Pumpkin Oatmeal White Chocolate Cookies

I was recently reminded of just how good I have it. I work a very part-time retail gig every now and again. A gal who, to put it plainly, does not fit in with her younger peers recently started working this gig too. We were partnered up the last time I worked, so I took the opportunity to talk to her about what attracted her to this particular position. I learned my new friend is a waitress who took this job because “I needed a little more.”

Here I am working this job simply because I can, and to put it plainly again, often whining about having to go in for a measly four-hour shift two times per month. Yet across the table of impeccably-folded, over-priced clothes stood a woman who is working this job because she can’t make ends meet otherwise. Much like the man and the pears, her story has remained with me.

I am guilty as charged when it comes to “creating a narrative.” I instantly felt sad for this woman and her situation, but the fact of the matter is, she could be perfectly happy with her life. I do not know what sort of circumstances she was born into or the choices she made that make her life so radically different from mine. What I do know is hearing her story reminded me to be grateful for what I do have.

That’s a mantra I am going to carry with me this month: feeling grateful for what I do have. One of the things I have today is a mountain of pumpkin and white chocolate cookies that might have replaced these pumpkin chocolate chip cookies as my favorites. I will probably need to eat a half-dozen more to be sure. I feel grateful that I can. Enjoy!

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Pumpkin White Chocolate Chunk Cookies

Author Fresh Every Day by Sara Foster

Yield 3 dozen

Ingredients

2 cups all-purpose flour

1 teaspoon baking soda

1 cup butterscotch chips

12 tablespoons (1 1/2 sticks) butter, softened

2/3 cup granulated sugar

2/3 cup brown sugar, packed

1 large egg

2/3 cup pumpkin puree

1 cup old-fashioned rolled oats

8 ounces white chocolate, chopped

1 cup walnuts, chopped

Instructions

1. Whisk the flour and baking soda together in a large bowl.
2. Place the butterscotch chips in a food processor and process until the chips are ground; some larger bits will likely remain.
3. Stir the ground butterscotch chips in with the flour and baking soda and set aside.
4. In a separate bowl, cream the butter and sugars together until light and fluffy, about 2-3 minutes.
5. Beat in the egg and the pumpkin puree until combined.
6. Stir the dry flour mixture into the wet pumpkin mixture and mix until the flour is fully incorporated.
7. Next fold in the oats, white chocolate and walnuts.
8. Cover the bowl and refrigerate anywhere from 10 minutes to overnight (chilled dough helps the cookies maintain their shape during baking).
9. After the dough has chilled, drop two tablespoons of dough per cookie onto parchment- lined baking sheets.
10. Bake at 350 degrees F for 13 to 15 minutes, rotating the cookie sheets once halfway through baking, until the cookies are light golden brown and no longer look doughy.

Notes

You can sub 1 1/2 cups white chocolate chips for the 8 ounces of chopped white chocolate.

If you chill the dough for only the minimum 10 minutes, return the bowl to the refrigerator in between batches. This will ensure the dough does not become too warm.