So this school year, my goal for my kids is to really enjoy whatever season we’re in. In honor of this beautiful autumn, the kiddos, Hubs, and I trekked through a corn maze, spending over an hour following trails and dead-ends through a few acres of stalks before triumphantly emerging at the entrance of the maze. Yeah, no, we didn’t try it again. We also enjoyed small town harvest festivals where the kiddos had their faces painted as skeletons and animals, and promptly sweated them off jumping in inflatable bouncy houses. We carved a large jack-o-lantern (which my kids designed, but I cut—there’s no way I’m giving the 4-year-old a knife), and to my boys’ delight it sat on our front porch, moldering and collapsing in on itself in anticipation of Halloween, looking all the more spooky and grotesque for it as the days passed.
We all went trick-or-treating, and may I just say it is SO ENCOURAGING how many families are now participating in the Teal Pumpkin Project. This year, Ben and Caleb had so many options for allergy-friendly candies and toys that they didn’t feel deprived, and Asher, our oldest, loaded up on all the other candies available.
To further our autumnal merriment, I have also been trying to make allergy-friendly fall dinners and treats. This October, I again made these vegan sugar cookies from Nora Cooks (with our gluten-free modification), jack-o-lantern shaped to my children’s delight.
I also attempted vegan, gluten free apple pie; though to my dismay, Ben seems to take after his father and is averse to hot fruit. Go figure! It was a good learning experience, however, making a gluten-free pastry crust, and I intend to do a full blog post with the crust and pumpkin pie filling soon!
When the weather turned frigid, I made this incredible vegan, butternut squash soup featuring fresh sage and rosemary from Love and Lemons. Yes, pepitas in anything! I am here for it!
And this week, I decided to convert a favorite cookie recipe to be allergy friendly, and I’d like to share it with you all today. This recipe is Autumn in cookie form. It uses pumpkin puree, allergy-friendly chocolate chips (thank you, Enjoy Life!), and oats, among other things (ahem, LOTS of sugar). The end result is a decadent, moist cookie that my children loved!
The original recipe called for regular flour, butter, and one egg. My substitutions were:
- Gluten Free 1:1 Baking Flour – I used Bob’s Red Mill this time around, but I’m sure King Arthur would’ve worked just as well. (See our post about gluten-free flour blends for more info.)
- Country Crock Olive Oil Butter (for the 2 sticks of butter)
- Bob’s Red Mill Egg Replacer in place of the 1 egg. My sister’s recipe calls for 20-25 minutes in the oven, but using the above replacements, it took only about 17 minutes for my cookies.
One trick to these cookies (which I discovered upon trying to make the regular flour, non-vegan version) is to keep the butter COLD. As in, I straight up put the vegan butter sticks into the freezer before I used them in this recipe, then I cut it into the mix.
Hope you all enjoy! Be sure to let me know any comments or modifications that worked for you!
Allergy-friendly Pumpkin Chocolate Oat Cookies (GF/V)
Equipment
- 1 pastry cutter optional, but very helpful
- baking sheets
- Parchment paper
- oven
Ingredients
- 240 g Gluten-Free 1:1 Baking Flour 2 cups
- 1 tsp Baking Soda
- 1 tsp Cinnamon
- ½ tsp Salt
- 1 pinch Nutmeg
- 1 cup Brown Sugar
- 1 cup White Sugar
- 1 cup Vegan Butter cold (2 sticks)
- 1 Tbsp Egg replacer Bob’s Red Mill Egg Replacer
- 1 cup Oats
- 1 cup Chocolate chips non-dairy
- 1 tsp Vanilla extract
- 1 cup Pumpkin puree
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 350° F.
- In a large mixing bowl, add flour (240g), baking soda (1tsp), cinnamon (1tsp), salt (½tsp), nutmeg (pinch), brown sugar (1 cup), and white sugar (1 cup). Mix well using whisk.
- Cut cold butter (2 sticks) into the dry mix using a pastry cutter. Incorporate the butter throughout.
- Mix the egg replacer (1 Tbsp) using the amount of water (2 Tbsp) specified on the packaging. Set aside.
- Add oats (1 cup) and chocolate chips (1 cup) to the butter/flour mix and stir to evenly distribute.
- Add vanilla extract (1tsp), pumpkin puree (1 cup), and egg replacer, and stir until the dough forms.
- On parchment-lined baking sheets, drop portions of cookie dough in heaping spoonfuls, 1 Tbsp each, spaced about 3 apart.
- Bake for 17-19 minutes, or until lightly browned.
- Let rest on cookie sheet for 10 minutes. Move to cooling rack to rest until cooled completely. (Gluten-free baked goods tend to need more resting time, so try your best to be patient!)
