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These pumpkin-cranberry cookies are a crowd pleaser at a party or an afternoon snack for the kids after game snack, so bake a double batch. These freeze well; reheat by baking at 350°F for 20 minutes. For very crispy cookies, bake them a few minutes longer.

By Darshana Thacker Wendel,

Ingredients

  • 1 cup cornmeal
  • 1 tablespoon + 1 teaspoon baking powder
  • 2 teaspoons ground cinnamon
  • 1 teaspoon ground nutmeg
  • 1 teaspoon allspice
  • 2 pinches sea salt
  • 1 (15-ounce) can pumpkin
  • ⅔ cup maple syrup
  • ⅓ cup tahini
  • ½ cup rolled oats
  • 1 ½ cups dried cranberries

Instructions

  • Preheat the oven to 350°F. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper.
  • Combine cornmeal, baking powder, cinnamon, nutmeg, allspice, and salt in a bowl.
  • In another bowl, place pumpkin, maple syrup, and tahini and mix well. Add dry ingredients to wet and mix well. Add oats and cranberries and mix well.
  • Drop spoonfuls of batter onto the prepared baking sheet in about ¼-cup scoops, about 2 inches apart. Flatten the cookies a bit, so that they resemble thick discs (they won’t spread much at all during baking). Bake for 45 to 50 minutes.
  • Remove pan from oven and let cool on a cooling rack for 10 minutes.
  • Eat cookies immediately or store in an airtight container in the refrigerator for up to 1 week or in the freezer for up to 2 months.
Nutritional Information:

Per serving (1 cookie): 168 calories, 35 g carbohydrates, 2.3 g protein, 3.5 g total fat, 0.5 g saturated fat, 0 g cholesterol, 123 mg sodium, 2.4 g fiber, 21 g sugar

Note: Nutritional information is provided as an estimate only.

Comments (38)

(4 from 11 votes)

Recipe Rating

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Don Kramer

I found these excellent, really like both flavor and texture. Unlike some commentators, I did not find them too dry or too wet. As some other commentators noted, they were done in a bit less time. Everyone I offered the to like the taste, but some people found them a bit 'gritty'. I used Bob's Red Mill corn meal, medium grind. Next time, and there will be a next time, I will use finer corn meal or give the medium grind a whirl in the blender first.

Judy Gatewood

They are very bland, dry. A dry leftover pumpkin pie. Pumpkin pie would have Whipped Cream on top. Easy to make. Next time I'll bake them for about 35 min. I used peanut butter in place of the Tahini.

Jeff

Thanks! I was wondering if fresh cranberries would work.

NorCal

I just made these today. I mostly followed the recipe, though I used pumpkin pie spice in lieu of nutmeg. I used a 1/4 cup measurer to make the puck-shaped cookies on the parchment paper covered cookie sheet. That was a little messy and I had to use my fingers to fix the sloppy parts back into the puck shape. But it was a good consistency. I baked them for about 43 minutes and they're delicious!

Deb

I love these !! I used fresh cranberries ! And added a bit more oats and corn meal . I am going to make these often.

Meg

My cookies came out gritty and T he batter was watery. What did I do wrong?

Zoom

How much would this cost to make in USA? I've just worked out it would be around $15 Australian, which is really expensive for a batch of biscuits which I might not even like. The cranberries alone would be about $8.

Rita

Sorry but these cookies just don’t taste good!

Rachel

Hi, can I use a different kind of, "Flour," as opposed to corn meal? Neither my partner nor I eat products containing corn due to sensativities.

June

Wow, just made these cookies and they're fantastic. The tahini gives it a wonderful flavor. I love the texture of them also. Baked at 50 minutes and perfectly moist and crunchy at the same time. They also look beautiful! My batch made 27 cookies and it says they make 15. Mine were also a decent size! This is perfect for something when you need a sweet after dinner. My college kid is going to love them.

Christine Fiore

Please can you share the nutrition information, thanks!

Adair Cooke

Sweetened or unsweetened dried cranberries? Never seen them unsweetened.

R.D.

Trader Joe's sells unsweetened dried cranberries

Diane

I’d like the nutritional information

Donna N

Substitute for tahini! Peanut butter?

Janet Paccione

Can you use fresh cranberries? Or can I dry fresh cranberries? They look delicious

Elizabeth Barber

I used fresh/frozen and dried them in my oven. 225F for 3-4 hours.

Laura

Logic told me there's a mistake in this recipe; there's not enough dry ingredients. I ignored my intuition and followed the recipe and sure enough it was a disaster. I cooked them 3x longer than called for and they're still way too soft. With an extra cup of oats they might come out better.

Janet Paccione

Can you use fresh cranberries? They look delicious

Holly

I used 1 1/2 cup of fresh cranberries and I think they came out great! The only other substitution I made was agave for the maple syrup and fresh pumpkin instead of canned. I had to add a little more cornmeal to offset the addition water in the fresh pumpkin. Baked for 40 minutes, as I prefer soft over crunchy cookies, on silicone mats. Made about 50, 2 inch cookies

Elizabeth

Hi, not a cornmeal fan. Any substitution you might suggest?

Daniela

Kim you can substitute with unsalted peanut butter but the quantity of tahini for this receipenis not overwhelming.

Carolyn Blank Cary

I read where rice flour or breadcrumbs can be used in place of corn meal

Kym

I find tahini a bit overwhelming sometimes, could I substitute it with something or leave it out

Megan

Hi there! Any substitutes for the cornmeal? Much appreciated :)

Kim

If I wanted to substitute date paste for all of the syrup...how much would you suggest using? I ask because maple syrup, for me is super sweet and quite expensive.

A

is uncooked polenta the same thing as "cornmeal?"

Megan Edwards

They are very similar but dry polenta is coarser than cornmeal, which means the baked cookie will have a different texture if you use standard cornmeal as a replacement. Hope that helps!

Rosemary Birkholz

I make these every year. Always a hit. They freeze well, too.

Rosemary

Also, I just thaw them. No need to reheat them after freezing.

Patricia Walters

Have you tried making this with fresh or frozen cranberries?

sarah

Is the baking time of 45-50 minutes correct? I've never baked a cookie that long. I thought these would be great to make for Thanksgiving.

Rosemary

Yes. That's an accurate cooking time (in my experience).

Mike

I'd err on the shorter time side. My oven set-up starts scorching the bottoms by the time 50 minutes @ 350º arrives.

Kristen

These are terrific! I made a batch yesterday and they are gone so I am making more today!

Leslie Rogers

Delicious cookies! Followed the recipe exactly and cookies were a perfect combination of soft insides with crunchy edges.

Clare

Pretty good for cornmeal and oats! I love both pumpkin and tahini. I like these cookies. Satisfying, but not so tempting that I'll binge on them! I cut back on the syrup to a little under a 1/2 cup. They'd have been better with the 2/3 cup I'm sure, but I don't eat a lot of sugar. As Rebecca noted in her review, I cut the time down also - to a kind of arbitrary 36 minutes. Thanks for the baking fun.

Rebecca

Delicious! They’re not too sweet and full of flavor. We only baked ours for 30 minutes because we didn’t want them to get crunchy.

About the Author

Headshot of Darshana Thacker

About the Author

Darshana Thacker Wendel

Darshana Thacker Wendel is a whole-food, plant-based chef and former culinary projects manager for Forks Over Knives. A graduate of the Natural Gourmet Institute, she is the author of Forks Over Knives: Flavor! She created the recipes for Forks Over Knives Family and was a lead recipe contributor to the New York Times bestseller The Forks Over Knives Plan. Her recipes have been published in The Prevent and Reverse Heart Disease Cookbook, Forks Over Knives—The Cookbook, Forks Over Knives: The Plant-Based Way to Health, and LA Yoga magazine online. Visit DarshanasKitchen.com and follow her on Instagram for more.
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