Every year around this time, I experience some serious FOMO, and pumpkin spice is to blame.

I sit idly by and scroll through my friend’s social media accounts and wish I too had my hands wrapped snugly around a steaming cup of pumpkin spice latte, a festive twinkle in my eye with snowflakes gently falling in the garland framed window behind me. Although there’s a LOT of garland and even snow in Shanghai right now, pumpkin spice lattes are hard to come by. So, I’ve done what I always do when I am missing comforts of home. I cook! I have added pumpkin spice to coconut milk lattes at home, and it almost does the trick. But I wanted a way to make it extra, and I thought oatmeal cream pies would be game changing with pumpkin spice and coconut cream involved.

In this recipe, pumpkin replaces butter, making it a healthier option for those trying to avoid oil in their diets. I did add a bit of coconut oil to this recipe, which could be omitted to make it oil free.

So, why does pumpkin make such a great replacement for butter in baking? That’s because it’s silky smooth yet low in fat, is nutrient dense, and makes whatever you are baking super moist. It also gives these cookies some much needed bulk, which results in a bit thicker and more cake like cookie, but no one in our house complained one bit! The only thing they complained about was that they disappeared too quickly.

I used fresh steamed pumpkin, which I mashed to make a puree. Canned pumpkin puree can also be used with the same results. For the frosting I used homemade coconut whipped cream, but you could use vegan butter or margarine and icing sugar if that’s your thang.