This is the first cookie recipe I’ve posted. I don’t bake that many cookies because they tend to be heart un-healthy, but these use minimal butter. Canned pumpkin puree replaces much of the fat, and rolled oats are always a great whole-grain addition to a cookie.
Yes, I’m at peace with the one-and-a-third cup of sugar, because this is a once-a-week treat.
Someday I’ll teach you all the underlying chemistry and science of baking – for now, sugar is more than a sweetener because it also adds moisture to a cookie. This is particularly important when removing fat, as I did here. I want the cookies to still be yummy; I’m not trying to make a sad flavorless chunk of granola here.
YAY FOR FALL AND PUMPKIN-SPICE SEASON!!! PUMPKIN-SPICE SEASON IS HERE!!!!!
Pumpkin Cranberry Oatmeal Cookies
Ingredients
- 3 tablespoon butter (at room temperature!!)
- ½ cup white granulated sugar
- ½ cup brown sugar
- 1 egg
- ⅓ cup canned pumpkin
- 1 tablespoon vanilla extract
- 1½ cups all-purpose flour
- ½ tablespoon baking powder
- ½ tablespoon cinnamon
- ¼ teaspoon nutmeg
- ¼ teaspoon ground cloves
- 1½ cups old fashioned rolled oats
- ¾ cup dried cranberries
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 350 °F . Line 2 baking sheets with parchment paper.
- With an electric mixer, cream together the room-temperature butter, granulated sugar and brown sugar for about 2 minutes, until the butter is light and fluffy.
- Beat in the egg
- Beat in the vanilla extract and canned pumpkin.
- In a separate bowl, whisk together the all-purpose flour, the baking powder and the spices.
- Add the flour mixture to the pumpkin mixture and stir together until completely blended.
- Stir in the oats
- Stir in the cranberries
- Drop teaspoonfulls of the cookie dough onto the prepared baking sheets. You'll end up with 12 cookie dough balls per sheet.
- Pop each baking sheet in the oven, one at a time. Bake for about 10 minutes (I found that it took about 12 minutes for my cookies to bake, but cookies tend to cook really fast, and it's really easy to go from "not quite done" to "absolutely torched". Keep an close eye on them after the 10-minute mark.)
