This post is a part of the Fantabulous Fall Favorites blog chain put together by a great group of bloggers. The theme this week is pumpkins. Be sure to check out all the great ideas shared at the end of this post!
I want to share with you the pumpkin cookies that my mom would make every fall. We loved eating them, and we loved decorating them. I have now continued the tradition and make them every year with my family.
This recipe makes about 30-34 big cookies! So I will take 10-12 of them with me to our Thanksgiving dinner for the kiddos along with pies for the adults. I take some to Sunday School along with breads for a breakfast treat. The rest we eat or share with neighbors.
You know that I love to freeze just about everything, so often I will make up these cookies ahead of time and freeze them. Then I will pull them out the night before I need them, and we will decorate them. Many times they freeze okay with the frosting, but sometimes the frosting along with the candies gets a little watery or gooey.
They are relatively simple to make, but the decorating can take a little bit of time–but that is what makes these cookies great: the whole family can have fun doing them together! I also say that they are healthy as they include oatmeal and pumpkin :). It doesn’t take much for me to say that something is healthy!
To make the cookies, there are a few basic steps:
Prepare the cookie dough. (See recipe below.)
Place 1/4 cup of dough onto a lightly greased cookie sheet. I then take a butter knife or a cake decorating spatula and shape the dough into a circle using a little more dough for the stem.
Bake, then cool the cookies.
Decorate the cookies. I frost the cookies, and the kids will put faces on the cookies using M & M’s; chocolate, white, or butterscotch chips; and candy corn. You could use white or orange frosting for the face, and green frosting looks great for the stem. 
Peanut butter could be used as the frosting if you would like a little less sugar in the cookie!
Making the Frosting:
I combine some powdered sugar with about 1 tablespoon of softened butter. I add a little bit of milk, and continue to add more milk until I get the desired consistency. I also add about a teaspoon of vanilla. It should not be runny, but it should still be easy to spread. The frosting will get harder (not wet) after it dries. 
Ingredients
- 1 1/2 cup butter
- 2 cups brown sugar
- 1 cup white sugar
- 1 egg
- 1 teaspoon vanilla
- 1 can (15 ounces) solid pack pumpkin
- 4 cups flour
- 2 teaspoons baking soda
- 2 teaspoons cinnamon
- 1 teaspoon salt
- 2 cups quick oats, uncooked
- 1 cup chocolate chips (I use semi-sweet.)
Instructions
- Cream butter and sugars.
- Add egg and vanilla.
- Alternately add pumpkin and dry ingredients.
- Mix well and add chocolate chips.
- Drop 1/4 cup dough onto lightly greased cookie sheet. Spread into pumpkin shape using a thin metal spatula, using more dough for the stem.
- Bake at 350º for 25 minutes.
- Remove and allow cookies to cool.
- Decorate using icing or peanut butter to affix candies, raisins or nuts.
Interested in more amazing Pumpkins ideas? Check out these posts!
Called to Be a Mom – 6 Easy Pumpkin Activities for Preschoolers
Life as a Field Trip – Be a Pumpkin Ninja!
Still want more? Head to our Fantabulous Fall Favorites Pinterest Board!
These look so fun, and yummy too! I’ve never had pumpkin cookies before =) Thanks for sharing, I might try this out this year!
They kids love decorating them, so that is why I keep doing them. Like I said, we always did it growing up, and now my mom has turned the task over to me!
Tammy, please send me one here. LOL. Your kids look very cute.
I wish I could! Thank you–they had fun.
I have never made pumpkin oatmeal cookies, but these are going on the list! What could be better than pumpkin, oatmeal and chocolate chips?? Pinning!
Thanks for the pin! We have fun making them every year!
What a fun Halloween tradition for your family. Your cookies look delicious!
They are good! It is definitely one of our favorite fall traditions!
Yumm! Pumpkin Cookies. Something else pumpkin I can add to my recipe collection for hubby!
Either you love pumpkin or you don’t! They aren’t my husband’s favorite, but we lIke them.
I have some fresh and also canned pumpkin. Being searching for a recipe that is not cake-like. Is this one cake-like?
I don’t think it is. I think the oatmeal makes it more like a cookie. But maybe a little more cakelike than a regular cookie?
Ok. Yea, I don’t like the cake-like tasting cookies. I feel like there should be a taste difference between a cookie and a cake!
These are really cute cookies and they look SO tasty! The kids seem to like them too, LOL 🙂 Totally pinning.
The kids definitely do like them! Thanks for pinning!
My boys would love this. All you have to say is cookies and they come running. I might have to bake some of these, with the candy it will sure be a hit. Thanks for sharing.
The candy does make it a hit for the kids. I make myself feel better by knowing that pumpkin and oatmeal is in them. 🙂
What yummy (and scary!) cookies these are! Your helpers are adorable as well! 🙂 These would be fun to make with my nieces and nephew. Pinning the recipe!
Thanks for pinning! The kids really look forward to making their own faces. I guess it encourages imagination!
These look great, and we have some pumpkin in the freezer to use. I’m sure my kids would love these. Thanks for sharing your recipe!
You’re welcome! I’ve never frozen pumpkin before–what a great idea!
I love it! Such a cute idea to shape the dough into pumpkins. I’ve never thought of freezing the actual cookies…awesome. You little helpers are adorable! 🙂
~Lorelai
Life With Lorelai
Thank you! I almost always freeze frozen cookies–and not the dough. It works great!
Those cookies look scrumptious. It seems the entire family got involved and had a great time. I Pinned this!
Thanks for pinning! We did have fun doing these together!
These look yummy! Would they be too dry without the icing?
No, I don’t think they would. We just love sugar. We only had them once as it was a new recipe to us, and we ate them while they were warm, but they were moist and yummy!
How fun! Can’t wait til my kiddo is a little older and can do fun stuff like this 🙂
Looks like great cookies and even more fun!
Thanks for stopping by Good Taste Tuesday.
This looks like it could be so much fun. I’ll have to remember this to share with my nephew.
We do have a lot of fun doing it. The kids are asking when they can decorate the rest of them.
This looks like waaaaaay too much fun! When my boys get a little older (maybe next year when my oldest is 5 and my youngest is almost 2) we could start up this tradition too! Thanks for sharing!
It is fun. Your 5 year old I should be able to do it very soon!