Pumpkin Oatmeal Raisin Cookies

The first half of my holiday break was spent at home with my parents.  Sometimes I feel like Leelanau County is a whole different world in its own.  There was one run in particular that I went on that kind of sums up what I’m trying to get at; on the 7 miles of paved roads that I ran on, I saw 1 truck, 3 horse back riders, and 17 turkeys.  It’s not your typical scene, but it’s peaceful, homey, and keeps things interesting to say the least!  I spent the first half of my break basically catching up on sleep and being lazy.  It felt great, and fueled my itch to really jump back into a consistent training plan.  One other thing that I did while I was home was bake, and more specifically experiment with baking!  Here is one experiment that deemed itself successful:

Pumpkin Oatmeal Raisin Cookies

• 2 cups all-purpose flour
• 1 1/3 cups quick or old-fashioned oats (I used both)
• 1 teaspoon baking soda
• 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1 cup butter or margarine, softened (see below for substitution)
• 3/4 cup packed brown sugar
• 3/4 cup granulated sugar
• 1 cup pumpkin pie mix
• 1 large egg
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 3/4 cup raisins

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.
2. Combine flour, oats, baking soda, cinnamon and salt in medium bowl. Beat butter, brown sugar and granulated sugar in large mixer bowl until light and fluffy. Add pumpkin, egg and vanilla extract; mix well. Add flour mixture; mix well. Stir in nuts and raisins. Drop by rounded tablespoons onto prepared baking sheets.
3. Bake for 14 to 16 minutes or until cookies are lightly browned and set in centers. Cool on baking sheets for 2 minutes; remove to wire racks to cool completely.

If there is one thing that I’ve learned about my mom and cooking, it’s that she never follows the recipe.  She told me that we had a Tupper Wear of homemade applesauce in the freezer and to use that to replace the majority of the butter that the cookies called for.  Swap applesauce for butter?  Sounds interesting.  I used ¾ cup of applesauce (unsweetened) and ¼ cup butter.

Mixing it all together...

Voilà!

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The small amount of butter kept the cookies from sticking to the pan.  The applesauce kept the cookies extremely moist, and also made them a little more dense.  The pumpkin made the cookies taste delicious (because pumpkin is the best), and the oatmeal and the raisins gave the cookies a delicious hearty texture.  Not only would I call this experiment successful, but I would highly recommend this recipe to anyone who is looking for a delicious, hearty, and healthy treat to make.   

What to do with the left over canned pumpkin?  Mix it with your oatmeal for breakfast!  Delicious...

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