Pumpkin Double-Ginger Cookies

When I am baking, it seems that I pick the most decadent, butter-laden treats that I can find. It seems like moderation is the key: you can eat rich things, just not too many! I haven’t explored low fat baking all that much. My good friend and coworker sent me this recipe for a healthier cookie, and I thought I would give it a try. While pumpkin isn’t my favorite, I do like the spices usually associated with it. This cookie has two types of ginger and other spices that I love.

These were very easy to put together. The hardest part was chopping up the crystallized ginger; it’s very sticky! I actually used candied uncrystallized ginger, which I think is a little less sugary. It was very odd to not use any butter or eggs, but I had faith in the recipe. You don’t use the mixer for these cookies, which is critical in not over mixing the batter. You have to be careful; too much mixing can make things really tough.

These cookies are very cakey, and quite tender. I love the ginger flavor! If you don’t like ginger, these are not for you. I can’t really taste the pumpkin, but that’s ok. I made sure that I made the same number of cookies as the recipe specified (40 cookies) since otherwise the nutritional information would be off. I typically have a hard time making the “correct” number of cookies; I think I usually make them too big. These cookies have about 55 calories and a little less than one gram of fat. (I don’t even want to think about how many grams of fat most of the cookies I make have!) These aren’t quite as decadent as other things I make, but overall they are very good.

3/4 cup canned pumpkin
3/4 cup packed brown sugar
1/2 cup nonfat plain Greek-style yogurt
2 tablespoons canola oil
1 teaspoon vanilla
1/2 cup finely chopped crystallized ginger
2 cups sifted cake flour
1 teaspoon cinnamon
3/4 teaspoon ground ginger
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon ground nutmeg

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Line 2 baking sheets with silicone baking mats.

In a large bowl combine the pumpkin, brown sugar, yogurt, oil and vanilla. Whisk until smooth. Stir in the crystallized ginger. In a separate bowl, stir together the flour, cinnamon, ground ginger, baking soda, salt and nutmeg. Stir the dry ingredients into the wet, mixing until just blended.

Scoop the batter onto the prepared baking sheets using a medium-sized cookie scoop. Bake until lightly browned, about 15 minutes. Transfer cookies to a wire rack and let cool.

Recipe from The Seattle Times