Pumpkin Oatmeal Cookies with Chocolate Chips

Need an easy recipe for your left over pumpkin? I did, so I threw what I had in a cookie crumb for these pumpkin oatmeal cookies. To keep everything from being too uniform in texture I used a combination of old fashion oats and quick cooking oats. The old fashion oats are soft while the quick cooking oats provide a bit of crunch along with the toasted almonds and toffee bits. Adding to that are mini chocolate chips to make these cookies twice as irresistible.

Pumpkin Chocolate Chip Oatmeal Cookies

You may have or may not have noticed that I was a bit light on the posting last week with only three posts. But life was busy piling on me like stack of cards. So for those of you who have emailed and asked how I manage family, a full-time job and a blog. Let me tell you, I don’t always manage all three so well all the time.

But here’s what I can tell you, if you are passionate about what you do you’ll find a way. It’s not abnormal for me to run on 5 hours of sleep. I often bake or blog from 10-12pm and then wake up at 5:30am to blog or photograph before work. Then there are the weekends in which I always carve out 4 hours to do blog work. Fortunately, Matt is always great about taking Cole so that I can do that.

But last week was crazier than usual, in the midst of regular blogging, I also had two recipe development projects due and then I had corset cookies and cupcakes to make for a bachelor party.

I might have a slight problem with over committing myself. But since the bachelor party was for a co-worker, I couldn’t say no. Yes, bachelor not bachelorette party. But I’m thinking he had it right. It was him, one other guy and the rest of us were all females. How smart is that?

Hello tangent. Sorry.

My point is I don’t have a good answer for how I manage blogging time into life, other than I make time because it’s my passion and creative outlet. That said, I do wish I could squeeze running a vacuum through my home a little more often, maybe find time to blow dry my hair and maybe cultivate a fashionable sensibility beyond jeans and a tanktop.

Lucky, for me I love to bake and a good cookie like this one seems to make things like forgotten house cleaning and failed fashion inconsequential.

A few notes::

• It’s not necessary to brown the butter, but I like the added flavor it gives to cookies, so as a rule I generally brown my butter when I need to melt it.
• I added quick cooking oats to this recipe for a crunchier and chunkier cookie. If you don’t have any available, replace that portion with ¼ cup of old fashion oats (in addition to the 1 ¼ cup).
• The add-ins are optional, so take it or leave it. Additionally, your palate your preference so add in what you like. If I had dried cranberries on hand, those would have been added for a fruity layer.

Pumpkin Chocolate Chip Oatmeal Cookies

Makes 48 11/2 inch cookies | Preparation: Heat oven to 350 degrees and line bake sheet with parchment paper.

Ingredients:

• 1 ¼  cup old fashion oats
• ½ cup quick oats
• ¾ cup flour
• ½ cup unsalted butter, browned
• ½ cup sugar
• ½ cup brown sugar
• 1 cup pumpkin puree
• ¾ teaspoon cinnamon
• ¼ teaspoon nutmeg
• 1 egg
• ½ teaspoon baking soda

Add-ins:

• ¾ cup mini chocolate chips
• ¾ cup almonds, toasted
• ½ toffee bits

Instructions:

1. Add old fashion oats, quick oats and flour into a bowl and mix to combine; set aside.
2. Place butter in a skillet over medium heat and cook until butter starts to turn brown and is nutty in aroma. (To minimize the foaming, whisk continuously). Set aside.
3. Add sugar, brown sugar, pumpkin puree, cinnamon, nutmeg and egg into a bowl and mix to combine. Add in cooled browned butter and mix to combine. Add in baking soda and mix to combine. Then fold in flour and oat mixture until combined.
4. Bake cookies at 350 degrees for 10-12 minutes.