Chocolate Chip Oatmeal Pumpkin Cookies

Ingredients:
6 oz semisweet chips
3/4 cup dark brown sugar
3/4 cup flour
1/2 cup old fashioned rolled oats
1/4 cup pumpkin puree
1 1/2 teaspoon vanilla
1 1/2 teaspoon baking powder
1/4 teaspoon salt
1 egg, at room temperature


Directions:
Preheat oven to 350. Line 2 cookie sheets with parchment paper. Add the pumpkin, vanilla and sugar into a large bowl. Stir together. Add the egg, beat until fluffy. Add the flour, baking powder, salt, and oatmeal. Mix until well combined. Fold in the chips. Place tablespoon sized blobs of dough on the lined cookie sheet about 1/2 inch apart and bake for 12 minutes or until they look "set" and the bottoms are just golden. Carefully pull the cookies-still on the parchment paper- onto a wire rack to cool for five minutes. Remove the cookies from the parchment paper to the wire rack and cool completely.

Yield: about 2 dozen cookies

My thoughts:

It is that time of year again; when I explore making things with pumpkin without pumpkin pie spice. Long time readers should know the deal, I like pumpkin (and other winter squash) but pumpkin pie is on my do not eat list (along with cantaloupe and ketchup, yuck). So I try to use pumpkin in other ways. These cookies are especially fun because they are both pumpkin-y and really low in fat because I didn't use butter, just pumpkin. The result? A moist, chewy cookie with a great pumpkin flavor.