I know you have a leftover can of pumpkin puree that you thought you'd use at Thanksgiving and never did. The "pumpkin flavored everything" season may be coming to an end... but we aren't quite there yet, so if you're looking for something healthy yet indulgent at the same time, look no further!
Ingredients:
1 1/2 C. Rolled Oats
1 1/2 C. Flour of Choice (I used rice flour because I can buy it in bulk)
1 C. Pumpkin Puree
1/3 C. Almond Milk (Or any other non-dairy milk)
1/3 C. Maple Syrup (Or sweetner of choice)
1/2 C. Unsweetened Applesauce
2 Flax Eggs (explained below)
1/2 tsp. Nutmeg
1/2 tsp. Cloves
1 tsp. Cinnamon
1/2 tsp. Baking Powder
1/2 tsp. Baking Soda
About half-way through the process of throwing ingredients into my mixing bowl, I realized that there was no sugar in the house so I decided I was making a healthy cookie! I used maple syrup to sweeten it a tad, but feel free to add more sugar than the recipe calls for if you are looking for a dessert cookie rather than something substantial for breakfast :)
One thing you should know about my cooking is that I literally never follow the instructions that say what ingredient goes in first. Therefore, have fun mixing all of this together in whatever order your heart desires.
How to make Flax Eggs: Mix 2 Tbs. of ground flaxseed with 5 Tbs. of water and whisk in a small bowl quickly with a fork, then put in the fridge for 5-10 min and when you take it out, it will have an egg-like consistency.
If you are using a conventional oven, preheat it to 350 degrees before mixing up the batter. I like to use my convection oven because there is no preheating necessary and they cook faster.
I put one pan in my convection oven and one in the regular oven to see what the difference would be. They took 12-15 minutes in the small oven and about 15-20 in the regular oven.
As I said before, these aren't exactly the kind of cookies to serve up for dessert if you're wanting to satisfy a sweet tooth, but I was pretty impressed with how they came out for my first whack at a vegan pumpkin cookie! They almost have a bread-like fluffiness to them so I spread some peanut butter on one and ate it like toast when it was warm out of the oven. It was delicious.
I devoured three of these babies tonight and can't wait to eat them for breakfast tomorrow. I think I'm going to break some up into pieces, top it with sliced banana, some slivered almonds, and then pour some almond milk on it like cereal.
Feel free to modify the recipe and add chocolate chips, coconut flakes, or frosting! If you make them, let me know how they turn out in the comments below :)
