy, they’re delicious whatever time of day you choose to eat them. You can also pimp these babies up with your favourite nuts or seeds for an extra nutritional boost. These cookies are soft and chewy and a whole lot of yum. I love the softened apple chunks, the oaty crumb and the chewy cranberries – it’s a trifecta of tastiness, I tell ya!

It was such delicious fun taste testing these cookies. I gave them to my neighbours, my friends and my workmates. Even David taste tested these with gusto because cranberries are the one exception to his no dried fruit rule.

I often try to ply David with baked goods when he goes to his work because I know that he gets so busy, he rarely eats breakfast. He never used to eat lunch either but that’s all changed since he got his lunchbox! Yay! Anyhoo, the other day, I thought I’d be one step ahead and smuggled one of these cookies into David’s laptop bag before he went to work. I rang him a few minutes later when I knew he was on the train and told him about the delicious surprise awaiting for him next to his laptop. Alas, it was he who was one step ahead, as he’d already found the cookie, thought it was left there from weeks ago and had chucked it into the garbage en route! Everyone knows there is no use crying over chucked cookies, so we had a good laugh instead. That said, I think my cookie smuggling days are over, don’t you?!

Ingredients

80g (1/3 cup) butter

140g (2/3 cup) brown sugar

1 teaspoon vanilla

1 egg

1/2 teaspoon cinnamon

50g LSA (Linseed, sunflower seeds, almonds)

75g (1/2 cup) plain flour

1/4 teaspoon bicarbonate of soda

150g (1 1/2 cups) rolled oats (not quick oats)

60g (1/2 cup) dried cranberries

1 apple, peeled and chopped

How to – Traditional

Heat oven to 170C/fan 150C. Line two baking trays with baking paper.
In a large bowl, combine the sugar, butter,egg and vanilla extract with a hand mixer.
Add the flour,oats, bicarbonate of soda and cinnamon and mix well.
Stir through the cranberries and diced apple.
Scoop out 10-12 equal-sized mounds – an ice cream scoop and a palette knife are the best tools for the job – and place on prepared baking sheets about 5-6cm apart. Do not flatten them.
Bake in batches for about 13-15 minutes until golden at the edges. The cookies will be too soft to lift off straight away so leave them to cool for 10 minutes on the baking trays before using a spatula to carefully transfer them to a cooling rack.

How to – Thermomix

Heat oven to 170C/fan 150C. Line two baking trays with baking paper.
Add the brown sugar, butter and vanilla extract to TM bowl and mix on speed 4 for 1 minute.
With the blades running on speed 3, add the egg through the hole in the top of the lid. This should take about 30 seconds.
Add the flour,oats, LSA, bicarbonate of soda and cinnamon. Set the dial to the closed lid position and knead for 30 seconds on interval speed.
Add the cranberries and diced apple and mix for 10 seconds on reverse speed 3 using the spatula to assist.
Scoop out 10-12 equal-sized mounds – an ice cream scoop and a palette knife are the best tools for the job – and place on prepared baking sheets about 5-6cm apart. Do not flatten them.
Bake in batches for about 13-15 minutes until golden at the edges. The cookies will be too soft to lift off straight away so leave them to cool for 10 minutes on the baking trays before using a spatula to carefully transfer them to a cooling rack.