Deer and Cookies

One of the things I love about living up here is that we regularly see deer in our yard. We have tall decorative grasses and they must be very tasty.

This year I managed to catch Deer on Film and I made this simple LO to remember them.


The boys and I have been searching for the perfect pumpkin cookie. We adore pumpkin. It's so delicious and pretty healthy if you don't match it ounce for ounce with sugar. We decided to try the two most promising vegan recipes we found and the winner was Oatmeal Pumpkin Chocolate Chip Cookies. WOW. Delicious, chewy, sweet, filling - JOY!

Here's the recipe:

Pumpkin Oatmeal Cookies

prep time: 15 minutes | cooking time: 32 minutes | makes 4 dozen cookies

Ingredients
2 cups flour
1 1/3 cups rolled oats
1 teaspoon baking soda
3/4 teaspoon salt
1 tsp cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon nutmeg

1 2/3 cups sugar (I use 1 ¼ C and it is very sweet)
2/3 cup canola oil (I use 1/3 C oil and 1/3 C apple sauce)
2 tablespoons molasses
1 cup canned pumpkin, or cooked pureed pumpkin
1 teaspoon vanilla

optional: 1 tablespoon ground flax seeds (these add nutrition and chewiness)

1 cup chocolate chips, walnuts or raisins

Directions
Preheat oven to 350. Have ready 2 greased baking sheets.

Mix together flour, oats, baking soda, salt and spices.

In a separate bowl, mix together sugar, oil, molasses, pumpkin and vanilla (and flax seeds if using) until very well combined. Add dry ingredients to wet in 3 batches, folding to combine. Fold in chocolate, walnuts and raisins.

Drop by tablespoons onto greased cookie sheets. They don't spread very much so they can be placed only an inch apart. Flatten the tops of the cookies with a fork or with your fingers, to press into cookie shape. Bake for 16 minutes at 350. If you are using two sheets of cookies on 2 levels of your oven, rotate the sheets halfway through for even baking. You'll have enough batter for 4 trays.

Remove from oven and place onto a wire rack to cool.