Sometimes life surprises us! Look where you are today… is this where you imagined yourself a year ago? Where do you imagine yourself in a year? In five years? In ten years? While pondering the past and focusing on the future are important in our lives, so is taking time to enjoy the precious moment that we are living in today. Life changes continually, as do we! Sometimes there are challenges, and sometimes there is smooth sailing. We can choose to ride the waves, or we can choose to pause… to sit beside the sea for a while and take a refreshing deep breath.

This month I was challenged to make a dessert with walnuts, pumpkin, oatmeal, and ginger. My mind flew all over thinking of delicious sugary sweets that I could make. I am admittedly not a fan of pumpkin, so this was a challenge. I sat still for a while and took a deep breath before diving in to this creation. I decided on these chewy cookies. These are gluten-free and, I have to reluctantly admit, delicious. I was pleasantly surprised at the flavor, and they were quite popular with family! I’ve eaten more than my share, too! ENJOY!

Chewy Pumpkin Oatmeal Cookies

Recipe by AmiessaCourse: DessertCuisine: AmericanDifficulty: Easy

Servings

Prep time

minutes

Cooking time

minutes

It is so easy to make these soft chewy oatmeal cookies. A taste of pumpkin, a hint of ginger, and chunky walnuts. Delicious!

Ingredients

1 cup unsalted butter, softened
1 cup light brown sugar, packed
1 cup white sugar
1 cup canned pumpkin
1 egg
1 tsp vanilla extract
2 cups all purpose gluten-free flour
1 1/3 cup uncooked oatmeal, gluten-free
1 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp sea salt
1 tsp cinnamon, powdered
3 tsp ginger, powdered
3/4 cup walnuts, chopped

Directions

Pre-heat oven to 350 degrees F. Cover baking sheet with parchment paper.
Combine flour, oatmeal, baking soda, salt, cinnamon, and ginger in a bowl. Mix well to combine ingredients.
In separate bowl, combine softened butter, brown sugar, and white sugar. Cream together until texture is consistent.
To the butter mix, add pumpkin, egg, and vanilla. Mix well.
Add 1/3 dry flour mix to pumpkin mixture and stir well. Add next 1/3 dry flour mix and stir well. Add final 1/3 flour mix and stir until mixed well.
Add nuts and stir well.
Place heaping spoonfuls of dough on cookie sheet approximately 2-3 inches apart.
Cook 14-16 minutes. Remove from oven and let sit 1-2 minutes. Move cookies to cooling rack until completely cooled. ENJOY!

Notes

Parchment paper helps prevent sticking and makes for easy cleanup!
This recipe is easy to make without a mixer. You can use a hand mixer or stand mixer, but it is easy to whip it up with a spoon and bowl.
If you don’t have a cooling rack, no worries. Just simply let cool on the baking pan. Be careful when removing from the pan, so as not to tear the cookies.
Feel free to add different nuts, dried fruit, a sprinkle of allspice, or a bit of chopped candied ginger to the mix.