I thought spending nights away from Mike would be easy. Turns out, it’s not so easy. Especially when it comes to photographing food for the blog. It’s hard to bounce light, get a good angle, and take a decent photo with two hands. It’s even more frustrating when dealing with a rapidly setting sun. And it’s even worse when I accidentally (almost) drop the camera and smash my fingers really, really hard trying to catch it. And on top of all that, I was dealing with a tower of toppling cookies.

The upside is that the toppling tower(s) of cookies got damaged and had to get eaten. Immediately. By me. Alone. Yikes. Because I’m pretty sure that cookies can get bruised just like apples can. I think I ate 8 cookies the night I took these pictures. I 10000% blame this on Mike not being around.

I can still remember the first time I had cinnamon chips. It was on a loaf of freshly-baked banana bread made by the production manager at my old job. And it blew my mind. I may or may not have eaten all the cinnamon chips off the top of the bread and brought the rest of it home to Mike.

Fast forward a year: I get Ashley’s blog Cheese Curd in Paradise for a vegetarian recipe swap. I see the pumpkin oatmeal cookies and every entrée on her blog is no longer a consideration. I really, really , really wanted to use cinnamon chips in this recipe. If cinnamon chips + banana = awesome, cinnamon chips + pumpkin = more awesome. Right? Right. These cookies are light and fluffy and the cinnamon chips and walnuts are a perfect complement to the pumpkin cookie base.

Please, go make these cookies now. Especially if you’ve never had cinnamon chips before. Because I don’t want you to end up like me – a girl who lived without cinnamon chips for 25 years. It’s a sad, empty life. Trust me.

Pumpkin Oatmeal Cookies with Cinnamon Chips and Walnuts
makes 4 dozen cookies

2 cups flour
1 ½ cups old fashioned oats
1 teaspoon baking soda
2 teaspoons ground cinnamon
1 teaspoon pumpkin pie spice
½ teaspoon kosher salt
1 cup (2 sticks) unsalted butter, softened
1 cup packed brown sugar
1 cup granulated sugar
1 cup pure pumpkin puree
2 large eggs
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 cup cinnamon chips
3/4 cup walnuts, chopped

1. Preheat oven to 350F. Line cookie sheets with parchment paper and set aside.
2. In a medium bowl, whisk together flour, oats, baking soda, cinnamon, pumpkin pie spice, and salt.
3. In a large mixing bowl, beat butter, brown sugar, and granulated sugar until light and fluffy. Mix in pumpkin, eggs, and vanilla extract. With the mixer on low speed, mix in dry ingredients until just combined. Fold in cinnamon chips and walnuts.
4. Drop batter by rounded tablespoonfuls 2 inches apart onto prepared cookie sheet. Bake for 12 – 14 minutes or until cookies are very lightly browned.
5. Let cool on cookie sheet for 2 minutes before transferring to a cooling rack to cool completely.

recipe very slightly adapted from Cheese Curd in Paradise, originally from My Baking Addiction

Thanks again to Sarah at Taste of Home Cooking for hosting! Click on the link to check out the other delicious swap recipes!