Pumpkin Oatmeal Cookies
Just a few more pumpkin items. I promise. Then I’ll consider calling it quits for this year. I figure pumpkin is totally acceptable in November anyway. An easy and quick pumpkin option, which happened to be a mini experiment, was altering my favorite go to oatmeal cookie recipe. You can almost always change the add in items for cookies but changing the overall flavor can be tricky. I figured it’d be worth a shot. What’s the worst that happens… a failed cookie. It’d be a total bummer but I’d get over it and learn from my mistakes hopefully.
Thankfully I didn’t have a failure with this mini experiment. Changing the recipe to be a pumpkin cookie instead turned out perfect. The cookies end up just as soft as the original variety with a very light flavor. I chose to do an add in of dried cranberries. They gave a nice burst of fruity flavor in each bite. Pumpkin and cranberry compliment eachother very nicely, so it was an ideal choice. Dried cranberries are amazing in just about anything. If you’ve never tried them you absolutely should. Raisins would have worked just as well, but in a different way.

Cook Time: 10-15 minutes
Pumpkin Oatmeal Cookies
Ingredients:
1/2 C butter, softened
1/4 C 2 tbsp sugar
1/4 C 2 tbsp brown sugar
1 egg
1 C flour
1/2 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp salt
1 tsp cinnamon
1/2 tsp allspice
1/4 tsp nutmeg
1/4 tsp cloves
1 tsp vanilla
1/2 C pumpkin
1 C old fashioned oats
3/4 C dried cranberries
Directions:
Preheat oven to 350 degrees. In a large bowl, cream butter and sugars. Add egg, mix well. Scrape bowl as needed. Add flour, baking soda, salt and spices. Give a quick mix, then add pumpkin and vanilla. Mix well.
Top of wet mixture with cranberries (or raisins) and oats. Mix just until the add in items are spread out throughout the dough. Do not over mix.
Prepare a baking sheet with a silpat or sheet of parchment paper. Using a large cookie scoop, place drops of dough onto prepared sheet. Space dough balls roughly 2" apart. You should be able to fit at least 6 cookies per sheet.
Bake for 10-15 minutes. In my experience, large cookies are done at exactly 15 minutes. Smaller cookies will need checking sooner.
Cookies should be stored in an airtight container. Any remaining dough can be stored in the fridge for several days or frozen for several months.