What's Cookin'? Oatmeal Breakfast Cookie Recipe

A few years ago, the Quaker Oats company made this amazing concoction: breakfast cookies. They had oatmeal raisin and oatmeal chocolate chip, and they were delish. They don't make them any more (now they have a similar product called Oatmeal to Go or something like that), but that doesn't mean you can't enjoy something similar!

Today I baked up a batch of regular oatmeal cookies for my kids, using the same recipe I always use - it's in my Betty Crocker cookbook. Then I made another batch where I tweaked that recipe and cooked up some breakfast snacks. I figure I can give them to the kids in the morning as an alternative to regular oatmeal or pancakes; they're full of whole grain and protein (and fruit for some of them) and they'll save me some time.

In case you'd like to make them for yourself, here's my basic recipe:

Ingredients:
3/4 cup butter, softened
1 cup packed brown sugar
1 teaspoon baking powder
1/4 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon cinnamon
2 eggs
1 teaspoon vanilla
1 3/4 cups all purpose flour
2 cups rolled oats
1/2 cup chopped nuts (baker's choice on the nut variety; mine were mixed)

Directions:
1. In a mixing bowl, beat the butter on medium/high speed with an electric mixer for about 20 seconds. Add in the brown sugar, baking powder, baking soda and cinnamon. Beat until combined.
2. Beat in the eggs and vanilla until combined, then add the flour and continue to beat until you have to stop and use a spoon. Stir in the rolled oats, then stir in the nuts.
3. Drop in heaping tablespoon portions onto a cookie sheet; I can fit 9 to 12 cookies on one of my standard cookie sheets if that helps you with size proportions. Bake at 375 degrees Fahrenheit for about 10-12 minutes or until slightly brown on the edges. Allow to cool.

Alternatives:
- For my cookies, I made half the batch as described above. Then I beat a banana with my mixer in a separate bowl and stirred that in with the rest of the batch and baked a banana version. My daughter, who's 6, pronounces both pretty good but she prefers the banana-free option. This banana version would also be great with some nutmeg thrown in, but we were out.
- I think this would be awesome with chocolate chips, though since it's for an everyday breakfast in our house I left them out.
- My friend Candice suggested adding raisins or dried fruits. If I do that my kids won't eat them, but maybe yours will.
- I considered adding some applesauce or finely chopped/diced apple pieces, too.

Happy baking! If you make these, I'd love to hear your comments and suggestions for improvement. Mine turned out pretty good but I'm definitely NOT a professional baker (just ask my sister, who still laughs at me b/c I didn't know the ingredients for making buttercream icing), so I'm open to ideas! :)