Whole wheat, oatmeal pumpkin, chocolate chip, orange cookies [yes this is a real recipe]

Don't knock it.

I know what you're thinking, "aubrey did you mix your entire cupboard contents in this 'recipe'?"
No. I didn't. But I did keep adding things and it turned out delicious. I found this recipe and of course because I can't make any recipe without changing or adding something....I added, a lot.

Here goes. [by the way, I'm completly aware of the fact that 'pumpkin' is NOT a seasonal ingredient, my inspiration resulted from me having a can of pumpkin in my cupboard and Alex's post over at Alexandra Rose. But I'm not sorry for using it, it makes things taste great. And no, I didn't make them into jack-o-lanterns like the recipe site says to]

Whole Wheat, Oatmeal, Pumpkin, Chocolate Chip, Orange Cookies

• 2 1/2 cups flour (I did whole wheat)
• 1 teaspoon baking powder
• 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1 1/2 teaspoons cinnamon
• 1/2 teaspoon ground ginger (yuck, I did not use this)
• 1/2 cup unsalted butter, softened (my butter was salted, so shoot me)
• 1/2 cup unsweetened applesauce
• 1/2 cup brown sugar
• 1/2 cup granulated sugar
• 1 (15 ounce) can pumpkin (this is annoying, because I didn't have a 15oz can I had a 1lb 14oz can. And who knows what 15oz looks like? Thanks to my conversion chart magnet I was able to determine that 15oz of pumpkin is 1 and 7/8 cup or in a conversion we can use with our NORMAL measuring cups 1 cup, and just a hair under a cup. Makes sense right? I told you this was annoying)
• 2 large eggs
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• grated zest of 1 orange, optional (this is not optional)
• 2 cups semisweet chocolate chips
• 1 cup chopped walnuts (Remember Tyler's nut issue? The other day he announced that he really likes cashews. I almost put some in here just to be smart but I didn't want to add another thing to my title and appear ridiculous so this is optional) 
• Oats (I can't really tell you how much, if you know me and my cooking habits, I rarely measure when I cook [except for stupid must be accurate stuff like baking soda] so I just poured some in. Eyeballed to me to be about a cup) 

 

Cookies

• 9 1/2 ounces King Arthur Unbleached All-Purpose Flour
• 1 teaspoon baking powder
• 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1 1/2 teaspoons cinnamon
• 1/2 teaspoon ground ginger
• 8 ounces unsalted butter, softened
• 3 3/4 ounces brown sugar
• 3 1/2 ounces granulated sugar
• 15 ounces canned pumpkin
• 2 large eggs
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• grated zest of 1 orange, optional
• 12 ounces semisweet chocolate chips
• 4 ounces chopped walnuts

Glaze

• 6 ounces confectioners' sugar
• 1 1/4 ounces milk
• 1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract

Directions

Preheat the oven to 375°F. Spray baking sheets with cooking spray or line with parchment paper. Set aside.

1. Whisk together the flour, baking powder, soda, salt and spices in a medium bowl. Set aside.

2. With an electric mixer set on medium speed, cream together the butter and sugars. Scrape down the sides of the bowl,

3. then add the pumpkin, eggs, vanilla and orange zest, beating well to blend.

4. Slowly add the dry ingredients, beating well to blend. Stir in the chocolate chips and walnuts.

5. Using a tablespoon scoop, drop the dough onto the prepared baking sheets. Bake on the middle oven rack for about 18 minutes, until edges are lightly browned. Let cool on the baking sheets 5 minutes before transferring to racks to cool. These are awesome and Riley loves it and I don't really feel all that bad giving it to him. He was eating lunch yesterday and signed "cookie" and pointed to them. His signing is really taking off this week. He knows how to use, banana, cookie, milk, all done, more and eat. Try it and enjoy