I love fall – every­thing about it. On the west coast, we have a fairly nar­row cor­ri­dor of color com­pared to the rest of the coun­try, but as a native, I can always find a fall day in length­en­ing shad­ows and cool evenings. Despite the heat­wave we’ve expe­ri­enced in South­ern Cal­i­for­nia, I am deter­mined to find autumn is any way I can. A enor­mous pot­ted mum I can barely get my arms around, the red­ding of leaves and my deep love of any­thing pumpkin.

For­tu­nately, my chil­dren have inher­ited my affec­tion for one of America’s favorite gourds. This makes me happy because pump­kins are low in calo­ries, fat and sodium and high in fiber. A good source of Vit­a­min A & B, potas­sium, pro­tein and iron, they find their way into every seg­ment of our diet. I made glo­ri­ous pump­kin soup for Thanks­giv­ing years ago, but true to nature, I didn’t write the recipe down… In the mean­time, enjoy this soft, sweet snack.

Prep time: 10 min­utes
Total time: 25 min­utes
Yield: 3 dozen cookies

1/2 c. (1 cube) room tem­per­a­ture but­ter or Vegan alter­nate (I like Earth Bal­ance)
1/2 c. brown sugar
1/4 c. agave nec­tar
1 egg
1 c. canned pump­kin 
1 tsp. vanilla 

2 c. rice flour
2 tsp. pump­kin pie spice
1 tsp. bak­ing soda
1/2 tsp. salt 

1/4 c. sugar (I use organic from Trader Joe’s)

1. Pre­heat oven to 350 degrees.
2. Cream but­ter and sugar together. Once com­bined, add agave, egg, pump­kin and vanilla and mix only until just combined.
3. In a sep­a­rate bowl, mix rice flour, pump­kin pie spice, bak­ing soda and salt.
4. Add dry ingre­di­ents to wet and mix until just combined.
5. Place 1/4 c. sugar into a small bowl.
6. Roll 1 inch balls in your hand (I use a mini ice-cream scoop so that each ball is uni­form), and drop into bowl of sugar, rolling until ball is com­pletely coated in sugar.
7. Place onto greased cookie sheets. Flat­ten balls with the bot­tom of a smooth glass and bake for 15 minutes.
8. Cool on cool­ing racks and serve. Store in air tight containers.