When you think of fall in Ontario, visits to the apple orchard, wagon rides out to the pumpkin patch to pick the perfect pumpkin, and fall festivals are likely some of your favourite memories. Beyond finding Pumpkin Spice Lattes on every corner of the city, for many fall baking is another requirement of the season! Here is a great and easy way to bring fall traditions into your cottage experience, after visiting the annual festivals and farms, by taking advantage of the well-equipped kitchens available in each of our Ontario Cottage Rentals!
Gathering Your Ingredients
Planning for your fall adventure, you’ll want to check out the Ontario cottages closest to what you want to explore. Is it a traditional Ontario Fall Festival or will a local farmers’ roadside stand or farm be the perfect quick stop for you and your guests on your way to the cottage?
After picking the perfect apples and baking pumpkins – be sure it’s a baking pumpkin, nothing too big, give everything a good wash and then it’s time to start!
First, you’re going to pre-heat the oven to 325F and cut your pumpkin in half, cleaning out all the seeds. On a cookie sheet, that’s been sprayed and/or covered in parchment paper or tinfoil, place the pumpkin halves on the sheet, adding water to the tray to help the cooking process, so it doesn’t dry out. Baking usually takes about 45 minutes, depending on the size of your pumpkin. Be sure to check by the 30-minute mark, a fork should go through the side easily once it’s fully cooked.
While that’s baking, you can peel 6 or 7 apples, then cut them into little pieces to cook down into your apple sauce on the stove. Add water to the bottom of the pot and cook on medium to low heat, stirring often. Our Ontario cottage rentals will have a selection of cooking and bakeware to use but if you have a favourite peeler or stoneware that you use every year, you can always bring that along with you!
Once your pumpkin is baked, you can easily remove it from the rind with a fork and put it aside to cool! At this point, you’ll want to raise the oven to 350F for the cookies.
Now you’re ready to make the batter! It’s a super easy recipe that makes dozens of cookies and has been perfected a little bit more each time we make it!
Pumpkin Apple Oatmeal Chocolate Chip Cookies
1 1/2 cups apple sauce
2 cups packed brown sugar
1 cup sugar
2 cups pumpkin puree
1 egg
1 tsp vanilla extract
4 cups all-purpose flour
2 cups quick-cooking oats
2 tsp baking soda
2 tsp ground cinnamon
1 tsp salt
2 cups semi-sweet or dark chocolate chips
In a bowl or with a mixer, cream the apple sauce and sugars. Beat in the pumpkin, egg and vanilla. Combine the flour, oats, baking soda, cinnamon and salt; gradually add to the creamed mixture then stir in the chocolate chips.
Once your batter is finished, use a tablespoon to drop each cookie 2 inches apart on a lined baking sheet. Bake at 350F for 10-12 minutes or until lightly brown. Remove to wire racks to cool!
Be sure to pack your Tupperware containers to bring any remaining cookies home with you, at the end of your cottage adventure! With the recipe able to make up to 10 dozen, there should be a few left at least!
Now of course, you can always substitute with store-bought apple sauce and pumpkin puree (not pie filling) by the jar or can, but these cookies really are that much better when you’ve picked and baked the apples and pumpkin yourself!
Have a favourite fall recipe you make every year, that you’d like to share?
Send it to us, we’d love to test it out!
We hope you give these a try and if you do, be sure to tag us on Facebook & Instagram and add #cottagelinkrecipes and #cottagelinkrentalmanagement to your posts so we see them!
With so much to see and do throughout Ontario this fall, be sure not to miss any of the local attractions by booking a short stay in an Ontario Cottage Rental! CottageLINK Rental Management would love to help you plan your perfect fall getaway, no matter which festival you plan to attend. Be sure to check out all our cottages or reach out and let one of our Cottage Country Experts help plan your trip.
