Did you know that you can substitute pumpkin for eggs (1/4 cup pumpkin puree for 1 egg)? In baked goods, that is. I wouldn’t recommend trying to make scrambled eggs and subbing out the eggs for pumpkin… but I wouldn’t NOT recommend it either.

So, because it’s Fall and therefore everything must taste of pumpkin, I put this switcheroo to good use and made these Pumpkin Oreo Stuffed Pumpkin Cookies. The dough recipe is adapted from Alton Brown’s “Chewy” and the concept is based on Picky Palate’s Oreo Stuffed Chocolate Chip Cookies… with my own seasonal twist.

Pumpkin Oreo Stuffed Pumpkin Cookies

(makes 18 cookies)

Ingredients

• 8 oz unsalted butter
• 12 oz bread flour
• 1t salt
• 1t baking soda
• 1/2T pumpkin pie spice
• 2 oz sugar
• 8 oz light brown sugar
• 1/3c pumpkin puree
• 1/2T vanilla
• 10 oz pumpkin spice morsels
• 18 Pumpkin Oreo Cookies

Directions

1. Melt the butter in microwave. Set aside to cool slightly.
2. Sift together the flour, salt, baking soda, and pumpkin pie spice.
3. Pour the butter into your stand mixer’s work bowl. Add the sugar and brown sugar and beat on medium speed for 2 minutes.
4. Reduce the mixer speed and slowly add the pumpkin and vanilla. Mix until thoroughly combined, about 30 seconds.
5. Gradually add dry ingredients to the mixer, stopping a couple of times to scrape down the sides of the bowl. Fold in pumpkin spice morsels.
6. Chill the dough for 1 hour. Meanwhile preheat the oven to 375 degrees F.
7. For every Pumpkin Oreo, scoop out two 1.5T of cookie dough. Place balls of dough on either side of Oreo, and then wrap around Oreo. Press and seal the two chunks of dough together so that all of the Oreo is encased in the dough.
8. Bake 15 minutes or until dough is set and edges are a golden brown (on a parchment paper lined cookie sheet). Remove from the oven, slide the parchment with the cookies onto a cooling rack and wait at least 5 minutes. I baked 6 cookies at a time.

These huge cookies were a huge hit at the pumpkin-themed potluck I went to. They’d be great for a Halloween party, or for any reason or no reason at all. It’s fall; it’s pumpkin; their awesome. You needn’t more convincing than that.