Pumpkin Cream Cookies

My top three favorite pies are: strawberry rhubarb, peach, and pumpkin. And not necessarily in that order. My Gramma made the MEANEST pumpkin pie. I miss her… and I miss those Sunday night family dinners at her home that often ended with a pumpkin pie, especially at this time of year. Occasionally I still make her old recipe, but the gluten in that pie crust doesn’t do me any favors.

Well, I married well because Chef James just concocted the most delicious cookies (completely grain- and gluten-free) that taste like pumpkin pie! Not quite my Gramma’s version, but a delicious substitute.

• 1 cup almonds, ground to a fine meal (or just buy almond meal here)
• 1 cup sorghum flour (like this)
• ¼ teaspoon ground cinnamon (buy here)
• ¼ tsp ground cloves (buy here)
• ¼ teaspoon ground nutmeg (buy here)
• ½ cup melted coconut oil, butter or ghee (buy good quality oils here)
• ½ cup coconut sugar (buy here)
• 1 cup pumpkin purée (like this)
• pinch sea salt (buy here)
• ¾ cup heavy cream (raw cream if you can find a good source)
• 1 tablespoon raw honey (like this)

Preheat oven to 350˚. Line two baking sheets with parchment paper.

In a medium-sized mixing bowl, combine almond meal, sorghum flour, cinnamon, cloves, and nutmeg. Mix well to combine.

In a separate bowl, combine coconut oil, sugar, pumpkin purée, and sea salt. Stir to mix well. Add to flour mixture and stir to combine.

Roll dough into walnut-sized balls. Place on baking sheet and press down in the centre of the cookie with your thumb to make a little indent.

Bake in preheated oven for 25-30 minutes. Set out to cool on a wire rack.

While cookies are cooling, prepare the cream. Add cream and honey to a clean medium-sized mixing bowl and, using a handheld mixer, whip until peaks form. Make sure you don’t go too long or you’ll have butter!

When cookies have cooled, add a dollop of cream to the indent. Either serve immediately or store in the refrigerator until ready to enjoy.