These healthy pumpkin cookies are light and cakey, but also just a little bit chewy, made with whole-grain oat flour you’d never guess they are healthy!
Hello and happy Friday, friends!
Sorry no Friday favorites post today. I didn’t really have a lot of interesting to share with you, so instead, I thought cookies would be better! You can never go wrong with cookies, right? Plus, Halloween is this weekend, so I figured you might be in the baking mood! I know I am, I’ve been alternating between these cookies and my paleo pumpkin chocolate chip cookies all month!
Speaking of Halloween, what are you guys planning for this weekend? We’re lame and leaving “the free for all bucket” outside our house. The thing is, we’ve honestly done that every year for the last 3 years, and no one ever takes all the candy or toys (we always leave toys as well, look up the #tealpumpkin project), so I’m not worried about it. We get about 10 tricker treaters anyway, so that’s probably part of it. And before you think we are super lame, 3 years ago we weren’t home, 2 years ago we had a newborn, and last year we were lame due to an earlier bedtime for a barely one toddler.
I’ve heard some people are building some crazy candy chucking devices, though. I’ve seen people set up epic shutes, socially distances candy dispensers, and tables. I admire those of you going to great lengths to make this both a fun and safe holiday for the kiddos and their families.
I’ve tried to start Halloween traditions, like watching Hocus Pocus but, Mr. Hungry is just not into Halloween. I get it. I’m not either, but I am a sucker for traditions. I’ll always remember my Grandma drinking her one beer of the year of every Halloween, so in honor of her, beer is definitely a Halloween tradition for me (except when I was pregnant with KJ.) Other than that, which isn’t much of a tradition, we don’t really do a whole lot. I wonder, though, if as KJ gets older, he will want Halloween-themed parties or not. I guess we will have to wait and see!
Now, since Halloween is only one day and these cookies are for all season long, let’s jump into how to make them! Shall we?
How to Make Healthy Pumpkin Cookies
And before we go on, I need to define what “healthy” means because these cookies still have butter and sugar in them, but they are made with whole-grain oat flour. Oats and therefore, oat flour, is incredibly nutrient-dense with immune-boosting properties and many more vitamins and minerals than white refined flour.
My goal here was to swap the flour (the major ingredient) for a healthier one while still preserving the texture and taste of a pumpkin cookie. And, although you can taste the oats a bit, these cookies are perfect!
Okay, so in a large bowl, cream your butter and sugar together, then you’ll add egg and blotted pumpkin. What the heck is blotted pumpkin?
See the top left square? I poured 1/2 cup pumpkin into a 4-5 folded over stacked paper towels, then used the ends sticking up to blot the top. You aren’t trying to remove all the liquid (impossible anyway), but you are trying to dry up the extra a bit. The pumpkin mixture should look less liquidy and more cohesive, as shown in the picture.
Once you blend those things, it’s smooth sailing from there. Mix your dry ingredients, and then slowly add them to the wet. Then, here is the crappy part, because no one likes recipes where there is a chill time, but in this one, there is an optional chill time.
I always test cookie recipes both ways, and if you don’t chill your batter for at least one hour, you’ll run the risk of super flat cookies (as I got when I didn’t chill it.) They will taste great still but have no structure to them and crumble easier. Chilling for an hour hardens up the batter, allows the oats time to absorb extra moisture, and produces a more structured cookie like you see in the photos. Up to you, sweetie!
Don’t forget to add some optional frosting if you want!
More Healthy Pumpkin Treats:
- Oat Flour Pumpkin Bread
- Oat Flour Pumpkin Muffins
- Healthy Pumpkin Muffins
- Paleo Pumpkin Chocolate Chip Cookies
- Flourless Pumpkin Bread
Healthy Pumpkin Cookies
Ingredients
- 1/2 cup softened butter
- 1 cup brown sugar or coconut sugar
- 1/2 cup pumpkin blotted dry
- 1 egg
- 1 tsp vanilla extract
- 2 cups oat flour
- 1 tbsp pumpkin pie spice
- 1 tsp baking soda
- 1 tsp salt
- 11 ounces cream cheese frosting*
Instructions
- Cream together brown sugar and butter.
- Blot 1/2 cup pumpkin dry. To blot dry, measure 1/2 cup pumpkin puree and place it into a paper towel-lined bowl. Blot the top with the remaining paper towels. The goal is to remove about half the moisture. Add blotted pumpkin to butter and sugar mixture.
- Add in egg and vanilla extra to the mixture, mix with an electric mixer until it is smooth.
- In a separate bowl, combine all the dry ingredients (oat flour, pumpkin spice, baking soda, and salt). Slowly add the wet ingredients into the dry ingredients a little bit at a time until combined.
- Place in the fridge covered for at least an hour (up to 24 hours.)
- Preheat oven to 350F and line a baking sheet with a slipmat or parchment paper. Remove dough from the fridge and make cookie dough balls with about 2 tbsps of dough for each cookie. Place at least two inches apart on the cookie dough sheet.
- Bake for 14-15 minutes; let cool 5 minutes before transferring to a cooling rack.
- Once cookies are completely cool, top with frosting (if desired.)
Notes
Nutrition
Any more naughty Healthy recipes, that won’t expand my tummy, please?