Last year I bought decorative (real) pumpkins for my front porch – an autumn staple for me. By the end of the season, I had inherited my grandmother’s vintage Presto canner and decided to can the pumpkins. Easier said than done…first peel, then chop, then can. Pumpkins are particularly thick-skinned and tough ol’ gourds. Anyway, I did it – and I think I would do it again!
With all that said I decided I needed a way to used said home-canned pumpkin… I was talking to my Mom and she said she had a pumpkin cookie recipe that I loved when I was little. I ought to note here that the whole idea of me canning pumpkin is a bit ridiculous because I do not like pumpkin pie or the pumpkin spice craze (gasp, I know). Anyway, I thought if I ate the cookies back in the day, when I was a super picky eater, I could give them a try now.
Now, I must add a disclaimer that this batch does not look like the ones my mom made back in the day…but I have diagnosed what went wrong.
Note: They still TASTE like they did back in the day – I had my mom taste test them.
The problem lies in my home canned pumpkin. It was too watery. It added too much moisture to the cookie dough.
I dumped the pumpkin out of the jar and into a strainer and let it drain while I mixed all of the other ingredients, but I think that simply wasn’t long enough.
If you used store bought canned pumpkin for this recipe your cookies won’t be as flat. If you also have pumpkin canned in Mason/Kerr/Ball jars at your house, make sure the pumpkin is well drained before you make this recipe. I would suggest perhaps letting it drain overnight – also you might want to mash the punkin’ chunks first and then let them drain overnight (as you stir/mash the chunks the cell walls burst and that releases more liquid).
While they aren’t very pretty this time, they are the same tasty!
Pumpkin Cookies
Ingredients:
2 cups flour
1 cup oats
1 tsp baking soda
1 tsp cinnamon
½ tsp salt
1 cup butter (room temperature)
1 cup brown sugar
1 cup white sugar
1 egg
1 tsp vanilla
1 cup pumpkin puree (NOT pumpkin pie filling)
Directions:
Preheat Oven to 350 degrees.
In a small bowl mix together your flour, oats, baking soda, cinnamon, and salt.
Set it aside.
In a standing mixer, or using a hand mixer, cream together the butter and sugars.
Add the egg and vanilla to the butter and sugar mixture and mix well.
Add your pumpkin to the sugar mixture as well and mix.
Combine your flour mixture to the sugar mixture one cup at a time. Fold them together before adding more.
Grease a baking sheet, then drop a spoonful of the dough onto the cookie sheet until you have the sheet full – be sure to leave some room around each spoonful for the cookies to spread. You may need multiple baking sheets.
Bake for 10-12 minutes.
Let them cook, then enjoy!
These cookies make a great addition to any fall get together or party.
The recipe does not call for any pumpkin spices other than cinnamon. If you are a PSL lover, feel free to add some nutmeg, ginger and cloves as well.
[…] Bake Pumpkin Cookies […]
Wow! We haven’t had these in years.