"Healthy" Oatmeal Pumpkin Cookies

I found a recipe for "healthy oatmeal pumpkin cookies"  here. They sounded great, and I said to my self "maybe my Sweetie P's will love them, too!" So I baked up a batch, and they were gone in no time! 

I wouldn't really say the recipe is "healthy" ... not that I am a real expert or "into" health food. My Mom , on the other hand, has been in and out of health food since I can remember. She is always telling me about the great for you foods that she is finding out about. I have picked up a few habits from her (good and bad) over the years. I used some of them to make the cookies more "healthy" in my mind, anyway. 

I started out by using whole wheat flour instead of white, and cranberries for the chocolate chips. Don't get me wrong, I put chocolate chips in all kinds of foods to make them more fun for the kids so they ignore they have pumpkin or zucchini or beets in them. In this case, though, the cookies don't need the chocolate so all the better with cranberries! 

I also used coconut oil instead of margarine. Like I said, I'm not into health food, but I have heard some nasty things about margarine, so normally I use good old fashion butter.  My aunt was moving across country a few months ago and gave me her stash of coconut oil so I could give it a try. It is supposed to be better for you and I even heard that it can be helpful for memory. It worked out great in muffins I made with pineapple, (not to mention helped to clear up one of the Sweetie P's eczema when I slathered it on his knees) so I bought a big'ol tub at Costco. It also smells great when baking. 

Last but not least, I cut the sugar from 1 cup to 2/3 cup. With the sweet cranberries, the cookies don't need it and the Sweetie P's are sweet enough! 

So, this is what I did...

2 cups oats, uncooked (quick or old fashioned)                                                                                 1/2 cup coconut oil 

1 cup canned pumpkin   

1 egg   

1 teaspoon pumpkin pie spice

1 cup whole wheat flour

1/2 teaspoon baking soda 

1/2 teaspoon salt                                              

1 cup dried cranberries

Note: The only reason I left out the O.J. is that I didn't have any on hand. 

Pre-heat oven to 350.

I started by mixing the pumpkin, coconut oil, egg, and sugar in the mixer.  Next, add the oats and mix. 

I mixed the flour, baking soda, pumpkin pie spice and salt in s small bowl, then dumped it and a mixed well. Stir in cranberries. 

I lightly sprayed the cookie sheet with Pam, but I'm not sure you need it. Using a small scoop, I plopped a dozen cookies onto the cookie sheet and baked for 12 min or so. They were soft, but I made sure they were cooked in the middle. 

You'll notice that some of the cookies are flat, others in the hump shape of the scoop. My biggest "SP" like to have them flattened, but sometimes I forget. 

I got about 2.5 dozen for the recipe, and half were gone before  I got the last batch out of the oven!