Breakfast cookie

Breakfast in the woods is the best: wake up with the birds singing, the sun rising, a warm cozy jacket on to ward off the morning chill and heat up some warm things in the pot! We have enjoyed most mornings of our young backpacking career this way, with a big bowl of hot oatmeal for breakfast.

But when you have a camp to pack up and the trail to hit, adding chores such as washing a gooey pot has become less than ideal for us. So I decided to make us some no fuss granola bars last time that we went backpacking (to Comb’s Peak) and it worked out great. We still warmed a pot of water for tea but didn’t have anything to clean up and still had a warm cup to hold!

This is a recipe I adapted from one titled “Playgroup Granola Bars” that I found on Allrecipes.com. I made a lot of changes to the recipe. One change that I made was that I decreased the amount of brown sugar from 3/4 c to 1/2 c and they are still “cookie” sweet. I might even reduce it further and see how it goes. But I figure when we’re out backpacking we will likely appreciate the extra calories as well as the resemblance to a cookie- I mean who wouldn’t like to think they’re having cookies for breakfast?

Some other changes that I made was to substitute the all purpose flour with whole wheat flour (because it is far more nutritious containing B vitamins, iron, protein and fiber); I added a 1/4 c of shredded coconut and may increase that in future recipes (added for the yum factor as well as the high energy contained in the fats of coconut- should be great for hiking); I added 1/2 c walnuts as well (for the protein, iron, omega oils and deliciousness); and I included an egg substitute option for non-egg eaters.

2 cups rolled oats

1/2 cup brown sugar

1/2 cup wheat germ

3/4 tsp ground cinnamon

1 cup whole wheat flour

1/4 cup shredded coconut

1/2 cup raisins

1/2 cup walnuts, ground

3/4 tsp salt

1/2 cup honey

1 egg, beaten (or 1 TSBP flax meal mixed with 3 TBSP water)

1/2 cup canola oil

2 tsp vanilla extract

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
In a large bowl combine all dry ingredients (oats, sugar, wheat germ, cinnamon, flour, coconut, raisins, walnuts, salt). Mix well with a whip or spoon.
Make a well in the middle of dry ingredients and add wet ingredients (honey, eggs or egg substitute, oil and vanilla). Mix well with hands.
Pack tightly in a well-greased 9×12 baking pan.
Bake for 30-35 minutes or until edges are golden brown.
Let cool for 5 mins then cut into bars or squares.
Easy!