For most of us the celebration of Halloween is about scary fancy dress, trick or treating and ducking for apples…but the origins of Halloween have been traced back to the ancient Celtic festival of Samhain. It was known to signify the end of the summer and a change in daily life, the end of the last harvest meant people took to their warmer homes working on crafts and spending more time together. It was thought as a magical time with strong connection to the world of the dead (hence the scary costumes we see nowadays!)

So with a little nod to the celebrations we made these Pumpkin and Cinnamon Cookies with some leftover pumpkin. They’re a bit on the healthy side but with some optional orange icing to sweeten them up if you fancy?! And really rather nice with a warm cup of tea…

Happy Halloween!

CINNAMON AND PUMPKIN COOKIES

Ingredients :

• 75g wholemeal flour
• 50g porridge oats
• 50g pumpkin puree
• 75g butter
• A handful of raisins
• ½ tsp ground cinnamon
• ½ tsp bicarbonate of soda
• pinch of sea salt
• Icing sugar and orange food colouring (for decorating)

1.Blitz your leftover pumpkin (the insides once seeds are removed) to a puree in the food processor.

2.Combine all the dry ingredients in one bowl and wet ingredients in the other.

3. Mix everything together and add the raisins.

4. Make small balls (around the size of a squash ball and then flatten down onto a lined baking tray.

5. Bake for 15 minutes at 180 or until golden brown on top.

You can either leave them as they are and enjoy or decorate with some orange icing…

Enjoy x