This is a guest post by cookbook author, professional model, and fashion editor Heather Green.

Colors have changed on the trees and even though my state can’t decide what climate to be, it’s definitely autumn. In the spirit of Halloween and the oncoming holiday/insanity season, I decided to cook up some seasonal dessert.

Note: As a rule, I don’t cook dessert. Not since I was twelve and baking cupcakes with my dad. For some reason, ever since I got back from Italy and started cooking more pasta and entrees than I ever had in my then twenty year life, I’ve burned practically everything with sugar that I put in the oven. I have an inkling that that may have had something to do with the oven at my first apartment being made circa 1955; still, my dessert-making ego was shattered for some time.

I’ve had a decent oven for years now, but it’s only been recently that I’ve had the nerve to cook anything but pizza in it. These came out great a few weeks ago, and I’m thinking about working up the courage to do it again. They were great out of the oven and don’t get hard and crusty as they cool—they remain chewy for some time. That’s mostly thanks to the flax seeds, but you can choose to go without and they still taste good!

Ingredients

2 cups flour

1 1/3 cups rolled oats

1 teaspoon baking soda

¾ teaspoon salt

1 teaspoon cinnamon

½ teaspoon nutmeg

1 2/3 cups sugar

2/3 cup canola oil

2 tablespoons molasses

1 cup canned pumpkin or cooked pureed pumpkin

1 teaspoon vanilla

1 tablespoon ground flax seeds

1 cup walnuts, finely chopped

½ cup raisins

Preparation

Preheat the oven to 350° F and lightly grease two baking sheets. Combine flour, oats, baking soda, salt, cinnamon, and nutmeg in a mixing bowl.

In another bowl, thoroughly mix sugar, oil, molasses, pumpkin puree, vanilla, and flax seeds. Add contents from other bowl into this one and fold. Fold in walnuts and raisins.

Use a tablespoon to size each cookie on the greased baking sheets, about an inch apart from one another (they don’t spread a whole lot, so you’ll have to flatten them into cookie shapes!).

Stick them in the oven for about 15 minutes, rotating the baking sheets for an even outcome. You’ll make about four dozen cookies.

After 15 minutes, remove them carefully from the oven and place them on a wire rack to cool. Grab a cup of milk and enjoy!

Heather is a freelance writer and the resident blogger for Gocollege.com, a free informational website offering tips and advice about colleges online.