Vegan Mofo: Pumpkin Oatmeal Breakfast Cookies Take Manhattan!

Mr. Scissors recently taught a two-day lettering workshop at The Cooper Union in New York and I thought his students could use some cookies to fuel their creativity (actually I just like an excuse to bake!). I whipped up these pumpkin/cranberry/ginger oatmeal breakfast cookies to pair with their morning cups of joe. You can find dark chocolate chips at Whole Foods; if you don't have them, you can certainly use semi-sweet chips.

Pumpkin/Cranberry/Ginger Oatmeal Breakfast Cookies (vegan)
makes 18-48 cookies (depending on size)

Ingredients

• 1 cup AP flour (You could use 1/2 white and 1/2 whole wheat or spelt.)
• 1/2 tsp salt
• 1/2 tsp baking soda
• 1 TB pumpkin pie spice
• 1 tsp cinnamon
• 1 tsp espresso powder
• 3/4 cup Earth Balance
• 1 cup brown sugar
• 2 TB liquid sweetener (molasses, rice brown syrup, agave, etc.)
• 1/8 cup vegan Greek yogurt (or regular vegan yogurt)
• 1/4 cup pumpkin puree
• 1 TB cornstarch
• 1 TB grated lemon zest (orange would work great too!)
• 1 tsp vanilla extract
• 2 3/4 cups old-fashioned rolled oats
• 1 cup of dried cranberries (You can chop them into little pieces if they are whole.)
• 1-2 cups of dark chocolate chunks (Adjust to your preference.)
• 1/4 cup chopped candied ginger
• 1/2 cup nuts of your choice (optional)

Directions

1. Pre-heat oven to 350. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper.
2. In a small bowl, mix flour, salt, baking soda, spices and espresso powder.
3. In a mixer with a paddle attachment, mix butter and sugar/sweetner, then add yogurt, pumpkin puree, cornstarch, lemon zest and vanilla.
4. Combine wet ingredients with dry mixture. Add oats until just combined.
5. Fold in cranberries, ginger, chocolate and nuts (if using).
6. For super large cookies, use a 1/4 cup scoop (bake for about 14 minutes); for large cookies, use a 1/8 cup scoop (bake about 12 minutes); for politely sized cookies, 1 TB scoop (bake about 10 minutes). Flatten each cookie to about 1/2 inch thick and shape. Cookies do not spread very much.
7. Cookies will be soft when removed from oven. Let cool on sheet and then transfer to cookie rack with a spatula.