Oat Sesame Flax Breakfast Cookies

These are large cookies with a little bit of everything but not too much of any one ingredient! They have a satisfying crunch, and go well with morning coffee or just a glass of milk. It's a way to eat a variety of nutrients, and one that tastes so good! The Durum Atta flour is essential to give the crunch to the cookies but some substitutions that can be made are to use any of the raw brown sugars (Colombian Panela, Mexican Piloncillo) for the refined brown sugar, and Palm Sugar for the white or refined granulated sugar. Caramel or toffee chips can be substituted for the chocolate. For a darker cookie, molasses may be substituted for the maple syrup but you will have to add a teaspoon of vanilla for flavor.

1/4 cup butter

¼ cup shortening

1/4 cup Almond Butter

1 cup brown sugar

¼ cup white sugar

1 egg

¼ cup water

2 tablespoons 100% Maple Syrup

½ cup Durum Atta flour

½ cup all purpose flour

1 teaspoon salt

1 teaspoon cinnamon

½ teaspoon baking soda

½ cup chopped pecans

½ cup sesame seeds

1 1/2 cup oats

½ cup oat bran

½ cup flax meal

½ cup puffed Millet

¼ cup dark chocolate chips

Directions

1.      Lightly toast the sesame seeds and chopped pecans in a large wok until the seeds take on a light brown color and smell fragrant. Watch carefully as the seeds can burn very easily!

2.      Mix all the dry ingredients in a large bowl, along with the spices, and the nuts , sesame seeds and chocolate chips

3.      Melt the butters, sugars, water, at low heat. Bring to a simmer and remove from heat. Add maple syrup and vinegar when cool.

4.      Lightly beat egg then add to dry ingredients along with cooled melted butter and sugar mixture. Mix to form a dough.

5.      Pack the dough into a ¼ cup size measuring cup that has been coated with a little vegetable oil. Invert these on to a parchment lined cookie sheet. Drop dough by rounded tablespoons on to a cookie sheet lined with parchment paper. Using the bottom of a glass that has been coated with vegetable oil, flatten the dough to form a biscuit, about 3 ½-4 inches in diameter. Bake at 350 degrees Fahrenheit for 15 minutes,. Remove, allow to cool for 10 minutes, and then put back in oven at 275 degrees Fahrenheit for another 30 minutes. Cool and store in an airtight container.

Apple Apricot Nut Tea Bread

This is a bread! It isn't a cake so don't expect a cake like texture. It's great for slicing, and toasting then spread with butter. Of course, it may also be just spread with butter and eaten with your favorite tea. It's a very mild tasting bread, but also very fragrant.

2 cups all-purpose flour

¼ cups oatmeal

¼ cup flax meal

1 cup sugar

3 ½ teaspoons baking powder

½ teaspoon baking soda

1 teaspoon salt

¼ cup plain yogurt

1 tablespoon oil

½ cup half and half

¾ cup of water

1-2 teabags of peach mango tea

1 egg

Juice ½ lemon

1/2 cup chopped pecans

1 cup finely chopped dried apricots

Upside Down Mixture

¼ cup brown sugar

2 tablespoons butter cut into small pieces

½ apple, peeled and cored, sliced into ¼ inch wedges

1 teaspoon Cinnamon

Directions

1.      Line the bottom of a standard sized loaf pan with parchment paper. Grease and flour sides.

2.      Placed sliced apples in a bowl with 1 tablespoon brown sugar and cinnamon. Mix well and arrange in bottom of pan. Make sure the apples remain within the parchment covered area. Dot with small pieces of butter. Set aside

3.      Bring the water to a boil, pour over chopped apricots, ½ cup sugar, and teabags. Add juice of ½ lemon.  Set aside

4.      Measure flour, oatmeal, flax meal, chopped pecans, salt, remaining ½ cup sugar, baking soda and baking powder

5.      Lightly whisk the ½ cup half and half, yogurt and egg together.

6.      Add the wet mixtures to the dry and mix until just combined. Make sure no islands of dry ingredients remain.

7.      Pour batter into the loaf pan, and bake at 350 degrees Fahrenheit for 55-65 minutes or until a tester inserted into the center comes out clean. Remove from oven. Allow to cool and invert bread to cool on a rack.

Apple Banana Tea Bread

This is a very easy tea bread to make. It is not too sweet and all the ingredients are mixed together in a single bowl.

2 ½ cups all purpose flour

½ cup white sugar

½ cup dark brown sugar

3 ½ teaspoons baking powder

1 teaspoon salt

3 tablespoons Greek style plain yogurt

½ cup half and half

1 egg

1 Granny Smith apple, peeled and cored

2-3 ripe bananas

Juice from half a lemon

½ teaspoon cinnamon

½ teaspoon allspice

Directions

1.      Preheat oven to 350 degrees Fahrenheit

2.      Grease and line the bottom of a 9x5x3 inch loaf pan with parchment paper. Grease and flour the sides. Cut half of the apple into thin slices and arrange at bottom of pan.

3.      Finely grate the remaining half of the apple and place in a mixing bowl, along with the juice of half a lemon. Mash 2-3 ripe bananas (enough to give you 1 cup of “mash”, and add to finely grated apple.

4.      Add the yogurt, egg, and half and half to the apple/banana mixture and set aside.

5.      Measure the flour, baking powder, salt, spices into a mixing bowl.

6.      Add wet to dry ingredients and mix using a paddle attachment on the stand mixer for about 1 minute.

7.      Pour batter into loaf pan and top with cranberries and pumpkin seeds.

8.      Bake for 55-65 minutes until top is brown and cake tester inserted into center comes out clean. Cool 10 minutes in pan, then invert on a rack to cool.