A gluten-free quinoa pumpkin breakfast cookie

Do you ever struggle with breakfast boredom? It hits me every few months to the extent I would rather just skip breakfast all together. Not good! Not good! I’m always on the lookout for inspiration so when a new tasty idea drifts by, it’s like winning in a scavenger hunt.

Here is one of those prizes — taste tested by Alastair — the most discerning and truthful food critic you will ever meet, especially regarding anything sweet. These cookies are sweet but rely on flavor more than sugar to make the breakfast team. They are Alastair-approved!

The recipe below is adapted from a recipe by holistic nutritionist, Leanne Vogel at Healthful Pursuit. She was working from the premise that cooked quinoa can be substituted for uncooked oats in baking. Changes I made to her brilliant creation involved more calories. Do I need them? No! But, the two grandsons are growing like weeds in an El Nino year and require densely nutritious calories.

These little gems make for clean eating. They do not crumble as readily as most cookies so consider pumpkin breakfast cookies as a possible “pumpkin travel cookie.”

Quinoa Pumpkin Breakfast Cookies Ingredients

• 1 1/2 cups cooked quinoa
• 1 cup gluten-free flour mix (I used Red Mill)
• 1/2 cup raw brown sugar
• 1/4 cup almond meal
• 1 tablespoon pumpkin pie spice
• 1 good pinch sea salt
• 1/2 cup pumpkin puree (any winter squash puree will substitute)
• 2 tablespoons melted coconut oil
• 2 teaspoons vanilla
• 1 large fresh egg, wisked well with a fork
• 2 tablespoons maple syrup

Quinoa Pumpkin Breakfast Cookies Steps

1. Preheat your oven to 350 and prepare a baking sheet with parchment paper.
2. In a medium mixing bowl stir together the flour, sugar, almond meal, spice mix, and salt.
3. Add the cooked quinoa to this dry mix and toss well until all the quinoa is coated.
4. In a smaller bowl combine the pumpkin puree, oil, vanilla, egg, and maple syrup.
5. Pour the wet ingredients into the dry ingredients, mixing just until all the dry mix is absorbed.
6. Place tablespoon-sized cookies on the baking sheet. Level them a bit with the back of the spoon. These cookies hardly spread at all so can be placed close together.
7. Bake for 25-30 minutes. The cookies should just begin to brown a bit around the edges.
8. Remove the pan from the oven and allow the cookies to cool completely before removing them from the parchment.

Store in an airtight container in the refrigerator for up to a week or freeze them. I find a nice stash in the freezer to be good travel insurance.