Birdseed Bundles

When I was a kid my mom used to make these amazing chocolate chip oatmeal cookies. When I got older I asked her for the recipe and she said it was just the recipe on the Quaker Oatmeal box with chocolate chips added! Brilliant, Mom!

The original Quaker Oats box top recipe.

 In recent years I have grown an affinity for making healthier versions of my favorite recipes. This was one such attempt that turned out surprisingly well. My goal was to make a breakfast cookie. Something that was a quick easy breakfast solution that I could grab on my way out the door and eat in the car without difficulty. My first few attempts were not good. They were the kind of health food that gives health food a bad rap. Nuts and twigs. Gross. That's when I recalled mom's oatmeal cookies! In my new breakfast version I altered the fats and the flours to contain slightly healthier choices and added in a bunch of high-protein, high-fiber mix-ins. The result was a delicious cookie that any health nut would be happy to eat!

The cookies do, however, have a lot of seeds and nuts, and thus they earned the name "Birdseed Bundles." (Caleb and I came up with several other humorous names for the cookies, including "Prairie Patties." I think you can see why "Birdseed Bundles" won out.) Hope you enjoy them as much as we do!

Kim’s Birdseed Bundles

7 Tbsp butter
7 Tbsp coconut oil
¾ cup firmly packed brown sugar
½ cup granulated raw sugar
2 eggs
1 teaspoon vanilla
¾ cup all-purpose flour
¾ cup whole wheat flour
1 teaspoon baking soda
½ teaspoon salt
3 cups Quaker Oats (quick OR old fashioned, uncooked)
1 cup semi-sweet Ghirardelli chocolate chips
1 cup sweetened dried cherries
2 Tbsp. millet
2 Tbsp. flax seeds
½ cup slivered almonds

1.    Heat oven to 350ºF. In large bowl, beat butter, coconut oil and sugars on medium speed of electric mixer until creamy.
2.    Add eggs and vanilla; beat well.
3.    In a small bowl, combine flours, baking soda and salt. Add to wet ingredients. Mix well.
4.    With a wooden spoon, mix in oats, chocolate chips, cherries, millet, flax seeds and almonds. Dough will be quite dry. A spoonful will barely stay together.
5.    Drop dough by rounded tablespoonfuls on to parchment lined cookie sheets.
6.    Bake 8-10 minutes or until light golden brown.Cool 1 minute on cookie sheets; remove to wire rack. Cool completely. Store tightly covered. Makes about 4 dozen cookies.