This is the second recipe that was made for cookie swap and these were shipped to Deeba of Passionate about baking. When I received her as my match I was ecstatic. It was a pure fan-girl moment! She and her blog is truly an inspiration for me. She captures mouthwatering food-pics and if you haven’t already, you must subscribe to her blog NOW. It was a difficult task deciding what to bake for her and I finally came up with these simple cookies. I hope she enjoyed them as much as I did 🙂

These oatmeal cookies are made with whole wheat flour. Magic ingredient involved – Cornstarch! It has been added to the cookies which keeps them thick and puffed after baking. Each bite is orange-y and filled with pumpkin seeds. Do not skip the dough chilling step. It is absolutely mandatory for the ease of handling dough. Another important tip is to not over-crowd the cookie sheet. Arrange only 9 dough-balls for each batch.

Happy Baking!

Zesty Whole Wheat Pumpkin Seeds Oatmeal Cookies

Makes: 20 cookies | Prep time: 10 minutes | Chill time: 30-60 minutes | Bake time: 8-9 minutes

Ingredients:

• 1 cup whole wheat flour
• 1 cup + 2 Tbsp oats
• 2 tsp cornstarch
• 1 tsp baking soda
• pinch of salt
• 1/3 cup unsalted butter, at room temperature
• 2/3 cup light brown sugar
• 1/4 cup granulated white sugar
• 2 Tbsp freshly grated orange zest
• 1 large egg
• 2 tsp vanilla extract
• 1 tsp orange extract (optional)
• 3/4 cup pumpkin seeds, roasted
• 2 Tbsp milk

Directions:

1. In a medium bowl, whisk together flour, oats, cornstarch, baking soda and salt. Set aside.
2. In a bowl of your electric mixer, beat the butter until soft. Add both sugars and beat until light and fluffy on a medium speed for about 1-2 minute. Whisk in orange zest. Add egg and continue to beat for another minute. Whisk in vanilla and orange extract.
3. Carefully add dry ingredients to the bowl and beat at slow speed until no flour pockets remain. Add 2 Tbsp milk to bring the dough together.
4. Fold in the pumpkin seeds to the dough. Let the dough chill in the refrigerator for 30 minutes to 1 hour. Do not skip this step as the dough is unmanageable at the room temperature.
5. Preheat the oven at 180ºC / 350ºF. Line the cookie sheet with parchment paper. Take 1 Tbsp of dough and form it into a ball between your palms. Arrange the dough balls on cookie sheet 2-inch apart from each other and bake for 8-9 minutes. Do not overbake. The sides should be golden and center may seem soft but it will set once cooled. Let the cookies cool on a cookie sheet for 5 minutes and then transfer it to a cooling rack. Once cooled completely, transfer it to an airtight container. Cookies keep fresh for about 7 days at room temperature.