Phyllis Yetter's Christmas Pumpkin Cookies

This Christmas season has been weird. First of all, we're stuck in a pandemic. We live in Los Angeles, which currently has the highest rate of Covid cases in, uh, THE ENTIRE WORLD, so we've been staying at home with the exception of taking Forest on walks and hikes. I've been working out my boredom and trying to cultivate a cheery Christmas atmosphere by baking dozens and dozens of cookies, from classic soft sugar cookies to Christmas pumpkin cookies and back again. 

(Click here to go right to the Christmas Pumpkin Cookies recipe and skip over my heartfelt headnote)

Second, well, my mom died in October. This is my first Christmas without her and my dad, AND I can't even go home to Maine because of Coronavirus, so Christmas cookies are basically all I have to stave of depression. Well, cookies and Forest, affectionately called Fofo, Little Bun, Bunny, etc. He's basically the best little Christmas elf cohort I could ask for while dealing with the pile of shit that is this year. 

Long story short, I'm currently obsessed with all things cooking and family. I've been trying to collect and chronicle my and my husband's family recipes recently. Cooking was my mom's love language, and it's mine too. I want to preserve our families' recipes, because I see them as expressions of love, even from family members who are now gone. 

Take, for instance, Phyllis Yetter, my husband Nate's grandmother. 

I never got to meet her, because she passed away before Nate and I got together. But I've always been fascinated to hear about her for several reasons. For one, she raised my mother-in-law Lu (check out her blog here), who is one of my favorite people in the world. And for two, she was an amazing quilter. I'm an extremely amateur quilter, but Phyllis was a true artist. She sewed more than 200 quilts, and her piecing and fabric selection were always gorgeous. Nate's house growing up was filled with her quilts and wall-hangings, and I always loved looking at the different patterns, trying to figure out how exactly they were all sewn together. Lu gifted us with one of Phyllis's quilts a few years ago (Nate makes us save it for special occassions so we can keep it in good condition even though if it was up to me we'd use it basically always), and a wall hanging that we have on display in our new home. 

Lu also recently sent me a photo of a sheet of recipes that Phyllis sent to her when she moved into her first apartment. Just my luck, they're cookie recipes! 

Phyllis carefully wrote up the cookie recipes on a typewriter and gave them to her daughter. Now, her daughter has passed the recipe on to me, the luckiest daughter-in-law pretty much ever, and in the interest of carrying on family traditions I knew I had to make some of these cookies. 

The recipe that first caught my eye was for Christmas Pumpkin Cookies. I had all of the ingredients in my pantry already, and was pleasantly suprised to see that the recipe was already vegan. A lot of vintage cookie recipes call for shortening instead of butter, and this recipe happens to be egg-free, too. Pumpkin is a great natural vegan egg replacer, adding moisture to recipes and acting as a binder.

The cookies are pillowy-soft, with a creamy dough that benefits from an hour in the fridge before being dropped on a greased cookie sheet and baked. They're loaded with dried fruit and nuts, flavored with vanilla, and spiced with cinnamon. As is, they're a tasty treat that's delicious with coffee and tea (and wholesome enough to have one with breakfast - after all, it is Christmas!). If you're looking for something that's a little sweeter, you can drizzle on a simple icing made from powdered sugar. 

Whether you're making these vegan Christmas Pumpkin Cookies for yourself or as a gift, you can bake them knowing the recipe was shared with love, passed down through three generations of our family to yours. 

Thanks for reading, and Happy Holidays! Please share your family's holiday cooking traditions in the comments! 

Phyllis Yetter's Christmas Pumpkin Cookies

Ingredients

1/2 cup shortening

1 cup sugar

1 cup canned pumpkin

1 cup dates (pitted and chopped) or raisins

1 cup nutmeats

1 teaspoon vanilla

1 teaspoon baking soda

1 teaspoon baking powder

1 teaspoon cinnamon

2 cups all-purpose flour

See recipe notes for additions and modifications*

Instructions

1. Cream shortening and sugar together until light and fluffy. 

2. Add pumpkin and vanilla and mix well. 

3. Add the date or raisins, and nutmeats. I used chopped pitted dates and untoasted walnut pieces, and they came out really well!

4. Sift together the baking soda, baking powder, and cinnamon, then mix them into the wet ingredients until a creamy dough is formed. It should be thicker than cake batter, but not firm like storebought cookie dough. Also, to make this a one-bowl cookie recipe, I just sift the dry ingredients right into my mixer bowl with the wet ingredients. Chill for one hour.

5. Preheat the oven to 375. Drop the cookie dough by spoonfuls onto a greased or parchment-lined cookie sheet. Bake for 8-10 minutes, until the tops of the cookies feel firm to the touch - your finger shouldn't leave an indent in the dough when they are done. 

6. Let the cookies cool on the baking sheet for a few minutes, then transfer to a cooling rack. Add icing if desired one the cookies are completely cool to the touch (otherwise the icing will melt right off and make a huge mess!). 

*Recipe notes: 

• I added about 1/2 cup extra flour to help the dough come together.
• I doubled the amount of spice in the cookies, and used a pumpkin pie spice blend instead of plain cinnamon.
• I think this recipe would work well with half whole wheat flour or oat flour.