Real Food Recipe: Health(ier) Pumpkin Cookies

I was in the mood for a treat last week, and wanted to spend some time with my kids in the kitchen. I was looking through my Pinterest boards (as always) for inspiration, and saw these pumpkin cookies that I had pinned last fall and never made. I recently discovered that I have an abundance of canned pumpkin in my basement, I think I stocked up last year and then kinda forgot about them, so pumpkin cookies it was going to be!

But, looking over the recipe I knew I needed to try to make them a bit healthier by substituting real food ingredients. Over the past few years I have become much more confident in the kitchen with making substitutions and tweaking recipes so that they fit the ingredients that I have on hand and want to use. I’ve learned that it’s not as scary as I always thought it would be, and usually the results are delicious.

Case in point, these healthier pumpkin cookies!

 Pumpkin Cookies:

Ingredients:
1/2 cup butter (softened)
1 1/2 cup sucanat (can be reduced to 1 cup)
1 egg
1 15 oz. can of pumpkin
1/2 cup yogurt
1 tsp. vanilla
2 1/2 cups white whole wheat flour
1 tsp. cinnamon
1 tsp. nutmeg
1 tsp. baking soda
1 tsp. baking powder
1/2 tsp salt

Directions:

Preheat oven to 350°

In a stand mixer, mix together the butter and sucanat sugar – it won’t really cream the way white sugar and butter do, but you want to make sure they are mixed together well and as smooth as possible. Then add the egg.

Mix in the pumpkin and the yogurt until combined and smooth.

Then add the vanilla and flour mixing together until all the flour is combined.

Finally, mix in all of the spices. The batter will be thick, but should be smooth.

Drop by the spoonful onto a baking sheet, and flatten down just a little so they’re not too thick.

Bake at 350° for about 10-12 minutes. Let cool, then ice with the Cream Cheese Icing. (recipe below!)

Cream Cheese Icing:

Ingredients:
1 – 8 ounce – package cream cheese, softened
1/4 cup butter, softened
1/2 – 1 cup sucanat powdered sugar to taste
1/2 tsp vanilla

Combine the first two ingredients in a mixer.

If you don’t have homemade sucanat powdered sugar on hand, blend the sucanat in a blender until it is a fine powder.

Slowly add in the powdered sucanat and vanilla and blend until smooth.

Store any leftover icing in the refrigerator, or just eat it with a spoon!

These cookies are kind of thick, but also kind of spongy, and because of the sucanat powdered sugar the icing is not white, but tinted a little bit brown. I think it goes well with the pumpkin for a fall-ish cookie. They have a little different consistency than regular cookies, but they are still so yummy! My kids gobbled them up and asked for more – and they can be picky about their sweets!

These would go perfectly with a Homemade Chai Tea Latte for a delicious afternoon break! 

What’s your favorite fall themed sweet treat?

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Linked to: Eco Kids Tuesday