Our focus on breakfast foods continues this week. For those crazy mornings when we're rushing off because we've been up for 2 hours but are still late, I demand the following of my breakfast foods: they have to be reasonably healthy, portable, really easy to prepare, and filling.

I say this as my daughter is slurping down her 4th bowl of Honey Combs, which is none of the above. But as much as she is reveling in the Honey Combs (we really don't buy cereal all that often, but I had a weak moment yesterday, and between the three of us, the box is almost gone) she'd prefer these cookies, had we not scarfed down every one in the first few minutes of making them. They're that good.

And unlike their salty sweet cousins, these cookies actually boast some real health benefits. They're gluten free, if you use certified gluten free oats and are into that kinda thing, and vegan, if that's more your style and you use vegan chocolate chips. They are rich in stuff that's good for you: flax, chia, sunflower seeds, almonds, oats, which means they're pretty high in protein, and omega 3 fatty oils. And they are so yummy. With fruit or a smoothie, they are the perfectly rounded breakfast, and they make a great afternoon snack.

Oh, and because they're egg free, you can enjoy the batter. Yum.

Seriously Scrumptious Breakfast Cookies

Recipe slightly adapted from Oh She Glows (a fantastic whole foods blog)

Dry Ingredients

• 1 cup gluten-free rolled oats, blended into oat flour

• 1/2 cup almond meal or almond flour

• 1/2 cup gluten-free rolled oats

• 1/2 cup thinly sliced almonds (or whole almonds pulsed in your food processor or put inside a plastic zipper baggie and pounded with the flat side of a knife)

• 1/4 cup brown sugar, Sucanat or coconut sugar

• 1/4 cup shredded coconut (preferably unsweetened, but if you have sweetened on hand, use it, and reduce the sugar by a tablespoon)

• 1/4 cup dark chocolate chips (or finely chopped chocolate)

• 2 tablespoons raisins, chopped dried apricots or dried cranberries

• 2 tablespoons sunflower seeds

• 2 tablespoons flax seeds

• 2 tablespoons chia seeds

• 3/4 teaspoon cinnamon

• 1/2 tsp fine grain sea salt

• 1/2 tsp baking powder

• 1/2 tsp baking soda

Wet Ingredients

• 1 tablespoon ground flax + 2 tablespoons water, mixed together

• 1/4 cup raw almond butter (or other all-natural nut butter)

• 1/4 cup coconut oil

• 1/4 cup pure maple syrup (or other liquid sweetener)

• 1 tsp vanilla

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 350F and line a baking sheet with parchment paper.

2. Whisk together the ground flax (I recommend grinding your own in a food processor, blender or coffee/spice grinder) and water in a small jar and refrigerate so it can gel up - about 15 minutes.

3. Meanwhile, in a large mixing bowl, whisk together all of the dry ingredients.

4. In another medium sized bowl, stir together the wet ingredients, including the flax egg, until thoroughly combined.

5. Add the wet mixture to the dry mixture and stir well until all of the dry patches are gone.

6. Portion small balls of dough (just smaller than golf balls) onto the baking sheet, spacing them a couple inches apart.

7. Bake cookies for 13-15 minutes, until light golden brown on the bottom. Cool on the baking sheet for 5 minutes before transferring to a cooling rack until completely cool. The cookies will break apart easily until cooled, so be careful.

8. Wrap up and store leftovers on the counter or in the freezer, if desired.

Enjoy!