sea salted pumpkin-oat cookies

I do love a good salted oatmeal cookie.
A nice thick, crisp outside, soft in the middle, salted oatmeal cookie.
Just enough sweet in the middle to offset the salty top.
And now we can add pumpkin to it!
So this is for all those pumpkin emails I received asking for MORE pumpkin cookies recipes that aren't terribly time consuming.
Speaking of pumpkin, I hope you've tried baking with pumpkin butter?
pumpkin bread chocolate bark
pumpkin snack cake with buttercream frosting
pumpkin butter crunch bars
AND of course the ever popular pumpkin oreo's!

I got a lot of compliments on these cookies.
A nice gentle pumpkin flavor, the nuttiness of the oatmeal and just the right amount of sea salt on top to balance all the flavors out.
I love that pumpkin butter adds the flavor of pumpkin without all that wetness that a pumpkin can sometimes do to a cookie.

I can't tell you how fast the 1st batch and then the second batch were eaten!
Like a vacuum sucks in air---gone baby gone!

I do like making my cookies a tad bigger than most people (shocker I know).
Here I used a medium ice cream scoop.
If you want smaller cookies-please go ahead; you might want to reduce the baking times.
And please, don't forget that little bit of sea salt on the tops?  OK?

Right out of the oven they will be very soft and delicate--just let them rest a bit and firm up;
it will be worth the wait--I promise

salty pumpkin-oatmeal cookies
recipe from vanillasugarblog.com
print recipe

2 sticks unsalted butter, room temp (16 TB)
¾ cup light brown sugar, NOT packed
1/2 cup white sugar
2 large eggs
3 oversized TB pumpkin butter (I used Trader Joe’s)
1 ¾ cups bread flour
¾ cup flour
1 ts baking powder
1 ts baking soda
1 ts sea salt
½ TB cinnamon
2 cups of rolled oats (not quick cooking!)
sea salt for sprinkling the tops

Cook notes:  I used Trader Joe’s pumpkin butter.  You can use any type of pumpkin butter.  I do like to make my cookies larger than normal, so if you wish to make smaller cookies just watch the baking times as smaller cookies may need less time in the oven. Once the dough is mixed, it really needs to chill and set up; if you skip this step you might have flatter cookies.
As always I like to remind everyone that I don’t have a mixer, so everything I mix is by hand; if you have one lucky you!

In a medium bowl, whisk all the dry ingredients.
In a larger bowl, cream the butter and sugars; add in the eggs, pumpkin butter and mix.
Add dry ingredients to the wet and mix till just combined--don't overmix.
Next, by hand, add in the rolled oats.
Cover dough well with plastic wrap and refrigerate for at least three hours or overnight (I let this sit in fridge 48 hours and it was fine).
When ready to bake, preheat oven to 375 degrees.
Line up two baking sheets with parchment paper or whatever method you use for baking cookies.
Using a medium ice cream scoop, scoop out and place on cookie sheet about an inch apart.
Sprinkle tops with sea salt before baking.
Bake for about 13-17 minutes.
Rotate pans halfway through baking.
You'll know they are done when the bottoms are almost crisp/set up and the tops have a gentle crisp to them. It's really easy to overbake them, so definitely check at the 13-minute mark.
Makes about 18-22 cookies? (I’m sorry I can’t remember!  LOL)