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Pumpkin Breakfast Cookies

Soft pumpkin breakfast cookies made with canned pumpkin, whole-wheat flour and warm spices.
Video

Cooking for a Crowd

Cooking for a Crowd

Use these recipe sheets to prepare for larger groups:

Kid friendly
Large platter of orange pumpkin cookies.
Prep time: 20 minutes
Cook time: 10 minutes
Makes: 48 Cookies
Nutrition Facts: View label

Ingredients

1 ¾ cups cooked, pureed pumpkin (15 ounce can)
1 cup packed brown sugar
2 eggs
½ cup vegetable oil
1 ½ cups flour
1 ¼ cups whole-wheat flour
1 Tablespoon baking powder
2 teaspoons cinnamon
1 teaspoon nutmeg
½ teaspoon salt
½ teaspoon ground ginger
1 cup raisins
1 cup chopped nuts (any type)

Directions

  1. Wash hands with soap and water.
  2. Preheat oven to 400 degrees F.
  3. In a large bowl, stir together pumpkin, brown sugar, eggs and oil. Mix well until smooth.
  4. In another bowl, stir together the flours, baking powder, cinnamon, nutmeg, ginger and salt. Add to the pumpkin mixture and mix well.
  5. Stir in raisins and nuts.
  6. Drop the dough by a tablespoon on to a lightly greased baking sheet, 1 inch apart.
  7. Gently flatten each cookie with the back of a spoon.
  8. Bake 10 to 12 minutes until tops are dry and begin to brown.

Notes

  • No raisins? Use any type of dried fruit.

Food Sensitivities and Preferences

  • For an egg-free cookie, substitute 6 Tablespoons aquafaba (the liquid drained from any canned white bean such as garbanzo beans) for the eggs. Freeze extra aquafaba for later use.
  • For a wheat-free and gluten-free cookie, substitute your favorite all-purpose gluten-free flour mix. The texture will be a little different than a cookie made with wheat flour.
  • For a soy-free cookie, avoid soybean oil.
  • For a tree nut-free cookie, omit nuts. 
  • For a peanut-free cookie, avoid peanut oil.
  • Combine any of the free-from suggestions above for the cookie of your choice. The texture and nutrient content will be different with different ingredients, but our testers liked the variations.

Comments

Recipe was such a success at the food tasting! I took the advice of a commentor and used apricots in the cookies and it was a great addition. It added some extra natural sweetness which complemented the pumpkin nicely. 

Pumpkin Breakfast Cookies is a fun recipe that I used with teaching during the fall with the youth! It was a great recipe to include pumpkin as the month was teaching about pumpkins and how you can cook with them! Everyone got to taste something we normally decorate, color or carve! Fun! 

This was overall a nice recipe -- I used dried apricots instead of the raisins, and it turned out well. Like another commenter said, their texture is that of a low-fat cookie, but they're still great!

Based on comments from tasters, we reduced the sugar in this recipe. We changed from the original amount of 1 1/2 cups to 1 cup. Our testers found them to be plenty sweet while still having a texture similar to the original. We hope you enjoy them!

Food Hero Team

During COVID, sugar was nowhere to be found. I made this WITHOUT sugar and instead replaced it with dried fruit. Golden raisins and apricots worked well. I've made it multiple times and it seems 1/2 to 1-1/2 cups dried fruit gives different levels of sweetness.  I've also replaced oil with applesauce successfully. Freezes excellent 

Hello from the Food Hero team!

Thanks for sharing your creative ingredient change. We love hearing how flexible Food Hero recipes can be, especially when ingredients are unavailable. Thanks also for letting everyone know you've found the Breakfast Pumpkin Cookies to freeze well.

Would it work if I use gluten free flour?

Hello from the Food Hero team!

We reached out to our educators around the state and at least 3 of them have tried this recipe successfully with gluten-free flour, including successfully serving them to kids!  They each added a tip to share with you as well -

  • You may notice a slightly grainy texture, that is barely noticeable, and most people will not be able to tell whether they are gluten-free.  
  • You will want to look for a gluten-free flour blend which does not have any baking powder or baking soda in it as you are then able to add whatever amount your recipe calls for.
  • Look for an all-purpose (AP) gluten-free (GF) flour. Most AP GF flours contain xantham gum, which is a binding agent and helps it to act more like wheat flour. It can be purchased separately and added to the recipe if the flour doesn't contain it or you're making your own flour blend at home. 

Hope this helps and happy baking!

I have made this cookie for public events and at home and they are always well received.  I do replace the raisins with dried cranberries and use all whole wheat pastry flour.
 

Using whole wheat pastry flour is a great tip!

Really interesting recipe! Next time I will for sure try it with oats to replace some flour like the user Gooseberry suggested. As is my daughter loved these cookies and they taste even better the next day! They do have a bit of that chewy texture a low-fat cookie usually gets but they are still super yummy and i am sure the oat sub will help with that.

I use this recipe monthly.  I add Whole oats (1 Cup) with decreasing 1/2 cup white flour and 1/2 cup wheat flour.  It helps to make the cookies and/or muffins lighter and not as heavy if you where to leave out the whole oats.  Makes great Muffins!

 

These make the morning go a little easier! I bake them the night before for a quick, portable breakfast!

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