Whole Foods is the hero of my weekend. Of my month, actually. Lately, I’ve had so many pumpkin recipe ideas but every time I would go to my local food stores, there was no canned pumpkin to be found. And then I went to Whole Foods yesterday and they actually had it! I was so excited, i quickly grabbed four cans, found Steve, and sang him a song about canned pumpkin. He’s a good sport about me embarrassing him in public. As soon as I got home I pre-heated my oven and got to work! This is the best smelling and tasting batter I have ever had. Very pumpkin-y. All was going well until I realized that the bag I keep my oats in had a small hole in it and they had gone a bit stale. Of course I realized this after I had already added them to the batter. Grr. But, as they sat and marinated in the batter they softened back up a bit. The balance in my life was restored 
Pumpkin Oatmeal Chocolate Chip Cookies
Yield: 24 cookies
Ingredients:
1 can pumpkin puree
1/2 cup organic brown sugar
3 tbsp earth balance (or margarine)
1/4 cup maple syrup
1 tsp vanilla
1 flax egg (1 tbsp ground flax, 3 tbsp water)
1 1/3 cup whole wheat flour
2 cups rolled oats
1 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp salt
1/2 cup dark chocolate chips (try for at least 70%)
Preheat oven to 350F. Prepare flax egg and set aside. In a large mixing bowl, combine the pumpkin, brown sugar, earth balance, vanilla, and maple syrup and beat using stand or hand mixer. Add the flax egg last. Place all dry ingredients in a medium bowl and mix until well incorporated. Slowly add dry ingredients to the batter and beat until everything is mixed well. Add chocolate chips last, stirring them in with a spoon. Use a large spoon to drop batter onto greased cookie sheets. Cook for about 12-14 minutes.
These came out really soft, fluffy, and almost muffin-like. The absolute perfect pumpkin cookie that would be so good dipped in milk or your morning coffee. Now I have way too many cookies for just Steve and I, so I’m going to have to pawn them off on some unsuspecting people. Have a good Monday!
Any of you out there having trouble finding pumpkin this year?
