Somehow, I feel like we get slammed from one season to the next without warning… temps were pushing ninety early in the week and then a couple of rainy days come and go, the sun struggles to rise before 7am and BOOM! Autumn is here!

I’m not really complaining- this is my favorite time of year… I love the slow down that comes naturally with the shorter days and the settling in that stirs in me before the rush of the holiday season arrives. This morning, I lit a candle and wasted away the early hours, curled up in my chair with my coffee and a book.

Eventually, I heard stirrings from the back of the house and knew it was time to get started with my day, which includes prep for the week. I roasted a pumpkin and wanted to incorporate it into some baking today. I set some goals last week, and surprisingly, I’ve been able to slip into good habits without much of a struggle, but like anything- when you focus on the “can’t haves” they magically turn into the “must haves” even when I “didn’t have” them before!! What does that mean?? It means I’ve been craving cookies, even though I probably haven’t had 3 cookies all year!

I decided rather than fight it, I’d roll with my craving and try to clean up the recipe, using pumpkin in place of part of the fat, banana in place of most of the sugar and cut the whole grain flour with a bit of protein powder. The resulting cookie is soft and cake like… I hope you enjoy!

6 TBS. softened butter
1 Cup pumpkin (NOT pie filling)
1/2 cup brown sugar Swerve
2 bananas
2 eggs
1 tsp. vanilla
1 cup minus 1 TBS whole wheat pastry flour (if you use AP flour use 1 cup)
1 serving protein powder (I used Owyn vanilla)
1 tsp. baking soda
1 tsp. cinnamon
1/2 tsp. salt
3 cups old fashioned oats (uncooked)

1. Heat oven to 375 F

2. Beat butter, pumpkin and swerve until well mixed.

3. Add bananas, eggs and vanilla, beat well.

4. Combine remaining ingredients and slowly add to pumpkin mixture.
   Scrape bowl to make sure the butter isn’t hiding at the bottom of the bowl!

5. Drop by rounded TBS (or use a small cookie scoop). Flatten cookies with the back
   of a fork before baking.

6. Bake 10 minutes or until light golden brown. Cool 1 minute on cookie sheet: remove to wire rack and cool completely before storing.

   Makes 30-32 cookies