Pumpkin Spice Chocolate Chip Cookies

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These are large plump, hearty cookies! I was inspired by the recipe posted by Nele from Nutriplanet. The recipe below has been adapted.

Yield: one dozen jumbo cookies

Ingredients

See notes below. These cookies are made with whole grains and need a little extra time to prepare.

  • 1 cup pumpkin* (8 oz/230g)
  • ¼ cup peanut butter* (2 oz/60g)
  • 2 tsp vanilla
  • 1 cup old fashioned rolled oats (4 oz/112g)
  • 1 ¼ cup whole wheat flour* (5 oz/150g) see note below for gluten free flour substitute
  • ½ cup coconut or date sugar (2.5 oz/75g)
  • 2 tsp baking powder
  • ½ tsp baking soda
  • 1 tsp cinnamon
  • 1 tsp ground ginger
  • ½ tsp nutmeg
  • ½ tsp turmeric
  • ¼ tsp allspice
  • ¼ tsp cloves
  • ½ cup chocolate chips* (3 oz/90g)
  • turbinado sugar to sprinkle over top

Instructions

  1. Preheat oven to 350°F and set aside a baking sheet lined with a Silpat or parchment paper.
  2. Add to large bowl the pumpkin, peanut butter, and vanilla. Mix well to incorporate the peanut butter then stir in the rolled oats.
  3. In a smaller bowl, mix together the flour, coconut sugar, baking powder, baking soda, cinnamon, ginger, nutmeg, and turmeric. Add these dry ingredients to the wet mixture along with the chocolate chips. (The dough will be hard to mix with a spoon so use your hands and keep working the dough until there isn’t any visible flour). The dough will be very sticky. Cover this batter and leave on the counter for about 4 hours or put in the fridge overnight. See notes below.
  4. Using your hands, or a dough scooper, divide dough to make 12 jumbo cookies. (about 2 oz/56 g each) Use your hands to shape cookies into round flat disks. (If you find the dough is sticking to your hands, moisten your hands with a bit of water and shake off the excess).
  5. Gently flatten each disk with a fork. (To prevent the dough from sticking, dip fork into a glass of water and shake off the excess). Lightly sprinkle cookies with turbinado sugar. (To make sure the sugar sticks to the tops, use a water bottle and lightly mist the cookies before sprinkling with sugar).
  6. Bake cookies for 25 minutes. Remove cookies from baking sheet and cool on cooling rack.
  7. When fresh baked, these cookies will have a crispy top. After stored in an airtight container, the tops will become soft.
  8. Keep cookies in an airtight container for 3 to 4 days or freeze. (If you have an Air Fryer, cookies can be warmed up for 3 minutes at 400°F. They will be like fresh baked).

Notes

  • Whole grains like rolled oats, oat flour and whole wheat flour are full nutrients and fiber. When baking with them, we need to allow extra time. For best results, allow this cookie batter to sit about 4 hours, or as long as overnight. This will allow time for their fiber to absorb the moisture from the dough and will result in a nice manageable ball of dough. If this step is skipped, the dough will be very sticky and unmanageable. Although adding extra flour will make the dough less sticky, once the cookies are cooled, the cookies tend to be more dry.
  • Substitute pumpkin with either butternut or kabocha squash. Squash can be steamed or pan roasted. Blend until smooth before using.
  • Use a peanut butter without added sugar or oil. Can substitute with almond butter or a nut and seed butter.
  • For gluten free use oat flour, 5 oz/150g 1 and 2/3 cup. Eventhough oat flour can be substituted for wheat flour at a 1:1 ratio, it must be by weight because oat flour is lighter than wheat flour.
  • Substitute chocolate chips for raisins or carob chips.