Are you ready for the holidays? I've seen some friends post Christmas shopping progress already...not over here.  Haven't started.  Haven't given it much thought.  And I don't do Black Friday....I know there are great deals but I am just not heading out at midnight on Thanksgiving for shopping.  I just can't get myself to do it...maybe one year. 

On the baking front, Thanksgiving meets Christmas with this week's recipe that combines the flavors of fall pumpkin and Christmas molasses and ginger.  These cookies are like soft version of ginger snaps with a pumpkin twist.  Perfect with tea!

Pumpkin Molasses Cookies
(makes approximately 3 dozen)

Ingredients
-1/2 cup butter
-3/4 cup brown sugar
-3/4 cup white sugar
-2/3 cup pumpkin
-2 eggs
-1/2 cup molasses
-2 1/2 cups flour
-1/2 tsp salt
-1 tsp baking powder
-1 tbs cinnamon
-1/2 tsp ginger
-1 tsp nutmeg
-more brown sugar for dusting

Directions
Pre-heat your oven to 350 degrees and prepare a baking sheet with parchment paper.  In a large bowl, cream together the butter and sugars with a hand or stand mixer.  Add the eggs one at a time and continue to mix together.  Add in the pumpkin, molasses and vanilla and mix together thoroughly.  In a separate bowl, stir together all the dry ingredients until well mixed.  Add the dry ingredients to the wet ingredients and mix until the batter completely comes together and the dry ingredients are full integrated.  

Using a small cookie scooper or spoon, scoop the batter onto the prepped baking sheet, leaving approximately 2 inches between cookies (I fit 12 cookies per sheet).  Sprinkle a touch of brown sugar on top of each unbaked cookie.  Bake in the oven for 12-14 minutes.  Allow to cool for  a few minutes on the baking sheet and then transfer to a wire baking rack to finish cooling. Enjoy!

Happy Thanksgiving to everyone! Have a safe and happy holiday!

I've done it again and been MIA on the recipe front. I've got a good reason for it this time though...I promise! Bundle #3 arrived at the end of September and we've been in the blur and beauty of newborn care since then and I was simply cooked and over tired in the weeks leading up to his birth and I hit pause on recipe creation and food photography.  Although I have two other littles, it's amazing how quickly I forgot just how much sleep deprivation is involved in those first weeks of life. Somewhere in the hours of 11PM-3AM I think I will never sleep again and then sometime around 6AM I hit a second wind of energy and think "I've got this..." but then the cycle starts again soon thereafter. And this is why God makes babies cute.

Even though this recipe is finished and pictures edited, I'll be amazed if I finish this post in one sitting, but here goes! This recipe is a healthy, refined sugar free cookie recipe to support new mamas in their newborn weeks. They are loaded with healthy ingredients that support lactation, but I prefer to call these new mama cookies as these ingredients are nutrient dense and are healthy bites of nourishment to grab and go no matter how you choose to or need to feed your little one.  Momming is hard enough as it is...can we please just support moms to do the best they can regardless of feeding choices or needs (can you sense a little sensitivity in my tone? Feeding has been a little trying in these first weeks around here and I'm trying to stop beating myself up).

The key ingredients in these cookies include oatmeal, flax seed and brewer's yeast. All of these ingredients are easily found online if needed.  What did parents do before the invention of Amazon Prime? There are some complaints that Brewer's Yeast has a very bitter taste, but this is a particular rock star ingredient for boosting milk supply if needed.  I ordered this bag from Oat Mama and I don't notice the taste in the cookies (nope, not sponsored...I just found and like the product). Instead of oil/butter and sugar, the cookies are moistened and sweetened by ripe bananas and truvia.  These throw together quickly and easily, which is a necessity for mamas of wee ones or an easy little gift to throw together for an expecting friend or family member.  Throw them in the freezer before baby arrives- you'll be glad you did!

New Mama Chocolate Chip Oatmeal Cookies
(makes approximately 2 dozen cookies)

Ingredients
-2 eggs
-2 ripe bananas
-2 tbs ground flax seed
-2 tbs brewer's yeast
-2 tbs + 1 tsp truvia
-1 tsp vanilla extract
-1 cup spelt flour
-1 1/2 cups rolled oats
-1 tsp baking powder
-1/2 tsp salt
-1 cup chocolate chips

Directions
Pre-heat oven to 350 degrees. Mash bananas in a large bowl. Add eggs, vanilla, flax seed, brewer's yeast and truvia. Mix together.  Add spelt flour, oats, salt and baking powder.  Stir together.  Fold in chocolate chips.

Prep a cookie sheet with parchment paper.  Scoop out cookies using a small cookie scoop and space approximately 2 inches apart. Bake for approximately 11 minutes. Allow to cool on the pan for a few minutes before transferring to a wire baking rack to finish cooling.  Enjoy at 3PM or 3AM...whenever baby is up for a feeding!

These cookies might be one of the weirdest flavor combinations I've given a try, but I really like them.  I was staring at some unused rhubarb in my fridge this weekend and started brainstorming about possible recipes so that it wouldn't go to waste.  I recently made this Vegan Rhubarb Strawberry Banana Oatmeal Bread over on the Peaceful Dumpling and I love Rhubarb/Strawberry Crisp and Pie, but I wanted to try something different.  I began to think of the flavors in a Rhubarb Crisp and came up with cinnamon, oatmeal and brown sugar so I set out to the store to find some cinnamon chips to make cookies. No luck.  Cinnamon chips might be a fall only type item along with all the pumpkin spice chips that will be descending upon us soon so I had to think of something else.  I had my hands on some white chocolate chips, which I still think could be a good combination, but I've made Cranberry and White Chocolate Chip cookies before and I was still wanting to try something a little bit different.  A package of butterscotch chips caught my eye, which isn't a flavor I've baked with much at all...maybe even ever, but I thought the sweetness of the butterscotch might pair well with the tangy rhubarb.

These cookies came out soft, sweet and there's just a hint of the tangy rhubarb that's nice but not overwhelming.  I pureed the rhubarb first as I knew cookies would only take 10-15 minutes to bake versus a pie or crisp that would be in the oven for 45-60 minutes and I didn't think chunks of uncooked rhubarb would be too delightful. 

I've had many baking bloopers in my time in the kitchen and I was fairly certain these cookies would also be added to the list, but I'm glad I took the risk.  I like them.  They still seem like an odd flavor combination, but once I tasted them I also couldn't help but wonder about turning them into ice cream sandwiches around homemade strawberry ice cream.  They're soft enough to be a nice compliment to some ice cream and that strawberry, rhubarb flavor combo might just be to die for.  What do you think? Should strawberry ice cream to go with these cookies be the next kitchen project?

Until I decide that one, here's the recipe for you to try. Stay cool in the summer sun friends.

Rhubarb Butterscotch Oatmeal Cookies
(makes approximately 25-30 cookies)

Ingredients
-1/2 cup butter (room temperature)
-3 eggs
-3/4 cup brown sugar
-1/2 cup white sugar
-1 tsp vanilla extract
-3/4 cup rhubarb puree
-1 cup flour
-1 cup oatmeal
-1 tsp cinnamon
-1 tsp baking powder
-1/2 tsp salt
- 1 package butterscotch chips

Directions
Pre-heat oven to 375 degrees.  In a food processor or high powered blender, puree rhubarb and set aside 3/4 cup for the cookies.  In a large mixing bowl, add the butter, sugars and cream together.  Add in the vanilla extract and eggs and continue to mix together.  Mix in the rhubarb puree.  In a separate bowl, stir together the oatmeal, flour, salt, baking powder and cinnamon.  Add the dry ingredients to the wet ingredients and mix together.  Fold in the butterscotch chips.

Prepare a baking sheet with parchment paper.  Using a small scoop, scoop out the cookie dough onto your baking tray, leaving room in between the cookies.  Bake for approximately 14 minutes.  Remove from the oven.  Allow to cool on the tray for a few minutes and them transfer to a wire cooling rack.  Enjoy!