Looking for an on-the-go back-to-school breakfast? Make these Chunky Chocolate Chip Pecan Breakfast Cookies for a quick snack or nutritious breakfast. And yes, you CAN eat cookies for breakfast!!
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It doesn’t take a lot of effort to convince my children to eat a cookie and thankfully these Chunky Chocolate Chip Pecan Breakfast Cookies score me BIG points in the “cool mom” category. Because each little cookie includes nutritious ingredients such as shelled pecans and whole grain oats, I feel good serving them to my girls. Plus, they’re naturally sweetened with ripe bananas and use only small amount of honey to help knock the amount of sugar traditionally found in cookies way down. (Psst…want to make these but your bananas aren’t ripe? Try this clever kitchen hack to ripen your bananas in the oven in less than 30 minutes.)
NUTRITIOUS! With all of the possible ingredient options available, I chose to pack these breakfast cookies with pecans. They’re a nutrition powerhouse and have a naturally sweet, buttery taste. Pecans have plant protein, fiber and essential minerals like copper, manganese and zinc. Plus, compared to other tree nuts they’re among the highest nut in “good” monounsaturated fat. This nutrient trio of protein, fiber, and “good” fat helps to keep you feeling full longer making it ideal for breakfast with a glass of milk or 100% orange juice.
VERSATILE! In addition to these breakfast cookies, I love keeping shelled pecans in my freezer so that I always have them available to throw into salads, baked goods, oatmeal, green beans and even pasta. Their flavor and texture make them an extremely versatile ingredient that pairs well with both sweet and savory recipes.
Clever tip: Buy shelled pecans on sale and store them in an air-tight container in the freezer for up to two years. This will help preserve their texture and rich flavor. PLUS, pecans can be thawed and refrozen repeatedly without losing their flavor or texture (which is great for those mornings when we rush out the door to carpool and the kitchen doesn’t get cleaned).
LOCAL! Being an Alabama girl, pecans (pronounced by me as peh-cahns or maybe even puh-cahns but NOT pee-cans) have always been a delicious addition to our recipes. My last house (first home with Brent) was located on a former pecan grove that had been there for hundreds of years. Unfortunately, the trees had been cut down at some point in time but little did we know that some still remained. One year we were in our backyard and saw thousands of pecans that had fallen from the trees. What a harvest! Let me tell you, there is nothing quite as delicious as a freshly shelled pecan. It was such a treat! Today, more than 12 Southern states harvest pecans. Fun fact: pecans are the only tree nut in the US indigenous to America.
With all of this background, can you see why I love pecans and use them so often in my recipes? They certainly make this dietitian mommy happy!
Follow along with these pictures to see how easy how easy it is to make Chunky Chocolate Chip Pecan Breakfast Cookies:
Watch Holley and Frances share their back-to-school favorites on ABC 33/40.
Love breakfast? Me too!!
What’s your go-to on-the-go breakfast for busy mornings??
*Freezer instructions: Once cookies have cooled completely, store them in the freezer in an airtight container for up to 3 months.
*Reheating instructions: Wrap cookie in a paper towel and reheat in the microwave for 15 seconds. Repeat by 10 second intervals if not warm all the way through.
*Don’t have ripe bananas? Ripen your bananas in the oven in just 20 minutes.