The Great Pumpkin Cookie
The Great Pumpkin Cookie reminds me of monster cookies – there’s oats, raisins, chocolate covered candies, and nuts (if you wish to add them!) – paired with classic seasonal flavors pumpkin and cinnamon. An October tradition in my family!
Ah, the great pumpkin cookie!
These are the cookies of my childhood Octobers. I remember my mom always made them around Halloween with holiday colored candy coated chocolates (you know which candy I’m talking about!)
Halloween is not a holiday I’m particularly fond of (anyone else?!), but these cookies are a Halloween-time tradition not to be missed in my family! Loaded with pumpkin, oats, raisins, and chocolate – well, it’s like Ina Garten says, “how bad can that be?”
The Great Pumpkin Cookie recipe disappeared from my mom’s repertoire a few years back. I kept asking her: Remember those cookies you used to make at Halloween? The pumpkin ones? With raisins and chocolate?
She remembered, but the recipe had gone missing. 😫
I did what anyone in the 2000s does when in need of assistance – I turned to Google. And sure enough, I came across a retro cookie recipe featuring Libby’s Pumpkin. My mom’s version differed slightly from the original – she put the candy in the cookies and we didn’t shape them like pumpkins or decorate them…so, I used the recipe, with those adaptations, and BINGO!
I’ve since tweaked the recipe a bit more to reduce the total amount of sugar. I’m happy to report my family once again enjoys these cookies each fall!
Can we go back to talking about those chocolate candies for a moment?
Man, did we LOVE those holiday colored candies growing up. Black and orange in these cookies for Halloween, candy dishes of red and green set out for Christmas, spring pastels tucked into our Easter baskets. Something about those holiday colored candies just seemed to taste better than any other time of the year.
Now, I intentionally avoid artificial colors in my food and don’t purchase those pretty but not so healthy candies anymore. So you can imagine how excited I was to find the naturally colored alternative candy at Trader Joe’s used and pictured in this recipe!
If you don’t have a TJ’s in your neighborhood – 1. I’m sorry and 2. Try these chocolate gems
Of course, these cookies are delicious year round, but I think they’re best when eaten in October, preferably while watching It’s The Great Pumpkin, Charlie Brown (because how much punnier can you get) or while handing out better-for-you goodies to trick-or-treaters!
- 2 cups all-purpose flour
- 1 cup old fashioned oats
- 1 tsp baking soda
- 1 tsp ground cinnamon
- 1/2 tsp salt
- 1 cup butter, softened
- 3/4 cup firmly packed brown sugar
- 3/4 cup sugar
- 1 egg
- 1 1/2 tsp vanilla extract
- 1 cup canned pumpkin
- 1 cup candy coated chocolates
- 1 cup raisins, optional
- 1 cup chopped walnuts, optional
- Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Line baking sheets with parchment paper.
- In medium bowl, combine flour, oats, baking soda, cinnamon, and salt. Set aside.
- In large bowl, cream butter and sugars with handheld mixer until light and fluffy. Beat in egg and vanilla.
- Alternate additions of dry ingredients and pumpkin to the butter mixture, mixing well after each addition.
- Fold chocolates, raisins, and nuts into the cookie dough, if using.
- For each cookie, drop about 3 tbsp dough on baking sheet. Cookies spread quite a bit, so be sure to space them several inches apart. I put 9 cookies on each baking sheet.
- Bake 20 minutes or until cookies are lightly browned.
I’m so excited for you to try this recipe! I’d love to see your finished product, so be sure to share on Instagram and tag with @heart.and.stove or #heartandstoverecipes. Happy cooking!
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