PUMPKIN OATMEAL CHOCOLATE CHIP COOKIES

If you follow my blog, you know I make a lot of cookies/bars/quick breads/muffins. There a very good reason for that. Almost four years ago, I started offering treats at my church with the coffee. I started by myself which worked out okay because most people didn't notice they were there with the coffee in the "Cafe". I missed a Sunday and people wanted to know where the treats were. Long story short after a couple of months I started asking some friends if they would help me and Cafe Treats were born. (Because I have some grandchildren who have nut allergies, I am very sensitive about that so when I started the Cafe Treats, I stipulated no nuts to be used so children wouldn't have to worry about participating. The "cooks" weren't always excited about that but I have stayed firm.)

I check each week to make sure we will have enough treats to serve the now very popular treats and if we don't I send out a chat to the group asking for additional volunteers. If we don't have seven volunteers, we will run out. (Everyone is asked to bring three dozen servings.) 

Image my surprise when I checked Saturday afternoon and only three people had signed up. I quickly sent out a chat asking for Help. I also decided I needed to make something to share myself just in case (which is what I usually do). I only host the Cafe Treats in the Cafe once a month now. After two and a half years of baking and hosting every Sunday, I took a step back. For a while the person in charge of hospitality made sure someone hosted and enough people volunteered to bake. Secretly I would check the google document to make sure enough treats would be provided. Now though I host once a month as I said and send out a message if only a few have signed up and I have been baking more.

This time of the year, I like to bake with pumpkin and last week someone brought pumpkin chocolate chip cookies which were very good and very popular. I saw a recipe for them with instant oats also in them. I thought that would taste good. 

It is amazing how delicious these cookies are with only a half a cup of brown sugar and no white sugar. I didn't this time, but next time I make them I am going to use my truvia brown sugar. I can use Zero Sugar chocolate chips if I want to make them totally sugar free. Sometimes I just go on and use dark chocolate chips because the sugar is less and say they are sugar free except for the sugar in the chocolate chips. I can also use gluten free flour and take them to my dentist office for the staff.

I really like these cookies. The recipe is different than most. They make a soft cookie but I love the oats and special dark chcolate chips. I went into detail in the recipe about my experimenting with shaping them to bake for different results. Since I only use a tablespoon size cookie scoop, the recipe made four and half dozen cookies. I kept the first twelve I made in round mounds since they look smaller but actually aren't.

Print recipe.

PUMPKIN OATMEAL CHOCOLATE CHIP COOKIES

1/2    cup light brown sugar, packed

3/4   cup (1-1/2 sticks) butter, softened but not melted

1        cup canned pumpkin puree

1-1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract

2       large eggs

1        cup flour

1        teaspoon baking powder

1/2    teaspoon salt

1        teaspoon ground cinnamon

1/2    teaspoon ground nutmeg

2       cups quick-cooking oats

1-1/2 cups dark chocolate chips

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F. Line 2 large cookie sheets with parchment paper. Set aside.

In a large mixing bowl, cream the brown sugar and butter until light and fluffy. Scrape the sides of the bowl as needed.

Add eggs one at time, mixing well after each addition.

(Mixture may not be smooth.)Scrape the sides of the bowl as needed.

Pour in the pumpkin and vanilla and mix to combine and again scrape the sides of the bowl as needed.

Combine the dry ingredients and whisk together til well mixed.

Gradually add the dry ingredients to the wet mixture mixing till wet each time.

Add the chocolate chips.

Using a cookie scoop, drop dollops about 2 inches apart. (Cookies do not spread much.) Note: I tried three different ways to do this and was happiest with the last method.

The first pan I left dollops round with the flat side down.

With the second pan, I flattened the dollop with my fingers until a flat top.

The third time, I removed the dollop from the scoop and placed it with flat side up and

then flattened. 

Bake for 12+ minutes. (I baked mine 14 minutes trying to get them to a golden brown, but didn't really. I didn't want to overbake them though. They turned out great.)

Remove from cookie sheet and cool on a wire rack.