Pumpkin Filled Oatmeal Sandwich Cookies

In case you’re wondering if I’m running out of things I want to make that include pumpkin…

The answer is no. Not even a little bit. In fact, the list has gotten so long. Longer than my To-Do List, and you can figure out for yourself which list I’m actually gaining more ground on…

I just wanna bake cookies all day long. Can that be my life? Except, then none of my pants would fit. No matter how much healthier my cookies may be than your average dessert, a cookie is a cookie, and if you eat a dozen a day (don’t judge me), then…well, we all know how that ends. Moral of the story? Bake cookies all day long, then bribe the love of everyone you know by feeding them delicious healthy desserts. That’s how I win friends in life. That, and rapping Gangsta’s Paradise at parties. Or maybe that was how I lose friends? I forget…

So as you can see, my tools for friendship are bribery and embarrassing myself. They seem to work pretty well. I attract awesome humans. I’m guessing it has more to do with the cookies. These cookies were, um, ridiculous. I used my favorite oatmeal cookie recipe + some pumpkin pie spice, then mixed together some canned pumpkin, cream cheese, brown sugar and a little flour for thickening, and I had a dangerous dessert on my hands. I loved the way the thick oatmeal cookies held up to the creamy filling. The filling was tricky. Pumpkin leads to a slightly runny cream cheese frosting, but I noticed that this girl used flour when she made almost the exact same thing, so I tried that and it solved all of the problems in the entire world. Or at least my very critical, life-or-death frosting problem. Thanks Sally, you’re my pumpkin frosting hero! 😉

These would be perfect for a more bite sized Thanksgiving dessert (I made some big ones too, but I ended up loving the minis the best!), or for any fall party, or really…just because. Who doesn’t love a cream filled sandwich cookies? It’s one of life’s happy things. 😉

 

Pumpkin Filled Oatmeal Sandwich Cookies

For the cookies:

• 1 1/2 cup white whole wheat flour
• 1 tsp baking soda
• 1 tsp baking powder
• dash salt
• 1 1/2 tsp pumpkin pie spice
• 7 1/2 tbs apple butter
• 1 1/2 tbs coconut oil
• 1/3 cup turbinado sugar
• 1/2 cup brown sugar, lightly packed
• 1/4 cup egg substitute
• 2 tsp vanilla
• 1 cup rolled oats

For the filling:

• 8 oz reduced fat cream cheese, softened
• 1/2 cup pumpkin puree
• 1 tsp vanilla
• 1 1/2 tsp pumpkin pie spice
• 1/2 cup brown sugar, packed
• 1/4 cup white whole wheat flour

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 350. In a medium bowl, combine flour, baking soda, baking powder and salt. Set aside.
2. In a large bowl, beat together apple butter, coconut oil, sugar, egg substitute and vanilla until combined. Slowly beat in dry ingredients, then fold in oats.
3. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper, and drop cookies onto the sheet using a small cookie scoop.
4. Bake for 12 minutes until golden. Let stand on cookie sheet for 3-5 minutes, then transfer to a wire rack to cool completely.
5. Meanwhile, in a medium bowl, beat cream cheese until smooth. Beat in remaining filling ingredients. Spread filling over 1/2 of the cookies, then top with an other cookie.