Gluten Free Pumpkin Pecan Breakfast Cookies [Recipe]

OMG y'all! I found the most amazing cookie recipe ever courtesy of The Girl Who Went Paleo! These are so tasty, I can't even describe them. If you don't like pumpkin, don't be turned off, because these cookies don't even really taste like pumpkin at all. They are moist and chewy, and taste of cinnamon with nice crunchy pecans and walnuts. Superb! I am in heaven. I thought I was never going to get to eat sweets again. These are gluten free, dairy free, free of refined sugar and completely clean! Can't go wrong with that! (I, of course, made some changes to the original recipe to fit my dietary needs).

Ingredients:

• 1/4 cup canned 100% real pumpkin (not pumpkin pie mix)
• 1/2 cup "raw" almond butter
• 1/2 cup raw honey
• 2 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 1 cup oat flour (requires 1 1/4 cup oats--recipe below)
• 1/4 cup oats
• 1 teaspoon pumpkin pie spice (sub cinnamon if you don't have pumpkin pie spice)
• 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
• 1/2 cup pecans
• 1/2 cup walnuts

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
2. To make the oat flour: Take 1 1/4 cups oats and run through food processor until powder. This will make about 1 cup of oat flour. Easy peasy.
3. Combine wet ingredients in a bowl, combine dry ingredients in another bowl. Mix each well.
4. Pour the dry ingredients into the wet ingredients and combine well.
5. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper, or if you are like me and don't own parchment paper, grease the cookie sheet with cooking spray or butter or coconut oil (I used  coconut oil, naturally).
6. Plop onto the cookie sheet and flatten just a bit.
7. Bake for 10-15 minutes until golden. Remove and let cool (seriously, does anyone ever let anything cool? because I do not).
8. DEVOUR!
9. I wrapped mine individually in cling wrap and placed them in a ziplock bag in my fridge so I can grab them quickly in the mornings.

This recipe makes 9-12 cookies depending on how big you want them. I made 9 so the nutrition breakdown reflects that.

Nutrition Breakdown:
Calories: 279 per serving
Total Fat: 18g
Saturated: 2g
Polyunsaturated: 3g
Monounsaturated: 1g
Cholesterol: 0g
Sodium: 67mg
Potassium: 29mg
Total Carbs: 29g
Dietary Fiber: 3g
Sugars: 16g
Protein: 6g
Vitamin A: 17%
Calcium: 5%
Iron: 8%

Now, this is a bit calorie laden, so don't go eating a bunch in one sitting. This is a BREAKFAST COOKIE for a reason. A quick MEAL to grab when you are running late in the morning (like I am...always) so you don't miss out on breakfast--you know, the most important meal of the day... :) To put it in perspective, when I eat two protein pancakes with 1/2 cup of strawberries, and 2T of 100% pure maple syrup I am downing 336 calories, 6g of fat, 57g of carbs (37g of sugar) and 15g of protein. I think these stack up well. I like to eat my carbs in the morning and save veggies and protein for the evening (although I will admit I had one of these tonight as dessert straight from the oven. WHAT?! I had to taste test them in order to blog about them, right? Plus I had the leftover calories to spare because I KILLED my workout this afternoon), so I believe this is a great start to any day! PLUS, it is really filling. I'm stuffed right now and I ate one well after dinner.

UPDATE 1/10/12
I cannot keep my husband out of these things. He is obsessed with these cookies! Thought I'd share! :)