Saturday is the annual neighborhood cookie party. Every year my husband makes some delicious indulgent cookie to share while I struggle to find a palatable low calorie, low sugar cookie so I have something I can eat and on the off chance that someone else at the party may be looking for the same.
I’ve done okay the past year or two with some different nut butter cookie recipes. This year, however, I wanted something different.
I miss my great grandmother’s pumpkin cookies. My great grandmother, Lily, was the cook and baker in the family. During the holidays she would make enough pies and cookies that they could have lasted the entire year. My cousin’s went for the sugar cookies, but I couldn’t get enough of the pumpkin cookies.
Based on what I remember, those cookies were probably loaded with butter, sugar, and who knows what else. She didn’t cook from recipes so I sadly don’t have hers to do a redux version. So I decided to just give it a go based on the taste I remember and what little I know about baking.
The first bite took my right back to my great-grandmother’s house, opening the Tupperware dish lined with wax paper that held her pumpkin cookies. A yummy, happy memory indeed.
Pamela’s Pumpkin Cookies
- 1 tbsp milled flax seed
- 1 cup unbleached all purpose flour
- ½ cup oat flour
- ½ tsp baking powder
- ½ tsp baking soda
- 2 tsp cinnamon
- 1 tsp ginger
- ½ tsp cloves
- ½ tsp nutmeg
- ¼ tsp salt
- ¼ cup agave nectar
- 1 cup applesauce
- ¼ cup coconut oil
- 1 cup canned pure pumpkin
- 1 tsp vanilla extract
Preheat oven to 375 degrees. Line 2 cookie sheets with parchment paper.
Combine dry ingredients (first 10) in a large bowl, mixing with a whisk.
In a separate medium bowl, whisk together agave nectar, applesauce, coconut oil, pumpkin and vanilla extract till smooth.
Fold wet mixture into the dry ingredients until well mixed.
Using a small cookie scoop (or teaspoon) drop small balls of dough mixture on to cookie sheets, allowing about 1-1 ½ inches between each cookie. Flatten slightly with a fork.
Bake cookies for 15 minutes or until lightly browned. Remove from oven and cool on wire rack. Makes about 45 cookies.
