COOKIES OF PLENTY WITH CHOCOLATE, PUMPKIN, CRANBERRIES, AND PUMPKIN SEEDS

These cookies happen to be gluten-free. They don’t really don’t go around parading that, though, and certainly don’t taste “free” of anything found in traditional baking. They’re perfect cookies jam-packed with the season’s best.

Makes 25–30 cookies

¾ cup unsalted butter

⅔ cup packed demerara sugar (dark brown sugar)

2 teaspoons vanilla extract

2 extra-large eggs

½ cup pumpkin purée

2 cups large-flake rolled oats (not instant)

1 cup buckwheat flour

¾ cup brown rice flour

1 cup sweetened dried cranberries

½ cup semisweet or dark chocolate chips

½ cup raw, unsalted green pumpkin seeds

1 tablespoon pumpkin spice (see page 247)

½ teaspoon baking powder

½ teaspoon baking soda

½ teaspoon xanthan gum

½ teaspoon salt

Arrange oven racks to accommodate 2 baking sheets. Preheat oven to 375ºF.

In a stand mixer fitted with a paddle attachment, or by hand in a large bowl with a spatula, cream butter and sugar together until smooth. Add eggs and vanilla and mix until fluffy. Mix in pumpkin.

In a large bowl, mix together remaining dry ingredients. Stir dry ingredients into butter mixture and mix until fully incorporated. Portion cookie dough into 2½ to 3 tablespoon-sized balls, 2 inches apart, onto a large-rimmed baking sheet (you’ll have to bake in batches). Bake cookies for 7 minutes, rotate pans (bottom pan now on top, top pan now on bottom), and bake for 7 to 8 minutes longer. Cool on a wire rack and store airtight at room temperature. Baked cookies and unbaked dough can both be frozen for up to 3 months.