‘Tis the season. 

‘Tis the season for these cookies! The late fall and winter time is so perfect for these flavors. And by these flavors, I’m referring to pumpkin, cinnamon, cloves…mmmmmmmm! Many people tend to use these flavors only during the fall and winter. I think that’s silly. These flavors are too perfect together to go without them 9 months of the year. Who’s with me?!

Today I wanted to tell you about my best ‘secret’ for whole grain baking. I say ‘secret’ because for some reason, most people aren’t aware of how to make whole grain baking not so whole grainy. You know what flavor I’m talking about. 

The secret: whole wheat pastry flour. Whole wheat pastry flour can be used when baking cookies, brownies, pies, cakes, pancakes, or anything of the sort. You can use it when making quick breads (i.e. pumpkin bread), but it is not ideal for making bread breads (yes, I purposely typed bread twice). You know, like a sandwich bread, or a dinner roll. Any bread that includes yeast you don’t want to use the whole wheat pastry flour.  

Whole wheat pastry flour is made from a soft white wheat–yes, it is still a whole grain product. You would typically find that a traditional whole wheat flour that you’re used to is made from a hard red wheat. Whole wheat pastry flour is still nutrient dense while providing a more tender texture due to its lower protein (or gluten) content. This tender texture makes the baked good taste like you used regular white all-purpose flour. But you didn’t. Muhahaha! You just tricked your spouse, family, children, and friends into eating whole grain.

I call that a “nutrition win”!

Plus, who knew there were so many different kinds of wheat? Well now you know at least two.

Look for whole wheat pastry flour at your local grocery store. You should be able to find it–even if you have never heard of it before–right in the baking aisle. Plus, I’m thinking these delicious cookies should be the first thing you make with this amazing flour. 

Pumpkin Ginger Molasses Cookies

Recipe Adapted from: The Veg Life

ingredients

3/4 cup Earth Balance (or, butter) at room temperature

1 cup granulated sugar

1/4 cup pumpkin puree

1/4 cup molasses

2 1/4 cup whole wheat pastry flour

1 teaspoon baking soda

1 1/2 teaspoons ground ginger

1 teaspoon ground cinnamon

1/2 teaspoon ground cloves

1/4 teaspoon salt

Additional sugar for rolling

directions

Preheat your oven to 350 degrees.

Using an electric mixer, cream the butter and sugar until light and fluffy. Add the pumpkin and molasses until well combined. 

In a separate bowl, combine the flour, baking soda, ginger, cinnamon, cloves, and salt. Mix until well combined. 

Next, slowly add the dry mixture to the butter mixture. Mix until just combined making sure you do not over mix. 

Grab a plate and add some sugar to it, maybe 1/4 cup. This is for rolling the dough in.  

Using a cookie scoop (or just eyeballing it), scoop out a ball of dough onto a cookie sheet (I just scoop out a full cookie sheet worth). Then, roll the dough in your hands to make a smooth ball. Roll in sugar. Place back onto the cookie sheet. Continue until you run out of dough. 

Bake for 10-12 minutes. Let the cookies cool for a bit before eating–simply so you don’t burn your tongue. 

Enjoy!