Pumpkin Oatmeal Cookies

Fall is by far my favorite season of the year. I love the crisp jacket weather and the pretty colors that the leaves become. But my favorite part about Fall is the DE-licious holiday food, pumpkin in particular. I also love the fact that pumpkin is totally healthy for you (it's loaded with vitamin A and alpha and beta-carotenes!), so you really don't have to feel guilty at all about indulging in that 2nd (or 3rd or 4th) piece of pumpkin pie :) 

I came up with these cookies because Peyton has been on a cheese diet lately, that is, he won't eat anything but string cheese. So I thought I might sneak in a vegetable and some wheat germ and oatmeal into a cookie for him. He loved it and so did we! The pumpkin makes these cookies extra moist and the handful of chocolate chips that I added give them a little extra decadence.

  

Pumpkin Oatmeal Cookies

8 tblsp. butter
1/2 c. white sugar
1/2 c. brown sugar
2 eggs
1 c. pumpkin puree
1 tblsp. honey
1/2 tsp. vanilla
1 c. white flour
3/4 c. whole wheat flour
2 c. old fashioned oats
2 tblsp. wheat germ
1 tsp. cinnamon
1/2 tsp. salt
2 tsps. baking powder
handful of chocolate chips (Optional)

Cream the butter and sugars together. Add the eggs one at a time. Mix in the pumpkin puree, honey and vanilla. In a separate bowl combine the flours, oats, wheat germ, cinnamon, salt and baking powder. Pour 1/3 of the dry mixture into the wet mixture and stir. Slowly add the rest of the dry mixture in and stir just until combined. Add the chocolate chips. Preheat the oven to 375 degrees. Stick the whole bowl in the fridge while the oven is preheating so that it firms up. Drop the mixture by spoonfuls onto a greased cookie sheet or your pampered chef stone. Bake for 13-15 minutes or until they're slightly browned. Let sit on the cookie sheet for one minute after taking them out of the oven then transfer to a wire rack to cool.

Happy Fall! :)