Morning Cookies for the Backpack

Zoë François’s new book Zoë Bakes Cookies seemed to arrive just in time…

The days are getting shorter, the air is getting crisper, and as hard as it is to say goodbye to summer, I can’t help but feel excitement for turning on the oven and infusing my home with braises and bakes. And Zoë François, the Minnesota-based pastry chef and teacher, is the one I want standing next to me in the kitchen while that happens.

Zoë Bakes Cookies is every bit as warm and personal as her last book, Zoë Bakes Cakes, tracing her love story with cookies from Brooklyn (where she’d visit Jewish bakeries on the Brighton Beach boardwalk with her two great aunts), to her sweets-loving Bubbe and Granny Neal, to the Vermont “carob-studded” commune where she grew up coveting the verboten Oreos in her friends’ lunchboxes, to the cookie cart she started in Vermont in the 1980s. The book is a nod to nostalgia, and every recipe feels comforting and also — because it’s Zoë — the best version of itself. Think: Black and White Cookies, Zoë’s Perfect Chocolate Chip Cookies, Cocoa Nutella Brownies, and these Morning Cookies, which Zoë describes as having “all the flavor of muesli breakfast cereal” and “perfect for packing in a backpack when you’re heading to soccer practice.” I’m making them first.

Morning Cookies
From Zoë Bakes Cookies, by Zoë François
Vegan, Dairy-Free

2 cups/200g rolled oats
1/2 cup/70g whole-wheat flour
1/3 cup/40g loosely packed unsweetened shredded coconut
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1 pinch kosher salt
1/2 cup/90g carob or bittersweet chocolate chips (mini is best)
1/2 cup/60g chopped walnuts, pecans, or cashews, lightly toasted
1/4 cup/35g pepitas (shelled pumpkin seeds), lightly toasted
1/4 cup/35g raisins or craisins
2 tablespoons currants
3/4 cup/180g mashed ripe banana (1 large)
2 teaspoons pure vanilla extract
1/3 cup/126g honey (or pure maple syrup for a vegan option)
2/3 cup/150g coconut oil, melted

Preheat the oven to 375°F/190°C. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper.

In a medium bowl, whisk together the oats, whole-wheat flour, coconut, baking soda, and salt. Using a stiff rubber spatula, mix in the carob, nuts, pipits, dried fruit, banana, vanilla, honey, and coconut oil until well combined. Allow to sit for 15 minutes. Line two baking sheets with parchment paper.

Scoop the cookie dough into about 7 cookies using a 3-tablespoon portion scoop and arrange evenly onto each prepared baking sheet, leaving enough room to spread and flatten them slightly into thick disks. You can make the cookies larger or smaller, but it will affect the baking time.

Bake, one sheet at a time, in the middle of the oven for about 12 to 14 minutes, until the bottoms are golden brown.

Allow the cookies to cool on the baking sheet until the cookies no longer fall apart, then move to a cooling rack.

P.S. Zucchini muffins for back-to-school breakfasts and five ways to turn a rotisserie chicken into dinner.

(Recipe text copyright © 2024 by Zoë François. Photographs copyright © 2024 by Zoë François. Published in the United States by Ten Speed Press, an imprint of the Crown Publishing Group, a division of Penguin Random House LLC, New York.)