Air fryer breakfast cookies are super easy to make and pretty healthy

I'll be upfront: I am not a sweet breakfast person. Most days my breakfast is a fried egg on a corn tortilla. Or a runny egg over leftovers. Or just eggs with hot sauce. You get the picture.

But I could see myself, every now and again, enjoying a breakfast of this cookie recipe from nourishedbynic or
Nicole Addison on TikTok. And lots of other people must enjoy it, too: It's racked up nearly 10 million views.

It's simple to make, pretty healthy, and not overly sweet like, you know, a real cookie cookie. Here's what you need to know about making it.

Ingredients

• 1/2 cup oats

• 1/2 banana, mashed

• 1 tsp baking powder

• 1/2 scoop protein powder

• 1 tbsp coconut oil

• 1 tbsp of milk of choice

• Cinnamon, to taste

• Chocolate chips, to taste

Directions

1. Mix all ingredients, except the chocolate chips, in a large mixing bowl.

2. In the basket of your air fryer, lay down a piece of parchment paper, just larger than the desired size of your cookie.

3. Form the dough into a large ball, then smash down on the parchment paper. It should be roughly half an inch thick.

4. Top the cookie with chocolate chips.

5. Air fry at 360 degrees for 10 minutes. Enjoy!

Here's how the process from Addison looked in the TikTok.

Credit: Screenshots: TikTok / @nourishedbynic

The details

Not to steal from a living culinary legend...but to steal from a living culinary legend...how easy is that? The process for making breakfast cookies was super simple. If I didn't slow down for filming and photos, I think I could have made this breakfast in like 13 minutes, just a few of which would have involved actually doing anything. Just mash a bunch of stuff together, shape it into a puck, and air fry. Simple.

The only real tip I have about the beginning of the cooking process is concerning the mashed banana. In the TikTok from Addison, she mashes the banana in the big bowl with everything else. I did this step separately and I think it helped ensure the banana spread throughout the cookie instead of clumping to oats while being mashed. Here's how all my ingredients looked in the bowl.

Mmmmmm oat mash. Credit: Mashable

From there, I cut some parchment to size, then placed it in my air fryer. I then carefully rolled and smooshed — technical cooking term — my dough into a cookie shape on the parchment. Then I topped with chocolate chips and it looked like this. Neither brain science nor rocket surgery.

Looks kind of cookie-ish, no? Credit: Mashable

Now Addison, in the TikTok comments, suggested air frying for 10 minutes at 360 degrees. My cookie turned out fine with those instructions, but the exterior was definitely a bit more charred than I would've liked. Keep an eye on your cookie because I suspect, with some air fryer models, you might want to cook for about eight minutes instead of 10. Here was my final product.

Little burnt? Sure. Tastes good? Yes. Credit: Mashable

The verdict? It's good. Not mind-blowing, but a good, quick breakfast. It tasted like baked oats in a cookie shape. And you know why? Because it was basically baked oats in a cookie shape.

But that's not a bad thing. The interior of the cookie was soft, fluffy, and tasty. There was enough sweetness from the banana and protein powder that there was no need for any added sugars. I split the cookie with (Borat voice) my wife and it was a nice midday snack.

I remain an egg-based breakfast person. You cannot change from savory to sweet overnight. There is nothing like a fried egg on a corn tortilla. Never gets old. But should I get the urge to mix things up, I could absolutely see this cookie in my future.

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