Tip: Make Pumpkin Cheesecake Cookies

Everyone's sick of pumpkin. This is what happens with food trends. They're hot for a while, we collectively go overboard, and then we can't stand them anymore. Remember kale? Even people who never tried kale were tired of kale.

But this is different. Yes, pumpkin is a main ingredient, but there's also an entire brick of cream cheese in it, which totally redeems the deliciousness. What about nutrition? Well, there's about 75 grams of protein in the whole recipe, minimal carbs for a dessert, and as low in fat as you want it to be.

Ingredients

• 1 Cup (about 3.5 scoops) Vanilla Metabolic Drive® Protein
• 8 ounces of cream cheese. Use fat free or full fat. Any will do.
• 1 Cup canned pumpkin puree – about half a can
• 1/4 Cup Splenda (or equivalent low-calorie sweetener of choice)
• Splash of vanilla extract
• 1/4 teaspoon salt
• 1/4 teaspoon baking soda
• Liberal dashes of cardamom, cinnamon, ginger, or a pumpkin pie spice blend
• Optional: chopped nuts of any kind or dark chocolate chips

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees Fahrenheit.
2. Mix the ingredients together. Don’t worry about smoothing out all the cream cheese lumps, the cookies still turn out amazing even with lumpy batter.
3. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper or spray it with baking oil.
4. Use a medium scooper to evenly scoop out the dough into 8-10 cookies.
5. Bake for 15-20 minutes depending on your oven and how big your cookies are.
6. Check for doneness by stabbing a cookie with a toothpick. If the pick comes out clean, they're done. If it comes out with batter, it needs a few more minutes.