hey, pumpkin

The healthy ingredients in these cookies (pumpkin, oats, cinnamon) are nicely balanced with a hearty dose of sugar. I suppose you could skip the powdered sugar glaze, but why would you want to do that? I like to think that baking cookies for others earns me some karma points, so for a bonus I should forgive the Whole Foods checker who charged me for my package of organic seedless raisins but then failed to put them in my reusable shopping bag.

Iced Pumpkin Oatmeal Raisin Cookies

For the cookies:
1 c. unsalted butter, softened
1/4 c. white sugar
3/4 c. brown sugar
1/4 c. egg substitute or 1 egg
1/4 tsp. baking soda
1 tsp. vanilla
1/2 c. pumpkin puree
1 tsp. cinnamon
1/2 tsp. nutmeg
1 tsp. sea salt
1 c. white flour
2 1/2 c. old-fashioned rolled oats

With an electric mixer in a large bowl, blend butter and sugars. Add egg, vanilla, and pumpkin puree. In a separate bowl, combine baking soda, flour, salt, cinnamon, and nutmeg. Slowly add to the butter mixture. Fold in oats and raisins. Chill for several hours, preferably overnight. Maybe go for a run.



Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Drop dough onto a greased baking sheet (or use a Silpat) in golfball-sized spoonfuls. Bake 10-12 minutes or until lightly golden at the edges.

For the glaze:
1/2 c. powdered sugar
2 1/2 tsp. water

Blend powdered sugar and water in a small bowl and spoon on to cooled cookies. Adjust the amount of water for a thicker (my preference!) or thinner glaze.

Baking tunes: Pete Yorn, "Music For The Morning After."