Healthy oatmeal cookies made with quinoa, flax, oats, and naturally sweetened with honey.
Cookies for my family, not made of my family. Just to be clear.
Cookies every member of my family can eat, and Mama won’t get mad. Even the dogs!
Back when I was nursing Camille (hold me, the memories are still so vivid), I made batch after batch of oatmeal cookies. I didn't call them lactation cookies, but because they contain oatmeal, coconut oil, flax, chia and almonds, I used them as such. They were an easy cookie to stir together because the coconut oil was melted. I frequently substituted raw grass-fed butter, and sometimes, stirring the golden yellow butter was the best part of my day. Breastfeeding was so very hard and emotional for me; I know we’ve talked about this before.
While I am so joyous to be passed that phase (but serious props to Mamas who nurse in toddlerhood!), I never quite forgot about those cookies. They had something so right about them—salty, sweet (but only naturally sweetened—hooray!), and so much texture. Chocolate chips at 2am are a godsend, as well.
These days, Camille is too young to be heading off to school, but she is heading back to daycare soon. I couldn’t be more excited! This summer, I had a nanny come to my house a few days a week in the mornings so I could get some work done. I’m working on cookbook #3 right now, and I needed help. LOTSA HALP.
Part of me loved the individual attention Camille got from her nanny, but my Mama instinct knew she missed her friends at daycare.
So, back to packing lunches and snacks, I am! And you know I’m that annoying hippie Mama that won’t let her kid eat the junk food they offer at school. I’m 100% against food marketed to kids, and I don’t even care how controversial that statement is. Come at me, I dare you.
If the other kids are going to be offered sweet snacks, I want Camille’s snack to have the same appeal. She loves my recipe for homemade graham crackers, but she also really loves these cookies. They’re packed with quinoa, oats, and flax seed, and they’re only sweetened with honey. What more could a Mama want in a cookie for baby?
I pack them in these reusable snack bags. If you love honey-sweetened cookies, you would also love my peanut butter banana oatmeal cookies--they're very similar!
I use my snack bags to pack up these naturally sweetened oatmeal cookies, but I’ve also been baking up lots of treats from my good friend Michele’s new cookbook, Little Bento. I’ve talked about Michele before, and I just want to reiterate how great it is to find another Mama who is as passionate about the food that goes into her kids’ mouths as I am. Michele gets it. She invented baby food with pizzazz (she gave her babies curry!), and I’m so grateful I stumbled on her site before Camille started solids. Camille was raised on her inventive baby purees, and I swear that’s why she has such good taste now.
She has two cookbooks (Little Foodie) and now Little Bento, since her babies are grown up now. I make these spinach muffins from Little Bento a lot, and Michele is the sweetest because she’s letting me share her recipe here. Check out her cookbooks and her website (BabyFoodE.com) and please go tell her how amazing she is for leading the movement of giving kids real food to eat with real flavors.
Whew, that was a long one, wasn't it? Let's recap:
- Healthy cookies for kids made with honey, flax, oatmeal, and quinoa.
- Did you catch that announcement for my upcoming third cookbook? It's due out next Valentine's Day. More info soon. Pre-order now. I love you.
- Bright green muffins made by Michele for cramming spinach into your kids.
Family Cookies {+giveaway}
A healthy cookie recipe for kids made without refined sugars. Cookies sweetened with honey, and stuffed with oats, flax seed, and quinoa.
Ingredients
- 4 tablespoons unsalted butter, melted
- 4 tablespoons melted coconut oil
- 6 tablespoons honey
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- 1 large egg
- 1 cup white whole wheat flour
- ½ teaspoon salt
- ½ teaspoon baking soda
- 1 ¼ cup quick oats*
- ¾ cup cooked quinoa**
- ¼ cup ground flax seed
- ¼ cup chopped dried cranberries
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 375.
- In a large bowl, whisk together the melted butter, coconut oil, honey and vanilla.
- Beat in the egg, and whisk until homogenous.
- In a separate medium bowl, stir together the flour, salt, baking soda, oats, cooked quinoa, flax seed and cranberries.
- Add the dry ingredients to the wet, and stir until combined.
- Scoop rounded tablespoons onto a cookie sheet, and press flat with your hands.
- Bake for 10 minutes, until the edges start to turn golden brown and the bottoms are golden brown.
Notes
*I use rolled oats that I processed in a blender for about 10 seconds to make quick oats.
**Leftover quinoa is fine, but it must have been cooked in water, not chicken broth.
Nutrition Information:
Yield:
24Serving Size:
1Amount Per Serving: Calories: 105Total Fat: 5gSaturated Fat: 3gTrans Fat: 0gUnsaturated Fat: 2gCholesterol: 13mgSodium: 84mgCarbohydrates: 13gFiber: 1gSugar: 6gProtein: 2g
Amanda says
Hi Christina,
Thanks for the recipe! I thought your description also included almonds, chia seeds, and chocolate chips? How would I incorporate those into this recipe? Thanks!
Rose A Geib says
Signed up for Mighty Fix, Thanks for the code since I have been dragging my feet on committing to a subscription. There are so many out there, it is hard to tell what will be beneficial and what is just commercial.
Love your commitment to real food both for baby and for your site. I have been with you for a Looooong time and love watching you grow as a blogger and person. The Camille pictures also don't hurt your cause, my friend.
Watch out! Those first babies are always adorable sweet and easily convince you into that second bundle of joy!
Christina Lane says
Hahahaha, Rose. Thanks so much :)
Susan says
I just signed up for MightyFix and was thrilled to see that I could also sign up to support my local high school. A whopping 15% of my purchases will be donated to them! That's incredibly generous. I was so excited that I immediately ordered the beeswax wraps that you talked about in a previous post. Thanks for providing this excellent deal!
Christina Lane says
Thanks, Susan! Isn't that exciting? I should have mentioned that in my post. I was thrilled when the local school close to me popped up when I first registered, too! Have a great day :)
Claire says
LOVE this recipe and can't wait to make it for my toddler! And I'm with you on the "kid food" thing. Honestly, it makes shopping WAY easier not having to buy a separate pantry for him. He loves your homemade graham crackers! I take them to church...because Catholic mass with a toddler is about as fun as it sounds :)
Christina Lane says
Aww thanks so much, Claire. Oh yeah, we do Mass with a toddler, too! We started going to the Saturday evening Mass because it's 10 minutes shorter. Those 10 minutes make all the difference, hah! :)
Christopher Sorel says
yum opatmeal think i will make some with dried blueberries
Jessica says
These cookies look so good!! I'm a nursing mama now and was craving some oatmeal cookies today. Also, thanks for sharing information about Michelle and about baby foods! It seems like my little one will be eating solid foods before I know it so its nice to have resources to check out.
PS.
I pre-ordered your book today! I have your other two and am really looking forward to #3!! I hope working on it is going well and that it's not too tough to balance baby with the cookbook. I'm sending you good vibes and hope you have time for relaxation too :)
Christina Lane says
Hi Jessica! You are so sweet! And go you for being a nursing Mama! Hang in there! You can do it :) <3
Thanks for pre-ordering. You are the sweetest! <3
'tina
Jeannette says
I couldn't say no to the green bags. I take my lunch to work with me almost every single day and Ill tell ya, that's a TON of little plastic baggies that I just throw away. I use as much tupperware as I can but that doesn't always work out. I've been hesitant about the green bags because (as you said) they wear out quickly and then I have to toss them and buy more. So I'm excited to put these to the test!! And make my kitchen a little greener. Next stop: glass tupperware!
Andrea Miller says
Hi Christina! I will definitely be making these cookies for my one year old, they look so good! I love the idea of the green muffins to but I can't find the recipe- am I missing something?
Thanks for all you do, you always post the most enticing goodies!
Christina Lane says
Hi Andrea! No, I can't upload it because my recipe card is being wonky. Let me type it out for you:
Spinach Muffins
(makes 36 mini muffins)
1 cup white whole wheat flour
2/3 cup granulated sugar
2 teaspoons baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
2 teaspoons ground cinnamon
1/4 teaspoon ground cloves
1/2 cup milk
1/2 cup coconut oil (or olive oil)
1/3 cup apple sauce
8 ounces frozen spinach, thawed
2 teaspoons vanilla
1 large egg
Preheat oven to 350, and line 36 mini muffins cups with liners.
Whisk together flour, sugar, baking powder, salt, cinnamon and cloves.
In a blender, puree the milk, oil, applesauce, spinach and vanilla on high for 1 minute. Add the egg and blend for 10 seconds.
Stir wet ingredients into dry, and mix well.
Divide into muffin cups and bake for 12-15 minutes.
Andrea Miller says
Thank you so much! Can't wait to try these out!
Christine @ WRY TOAST says
brekkie cookies!!! thank you for speaking to my soul :)
Mary @ LOVE the secret ingredient says
Great recipe, kids should eat just as well as adults! Also love those beeswax wraps, I need to look into those!