EAT: Zucchini, Chocolate Chip Breakfast Cookies

Oh, yes. Cookies for breakfast! These are my son's hands-down, favorite breakfast. They are easy to make, protein and whole grain-packed, and super tasty. I modified this recipe that I found by replacing some of the banana with zucchini and making a few other substitutions. I have tried so many variations on these cookies--truly, you cannot mess these babies up. I use my stand mixer (I'm obsessed with it) and keep it on stir. Then, I add one ingredient at a time. Bake these bad boys at 350 degrees on an un-greased cookie sheet for about 15 minutes. If you make huge cookies, they will take longer to bake...that's probably a no-brainer! These cookies will not spread, so flattening them out a bit before baking is a good idea.

Ingredients
1/2 c. peanut butter
1/2 c. applesauce
1/2 c. brown sugar
1 egg
1 tsp. vanilla
1 cup shredded zucchini
1 banana
1/2 tsp. baking soda
1/4 tsp. salt
1 c. whole wheat flour
1/2 c. all-purpose flour
2 c. oats
small handful chocolate chips

Modifications:
Dried fruit is delicious in this recipe, as well. I generally add raisins to this recipe.
Just this week, I added a healthy dose of pumpkin pie spice. Then, I halved the amount of zucchini, added half a cooked sweet potato and a banana. (This was the best combination yet!)
Often, I chop an apple and throw that in--in place of some of the zucchini. I generally add cinnamon to that mixture. (And, probably leave out the chocolate chips)
The original recipe contains two bananas instead of zucchini.
A little orange juice and zest, along with some dried cranberries would be awesome. Reduce the applesauce if you add the juice. (I could go either way with the chocolate chips on this one!)

Let me know if you try this recipe and if you have any other ideas for changing it up.