Pumpkin Molasses Cookies

I am really trying to cram in all of the pumpkin recipes I possibly can! I’ve seen it used in entrees like pasta or pizza, but I just can’t seem to get past the baked goods. There’s still time though. We’ll see.

I was planning on making pumpkin whoopie pies last week, but then I found this recipe. I’m a total sucker for molasses cookies and their chewy, spicy yumminess. And adding pumpkin to them? Even better. But what sealed the deal for me was the mention of bacon grease being substituted for butter. What? Bacon grease in baked goods? Why didn’t I think of that before?

I only had a couple tablespoons of bacon grease to use in this recipe. I am curious what it would be like to use a 50/50 combo of grease and butter (or 100% grease!). I am listing the amount of butter you would need if it was the only fat you were using in the recipe, but you can substitute bacon grease in equal amounts if you wish. Because I used a rather small amount, I’m not sure if it made any difference in taste. But the cookies were definitely yummy. And it’s bacon grease, can it really make something taste bad? No. Nuh uh.

Pumpkin Molasses Cookies
(adapted from Pumpkin: A Superfood for All 12 Months of the Year)

yield: approximately 2 ½ dozen

• ½ cup of butter
• 1 cup sugar, plus more for rolling (if you have it, I recommend turbinado sugar for rolling)
• ½ cup of pumpkin
• ¼ cup of molasses
• 1 egg
• 2 ⅓ cups of flour
• 2 tsp baking soda
• 2 tsp cinnamon
• 2 tsp ginger
• 1 tsp cloves
• 1/2 tsp salt

Beat butter in a large bowl until fluffy. Add sugar, pumpkin, molasses, and egg and mix until well combined. Add remaining ingredients and beat until a well-blended batter forms. Refrigerate dough for at least 1 hour.

Preheat oven to 350°. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper (or two, if you’d like to prep a second sheet while the first one bakes). Fill a bowl with your rolling sugar. Roll tablespoon-sized balls of batter in sugar until well coated and place on sheet. The cookies will spread, so give them a couple inches of room. Bake 10–12 minutes, or until cookies look cracked. Let them sit on the sheet for a few minutes after removing them from the oven, then transfer to a wire rack to cool.