Jumbo Jack-o-Lantern Cookies

**Disclaimer** This is not a light recipe...although I did use "I Can't Believe It's Not Butter" margarine sticks instead of real butter...and it turned out just fine.

Also - the pictures are taken with my phone, and aren't the best - but I promise I didn't burn the cookies!

At the church I work for there is a children's choir.  Every Tuesday the choir gets together for snack (it's right after school), singing, and games.  This quarter, my own classes have unfortunately fallen on Tuesdays and so I can't be there to practice with them....However, I still take turns providing the snacks, and it's my turn for this week.

So, I made these Jumbo Jack-O-Lantern cookies...it was my first try and I think they turned out very well.  They taste something like a combination of chocolate chip cookies and pumpkin bread - both great  flavors and combine well.

Here's the recipe: This was originally taken (I believe) a couple years ago from a Taste of Home magazine. I have had it in my recipe file but haven't gotten around to trying these until now....

Ingredients:
1 c. butter softened (I used margarine, worked well)
1 c. sugar
1 c. packed brown sugar
1 egg
1 tsp vanilla
2 cups flour
1 c. quick-cooking oats (I only had about 3/4 cup, so I added an extra 1/4 cup of flour, and it worked just fine)
1 tsp. B.S. (Baking Soda, I think I'll abbreviate this way from now on)
1 tsp cinnamon
1/2 tsp salt
1 c. canned pumpkin (Now I have extra canned pumpkin, any ideas what I can do with it - besides pie?)
1 cup semisweet chocolate chips
Frosting (I used a basic buttercream for the green and store-bought black (because how do you make black frosting!?), but you can do whatever you want)
-The original recipe used orange frosting, but I found it hard to see on the cookies, and used black for a more traditional jack-o-lantern look.

Directions:
1. Cream butter and sugars.  Add egg and vanilla.
2. Combine flour, oats, B.S., Cinnamon & salt, add to the creamed mixture - alternating with pumpkin.
3. Stir in chocolate chips
4). Drop by heaping tablespoonfuls onto foil-lined cookie sheets.
-Spread the cookies out into oval (pumpkin) shapes, and add an extra teaspoon of dough at the top for a stem.
5). Bake at 350 for 16-19 minutes.  Let sit until removable and cool on a rack (if you don't have one, paper towels work great - that's what I do)
6). Frost the "stems" with green frosting and create faces with the black!

These are fun and festive cookies - even coming from someone who's not big into Halloween, I bet the kids will love them!

By the way - these cookies are very large!