It’s the weekend after Thanksgiving, and I love Thanksgiving because not only do you get to enjoy great food with family and friends, but because it means that the next day I can start decorating for Christmas AND start baking cookies and German stollen! Begin your heavy-duty baking season this year with super easy pumpkin spice oatmeal cookies that are moist and flavorful and fill the house with the irresistible fragrance of cinnamon and nutmeg.
This cookie dough is really fast and easy to mix with no waiting for butter to soften, no chilling, and no rolling out. But the dough is very sticky, so I highly recommend using a cookie scoop (or disher as I call them) to quickly and evenly portion the dough out onto parchment. For this recipe I used my #30 disher, but we own a total of eight dishers that we use for perfectly portioning muffins, biscuits, or scones; Italian or Swedish meatballs; Blender Brazilian Cheese Puffs; chocolate truffles; and a whole slew of other foods when I want to be sure of the perfect uniform size with the least amount of fuss.
I forgot to take a photo to show it, but I wet my fingers with a little cold water and slightly flatten the dough before sliding the cookies into the oven.
With two pans in the oven at the same time, I always set a timer to rotate the pans 180° and switch them from top to bottom halfway through the baking to account for hot spots that occur in even the best ovens.
And here’s an important step in this recipe: when you pull the cookies out of the oven, let them sit for a full 5 minutes (but no longer) on the cookie sheets before using a thin bladed spatula to move them from the parchment onto cooling racks. They need that time to firm up, but if you leave them any longer, they’ll get soggy and stick to the parchment.
Let the cookies cool completely, then mix up a thin icing to provide a little extra pizzaz in the form of a fast and simple drizzle.
Share these pumpkin spice oatmeal cookies with your family, friends and neighbors, the person who shovels your sidewalk, and your faithful letter carrier to thank them for being in your life. Maximum return on investment for minimum effort!
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Thanks, and bon appetit!
- 2 cups (8-1/2 oz, 240 grams) all-purpose flour
- 2 cups (7 oz, 200 grams) old-fashioned rolled oats
- 2 teaspoons baking soda
- 2 teaspoons baking powder
- 1 teaspoon salt
- 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
- 1/2 teaspoon ground nutmeg
- 1 cup (8 oz, 227 grams) butter, melted
- 1 cup (7-1/2 oz, 213 grams) packed brown sugar
- 1/2 cup (3-1/2 oz, 100 grams) granulated sugar
- 1 cup (8 oz, 227 grams) canned pumpkin puree (not pie filling)
- 10 oz (280 grams) Nestle® Toll House® Pumpkin Spice Morsels
- 1-1/2 cups (6-1/2 oz, 180 grams) confectioner's sugar, sifted
- 1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
- 1 tablespoon water, plus more if necessary
- Preheat oven to 350° F.
- Line baking sheets with parchment paper or line with lightly greased foil.
- Combine the flour, oats, baking soda, baking powder, salt, cinnamon and nutmeg in a medium bowl.
- By hand or with a mixer, blend the melted butter, brown sugar and granulated sugar in a large mixing bowl until combined, then add the pumpkin and mix in completely.
- Gradually beat in the flour mixture, then stir in the morsels and any other add-ins.
- Drop by 2 tablespoons portions (#30 scoop) 2 inches apart onto prepared baking sheets.
- Bake for 14 to18 minutes or until light golden brown.
- Remove from the oven and leave on the baking sheets for a full 5 minutes; then remove from the parchment and place on a cooling rack..
- While cookies cool, sift the confecitoner's sugar into a small bowl, then add the vanilla and 1 tablespoon of water, adding more water, a few drops at a time if necessary, to achieve smoothly flowing icing.
- With the cookies still on the cooling rack, slide a large sheet of parchment under the rack.
- Scoop the icing into a zip-top sandwich bag then snip off a tiny corner of the bag and drizzle the icing back and forth over the cookies.
- Let the icing dry, then store the cookies at room temperature, tightly covered.
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These cookies are wonderful & I imagine sort of healthy. Pumpkin is so good for you.
They have lots of good things in them, Eileen! And I love the flavor.
These are delicious and full of pumpkin flavor. Perfect for the holidays!