Mom’s Fabulous Pumpkin Cookies

Pumpkin cookies were my very favorite cookies growing up.  I recall walking home from school on many an autumn afternoon (or what passed for autumn in sunny Southern California), hoping that my mom had whipped up some pumpkin cookies that day.  If I was lucky, I would open the front door and be greeted by the heady aroma of pumpkin, cinnamon, and cloves.  It was autumnal bliss, I tell you.

I love these cookies so much that my mom actually mailed me some my first semester away at college.  When I offered one to my roommate, she politely declined saying she didn’t like pumpkin pie.  I assured her these were NOTHING like pumpkin pie.  They were more like having your own personal little pumpkin cake studded with butterscotchy awesomeness.

She tentatively tasted one.  Then she asked for seconds.

Now that I have my own kids, I make multiple batches of these cookies every autumn.  It has even become a Hendrickson family tradition to bake pumpkin cookies on the first day of fall, and my husband says it’s one of his favorite holidays.

In recent years, though, I noticed that my pumpkin cookies didn’t look like the ones Mom used to make.  Mine were:

• flatter and they spread more on the cookie sheet
• oranger (is that even a word?)
• stuck to my silicone baking mats (I didn’t know that was possible)
• turning a bit wet and sticky when stored in a container

Don’t get me wrong, my pumpkin cookies were still pretty good, but Mom’s were better and I wanted to figure out why.

My Quest for Better Pumpkin Cookies

At first, nothing I changed seemed to make a difference.  I tweaked brands, mixing times, and entire ingredients, yet every batch seemed to have the same issues.  My kids were delighted to be up to their ears in slightly-sticky pumpkin cookies, but I was running out of ideas.

Sometime around my fourth batch, I realized that I’ve been buying my pumpkin at Trader Joe’s lately, instead of getting good old Libby’s pumpkin from the grocery store.  I tried a can of Libby’s in my next batch, and presto!  The nicely-domed, burnt sienna brown, come-right-off-the-Silpat-and-don’t-turn-sticky-in-a-container pumpkin cookies I remembered from my youth!

My guess is that the Libby’s worked better because it wasn’t as wet as the TJ canned pumpkin.  Whatever the reason, I’ll definitely use Libby’s in the future.  But don’t worry, Joe–I still love your Parmesan cheese.  And your affordable cage-free eggs.  And those scrumdiddlyumptious chocolate star cookies you sell at Christmastime.  Mmmm . . .

Ahem–getting back to pumpkin cookies.

My mom’s recipe has two secret ingredients—one that’s delicious, and another that’s kind of weird.  Let’s start with the weird one first. . . .

Mom’s Secret Ingredient #1: Mayonnaise

Yep, mayonnaise. I didn’t see that one coming either, but it kind of makes sense because mayo is basically just eggs and oil.  You may not want that on your sandwich, but in a pumpkin cookie recipe it contributes nice moisture with no noticeable flavor.  When I told my mayonnaise-hating newlywed husband that there was mayo in the pumpkin cookie he had just eaten, he couldn’t believe it.

If you want to replace the mayo with 1/2 cup of canola oil and get a slightly drier cookie I’m not going to stop you, but for the love, don’t skip this other secret ingredient (it’s the delicious one).

Mom’s Secret Ingredient #2: Butterscotch Chips

I’m a devoted fan of chocolate and I believe it makes nearly every dessert better, but there are exceptions to every rule, and this is definitely one of them.  Butterscotch chips and pumpkin are a match made in heaven.  They really take this recipe up a notch.  More like three notches, actually.

Pumpkin cookies without butterscotch chips are like Star Wars without Han Solo, or a hot fudge sundae without the hot fudge.  They’re still good, but not nearly as much fun.

Now, some of you may be wondering why I included a pumpkin cookie recipe on a healthyish food blog.  Is it because it includes two cups of pureed squash, or because I always make a third of the flour whole wheat?  Those are both fine reasons, but the truth is I think everyone needs a little treat now and then, and I wanted to share one of my favorites with you.  Enjoy!

Craving More Fall Flavors?  Try:

Healthy Applesauce Oatmeal Muffins