I woke up very early this morning to get to work for a 7AM conference call; living in a time zone hours behind the rest of the world is a pain sometimes.
I still wish I were an early riser though; just before 8, I saw the sun shimmer and glow, bursting its way onto the morning sky, and thought “so that’s what sunrise looks like” I couldn’t remember the last time I’d seen a sunrise, It looked so yellow and dramatic.
Speaking of meetings… we usually have team meetings on Mondays at my place of work.
We take turns chairing these meetings, and whoever’s turn it is to chair is supposed to bring treats – usually muffins, bagels and the sort.

And for as long as I’ve been there, like clockwork I’ve always brought banana bread!
This isn’t because I love banana bread, or that I make killer banana bread; on the contrary, I don’t make it – I buy it from Capers and it’s easy.
Whenever it ‘s been my Monday to chair, I’d pop into Capers on Sunday night and pick up a loaf of banana bread, or better yet beg someone to get it for me.
I’ve literally been this lazy for years – until last month.
Maybe it was the excitement of the season but it suddenly seemed ridiculously boring to do yet another store-bought banana bread.
Perhaps I was in festive baking mood, I thought about the oatmeal coconut and almond cookies I made for the half-marathon and figured it’ll make a pleasant morning snack
This time I opted to add pomegranate molasses. I’ve been on a pomegranate molasses kick lately; I put it in everything for that sour tart taste.

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Oatmeal Coconut and Almond Cookies w/ Pomegranate Molasses
INGREDIENTS

• ¼ cup butter
• ¼ cup turbinado sugar
• 1 medium banana, mashed
• 2 tablespoon pomegranate molasses
• 1 teaspoon vanilla
• 3-4 tablespoons nut milk
• 1 cup rolled oats
• 1 ¼ cup whole wheat pastry flour (regular whole wheat flour works too)
• 1 scant teaspoon baking soda
• ½ cup unsweetened shredded coconut
• ½ cup sliced almonds
• ¼ teaspoon of salt
• ½ teaspoon of nutmeg (optional)

DIRECTIONS

1. Preheat oven to 350 F.
2. Line cookie sheets with parchment paper and set aside.
3. In a mixing bowl, cream butter and sugar with an electric mixer until light and fluffy
4. Add banana, molasses, milk and vanilla and mix well
5. Add the dry ingredients (the remaining ingredients) and mix well with a spatula.
6. The dough should stick together, depending on the kind of flour you use; you may need to add a few tablespoons of milk or flour (until cookie dough consistency is reached)
7. Place spoonfuls of cookies 2 inches apart and flatten slightly with a fork
8. Bake for 10 – 15 minutes or until they begin to brown around the edges.
9. Cool cookies in cookie sheets for about 5 minutes and transfer to a wire rack to cool completely.

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