Have you ever gotten a tummy ache from eating too many cookies? I did with these pumpkin cookies from our guest author Garrett McCord. Too good. ~Elise
“What the heck?” cried out my roommate looking at the dinner table now covered in produce.
“What?”
“Just how many squashes did you buy!?”
“Only, like, seven. Enough to last us for most of fall,” I replied. And really, is seven of them too many? I think not.
Once Autumn rolls around my kitchen becomes overloaded with butternuts, kabochas, ambercups, and turban squashes. Indeed I actually have extra baskets laid out on the dining table overflowing with knobby, colorful gourds ready to be cooked.
Easy Pumpkin Cookies Recipe
Roasted, pureed, curried, it’s all good due to the playful versatility of pumpkins. Still, using them in baking is my preference; their rich flavors are tailor-made for sweets.
Now the commonplace pumpkin cookie is often too bready for me and usually covered in some sort of too-sweet glaze. That is a cookie that I generally shy away from.
But this cookie, however, is a bit different thanks to a nice dose of oatmeal. This keeps them very soft and chewy.
The use of cardamom, currants, and pumpkin seeds also gives these cookies a curiously different and delightful taste from other pumpkin cookies. It’s a combination that’s a great way to use up any pureed squash and turn out a treat that everyone will love.
Photo by Megan Keno
Great Add-Ins for Pumpkin Cookies
Swap out the pumpkin seeds and currants in this recipe for anything you like. Chocolate chips and dried cranberries, maybe?!
And hey, if you want to top them with frosting or icing, that works too. I bet they’d be great with some cream cheese frosting smeared overtop. You could even make mini-cookies and sandwich them together with frosting in between.
Freezing Pumpkin Cookies
Freeze the unbaked balls of cookie dough on a parchment-lined baking sheet until hard, then transfer them to a freezer container or bag. No need to thaw before baking; just arrange them on a cookie sheet and add a minute or two onto the baking time.
The baked cookies also freeze well! Stack them between pieces of parchment, transfer to a freezer container or bag, and freeze for up to a month.
More Great Desserts with Pumpkin
- Chocolate Chip Pumpkin Bread
- Pumpkin Cheesecake Bars with Streusel Topping
- Pressure Cooker Pumpkin Cheesecake
- No-Churn Pumpkin Spice Ice Cream
- Pumpkin Biscotti
Pumpkin Cookies Recipe
- Prep time: 15 minutes
- Cook time: 15 minutes
- Yield: Makes 4 dozen small cookies
These cookies are soft and moist. Be sure to let them cool completely and to store them in single layers separated by wax paper, or they will stick together in one large cookie mound.
If you prefer less-sweet cookies, use 3/4 cup of sugar.
Ingredients
- 1 cup butter, room temperature
- 1 cup packed brown sugar
- 1 cup granulated sugar
- 1 large egg
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- 1 cup pumpkin purée, canned or homemade
- 2 cups all-purpose flour
- 1 1/3 cups quick or old-fashioned oats
- 1 teaspoon baking soda
- 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
- 1 teaspoon ground cardamom
- 1/2 teaspoon salt
- 1 cup pumpkin seeds
- 1 cup dried currants
Method
1 Preheat the oven to 350°F.
2 Beat the wet ingredients: Beat the butter, brown sugar, and white sugar together until light and fluffy, about 3 minutes. Add the egg, vanilla extract, and pumpkin purée and beat for another 3 minutes.
3 Combine the dry ingredients: In a separate bowl, combine the flour, oats, baking soda, salt, cardamom and cinnamon and whisk together.
4 Make the cookie dough: Slowly add it to the butter mixture until just combined, being sure to scrape down the sides and bottom once or twice to ensure even mixing. Fold in the pumpkin seeds and currants.
5 Bake the cookies: Drop spoonfuls of dough on cookie sheets lined with parchment paper. Bake for 13 to 15 minutes, until dry on top and slightly browned around the edges.
6 Cool and serve: Allow to cool on the tray for a minute or two to set, then move to a wire rack to finish cooling. Cookies will keep in an airtight container for at least a week.
