Coconut Almond (or Oat) Breakfast Cookies (Low Sugar)

Cheap Eat Challenge: Watch or join us as our family of 6 eats, or tries to, on $6/day.

Tonight I was going to post about hashbrowns--my mother-in-law's hashbrowns. Because she makes them perfectly. And the last time she was here she showed me how and gave me pointers and all that stuff. And tonight when I made hashbrowns, that definitely helped. But mine still weren't as good as hers. And if you're going to post about something basic like hashbrowns on a food blog, you better have some heavenly hashbrowns to brag about. So, I'll need to do a little more practice in order to get mine as good as hers and to lead you as well to hashbrown perfection.

In the meantime you're going to have to deal with another breakfast cookie. Because I promised Savannah some for lunch today. And I had a hankering for coconut and chocolate. And there was this recipe that had caught my eye. And I had some slivered almonds in the freezer that I'd bought super cheap the day before they expired last year. I'm not sure it's a good idea to buy nuts the day before they expire. I won't advocate it. But that's what I did and I'm glad because they were cheap enough not to blow the cheap eat budget (too much) and I could experiment with these cookies. Which, for the record, would have been better with fresher almonds. Que sela sela.

Note on nut substitution: If you don't like almonds or are allergic to nuts, there's a fairly simple substitution that I believe will work (it's below with the recipe), so don't run off my nut-sensitive friends.

Note on fat content: These cookies, my dears, they are not low-fat. They are not even kind of low-fat. But they have lots of good fats. In fact, they are intentionally loaded with good fats. Good fats, for those of us raised in the '80s, are fats that come from whole foods and fats that tend to have certain good qualities, like they're high in omega-3's or they're low in bad cholesterol, or they aren't oxidized. They can help your skin, hair, immune system, hormone production, provide vitamin E, and lots of other stuff. That's not the greatest explanation on the planet. I'll work on that. But, like I said, I was going to post on hashbrowns tonight.

Also, as a further note, because these are higher in fat and high in fiber, I found these more filling than the other breakfast cookies on this site. Which may be a good thing because with coconut and nuts they cost slightly more to make.

Coconut Almond Breakfast Cookies
Adapted from The Good Fat Cookbook
Makes 12
Prep time: 10 minutes
Cook time: 8 minutes
Cost: $1.60
(Coconut: .35, almonds: .40 if bought very cheaply, flour: .08, butter: .25, sugar: .15, egg: .10, chocolate (opt): .25)

Note: To grind your own almonds, put them in a blender or food processor. This is easiest with slivered almonds, but will work with any. I used my mini blender and it worked great on my mini portion.

Note on nut substitution: If you are allergic to nuts or hate nuts or were raised in the '80s and want to lower the fat content just a bit pretty please because the low-fat advocates were brutal, people, brutal in the '80s, you can substitute the ground nuts for ground oats or for another 1/2 C whole wheat flour.

1/4 C butter, melted
1/4 C light brown sugar
1/4 tsp salt
1 tsp vanilla
1 medium egg
1/4 tsp baking soda
1/2 C whole wheat flour
1/2 C ground almonds
1 C grated coconut
1/4 C bittersweet chocolate (optional, but recommended)

Mix together butter and sugar. Add salt and vanill. Add egg and baking soda and mix until nice and smooth. Add flour and almonds, mixing till just combined. Stir in coconut and chocolate chips.

Drop onto a baking sheet lined with parchment paper (lightly greased might work too, but I used parchment paper). Bake at 375 degrees for 8-9 minutes.

PRINTABLE RECIPE