Recipe: Pumpkin Cookies

These are SO MUCH BETTER than pumpkin pie! It’s an American thing, so you’ll see it is in both N. American and UK baking language. One of the small shop pumpkins (not the tinies pictured!) made exactly 1.5 cups, perfect. Also, in case you don’t know – don’t ever try to eat a carving pumpkin, they are bland and stringy. Get the baking/culinary/sugar variety. And can easily be made vegan (I often just make them with nuts and no chocolate), or gluten free, but I’m no expert on that.

Robyne’s Pumpkin Chocolate Chip/Pecan cookies

1 1/2 cups (330g) mashed pumpkin*
1 cup (200g) sugar (I use golden granulated)
3/4 cup (145 ml) vegetable oil
1 tablespoon vanilla extract
1 egg
–
3 cups (400g) all-purpose flour + 2 teaspoons baking powder and 1 baking soda (bicarb)
OR
3 cups (400g) self-raising flour + 1 tsp baking powder 
–
3 teaspoons cinnamon (or combo of cinnamon and mixed spice/pumpkin pie spice) – I am heavy-handed with this cause I love it, adjust as needed.
1 teaspoon salt (omit or cut down if using self-raising flour with salt added)
1 cup (100g) quality milk or dark chocolate chips and/or crushed pecans or walnuts. 

1. Preheat your oven to 350 F /175 C
2. Combine pumpkin, sugar, vegetable oil, vanilla and egg. 
3. In a separate bowl, whisk together flour, baking powder, ground cinnamon/spice, and salt.
4. Add flour mixture to pumpkin about a third at a time and mix well. (This is an easy dough so I do it with a wooden spoon, not bothering with electric mixer).
5. Add your mix-ins (chocolate and/or nuts)
6. Drop by spoonful on greased cookie sheet and bake at 350 degrees F/175 degrees C for approximately 10 minutes or until lightly brown and firm (will vary according to your oven and the size of cookie).
7. EAT UP!

*While canned pumpkin will work, it is harder to find in the UK and, admittedly, not quite as tasty as fresh, so I stopped using it years ago. Most groceries sell small culinary pumpkins in the Autumn, and they are fairly easy to cook. Simply cut in half, scoop out the seeds (rinse them, toss them in yummy herbed salt or curry powder, and toast them!), then cut up into chunks, brush with a little oil, roast at 180C for about 40 minutes, then let cool, scoop out flesh and mash up with a fork! If mix is very wet, strain it over cheesecloth or ghetto-style like me with a paper towel and a sieve. You’ll end likely up with 2-3 cups of fresh pumpkin, which freezes well. Can also be made with butternut squash, but will make a slightly flatter cookie!