Preheat the oven to 350 degrees Fahrenheit and line a large baking sheet with parchment paper.

Mix together the pumpkin puree, pure maple syrup and almond butter in a mixing bowl until combined and creamy.

Add in the remaining dry ingredients (oats, pumpkin pie spice, salt, and chocolate chips if adding) and mix until everything is well-combined.

The dough will be very wet and will get your hands sticky - this is normal.

Form cookies out of the dough, creating any size you like. I do about ⅓ cup to ½ cup of the cookie dough per cookie to make larger cookies. Form the dough into disc shapes, as the dough will not spread during the baking process and will maintain its shape. If you’d like, top the cookies with extra chocolate chips.

Bake on the center rack of the preheated oven for 10 to 12 minutes, or until the edges are just slightly golden-brown.

Remove pumpkin oatmeal cookies from the oven and allow them to cool completely before removing them from the cookie sheet. If you like the salty sweet combo, sprinkle the cookies with flaky sea salt when they are fresh out of the oven.