Ypsi Cooks

The day before Thanksgiving we woke with a lonely cup of pumpkin puree in the fridge and cookies on our mind. Tom left for work at 7, and minutes later the kids and I went to work on pumpkin cranberry chocolate-chip cookies. While these cookies are so just-barely-sweet they might not qualify as actual cookies, they are tasty little morsels, more sweet than savory, so “cookies” they remain. Not only are they relatively healthy, they are quick and easy. We had the cookies out of the oven and everything cleaned up by 8. Even with the kids “help.” These are a perfect snack for these funny days where you're going to dinner a little later than usual and you need a little (delicious) bite to tide the kids (read: you) over. The key to their chocolaty-ness while maintaining a vague healthiness* is mini chocolate chips. You can use much less and still get that yummy chocolatey taste! “Read more” for the recipe.

*Yes, I know, chocolate is good for you, but the sugar, fat and other stuff they put in chocolate chips isn't.If you don't like the idea of oatmeal in your cookies (it certainly adds texture, which might not be what you want), add it to the liquids and let it soak for about a 1/2 hour to soften before mixing with the rest of the dry stuff or trade the cup of oats for 3/4 cup white whole wheat flour. Also, some chopped nuts in this would be lovely.

Pumpkin-Cranberry-Chocolate Chip “Cookies”

3/4 cup white whole wheat flour
1 cup old fashioned oats
1/2 t cinnamon
1/4 t ginger
pinch nutmeg
pinch salt
1/4 t baking soda

1 cup pumpkin puree (You can probably use up to 2 if you've got more left over, but you might want to up the spices and honey a bit.)
2 T melted butter
1 egg
1 t vanilla
2 heaping T honey
1/4 cup dried cranberries
1/4 c mini chocolate chips

Preheat oven to 350*. Line 2 baking sheets with silicon sheets or parchment. Mix the dry, mix the wet (including the berries and chips), mix them together. Put tablespoonfuls on the silicon, a bit apart (they don't spread too much). Bake about 12 min, rotating mid-way through cooking.

It is important to let them cool before eating. For some reason, the sweetness does not come through when they're hot.

This entry was posted on Friday, November 27th, 2009 at 11:06 am and is filed under Things we Made. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.