Pumpkin Chocolate Chip Cookies

These are a recipe I created five or six years ago that have become a regular during the fall and winter months. While pumpkin and chocolate might not naturally come to mind as a combination, they work really well together in a cookie!  Oh, did I mention that they're low-fat?

I came up with the recipe when I purchased some pumpkin chocolate chip cookies from a bakery that I thought were tasty. I said to myself, "Hey, I could make these!"  I'd heard of substituting butter with applesauce in baking to reduce fat, and figured that canned pumpkin was about the same consistency as applesauce so it would probably work the same.  The cookies are a bit more cake-like than a traditional chocolate chip cookie, but equally satisfying and just as hard to stop eating!  To make an even healthier cookie (and still tasty), use your favorite oatmeal cookie recipe but use only 3T of butter and 1 cup of pumpkin puree (and the spices).

Notes: because they are more cake-like and have less fat, they don't store well in air-tight containers; neither do they look as nice when they are a few days old - so don't make well in advance if you're serving them to guests!  Extra pumpkin can be frozen until your next pumpkin recipe!

Pumpkin Chocolate Chip Cookies
3 T butter, softened
1 cup pumpkin puree
1 cup light brown sugar, packed
1/2 cup white sugar
2 eggs
2 tsp. vanilla
2 1/2 cups flour
1 tsp kosher salt
1 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp cinnamon
pinch ground cloves
pinch nutmeg
pinch allspice
12 oz. semi-sweet chocolate chips

1.  In an electric mixer, combine butter, pumpkin, sugars, eggs and vanilla until well blended.

2.  In another bowl, combine the flour, salt, baking soda and spices and mix together (I use a whisk).  With the mix on low, add the flour mixture to the pumpkin  mixture until just combined.  Add the chocolate chips and mix until chocolate chips are just incorporated.

3.  Spoon cookies onto a cookie sheet and bake at 375 for about 11 minutes.  Be sure to bake until cookies spring to the touch and peaks are just starting to turn golden.  You definitely don't want them to be undercooked since they are cake-like!

Enjoy!

Peppermint Bark

I'm not a crafty person.  I don't particularly enjoy crafting, and I'm not very good at it when I do attempt a project.  So it's not much of a surprise that as of yet, my only successful home-made Christmas presents this year are the ones made in the kitchen.  While it does remain a mystery as to why I decided to attempt these crafty projects in the first place, I can't seem to give up on them - which means I can't say what they are until they are a complete fail. The fact that Christmas is less than two weeks away? Well, let's just say that I might be making massive doses of Peppermint Bark on Christmas Eve...

But, since my kitchen creation was a complete success, I am delighted to share my own Peppermint Bark recipe with you!!  Like my crafts, I had no recipe, just an idea in my head that I was hoping would work.  I think next year I'll stick to the kitchen since it takes a lot less time and I am a lot more successful.

This is such a simple recipe and can be made in a quick slab form or you can get creative and use cookie cutters as molds. (This recipe would also lend itself well for girly baby showers or for Valentine's Day treats - just don't use Christmas cookie cutters or candy cane bits on top!)  They make such a fun, festive presentation!

Ingredients
1/2 lb. good white chocolate - or slightly less is okay (I use Callebaut)
1/2 lb. good semi-sweet chocolate (I use Callebaut)
2.5 oz. Andes Peppermint Crunch Baking Chips (or Peppermint Crunch bars, chopped (1/2 box)
1 to 2 candy canes, chopped

1.  If using cookie cutters, grease with cooking spray and place on wax paper.  Melt semi-sweet chocolate in double boiler (glass bowl over pot of simmering water, be sure bowl is not touching water) or in a microwavable bowl in 30 second increments, stirring every 30 seconds (about 2 minutes total).  When chocolate is completely melted, stir well and spoon a thin layer (about 1/4 inch) into molds or spread a thin layer onto wax paper. A toothpick is great for getting the chocolate into the edges of a cookie cutter.  It's helpful to have the wax paper on a cookie sheet so you can pop chocolate into the refrigerator to cool while you prepare the rest of the ingredients.

2.  Melt white chocolate and Andes mints, together, using the same method as in step one and spread/spoon on top of the firm, semi-sweet chocolate.  Top with candy cane pieces while still warm.  Allow to cool and harden on the counter or you may cool in the refrigerator.

3.  Break the slabs of peppermint bark apart for serving.  To get the peppermint bark out of the cookie cutters, carefully push them from the bottom (semi-sweet side).  This will prevent the darker chocolate from smearing onto the pink - if your cookie cutters bend onto the inside on the top rim, you'll have to push from the top down.  You may need to take a sharp knife to trim some of the edges down or to scrape some of the edges off where the chocolate may have bled to make the pieces more attractive.  It's good to cover your fingers with a plastic sandwich baggie so you don't get chocolate smudges on the pink chocolate while handling/pushing the peppermint bark!

Enjoy!

Peanut Butterfinger Cookies

This is likely to be about as close to a recipe with nuts as you'll ever find on this blog (with the exception of if I ever find that pistachio biscotti recipe I made years ago)!  I'm not a big fan of nuts. Okay, I'll be honest - I don't like nuts.  And there are even a few to which I am allergic.  But I gotta say that peanut butter mixed with butter and sugar isn't all that bad!

These are a fun twist on the classic peanut butter cookie that kids and grownups alike will enjoy.  Even without the candy I think this would be a little different than your run-of-the-mill peanut butter cookie; of course, I don't eat peanut butter cookies very often, so you'll have to try it yourself and let me know how you think it compares!

Ingredients
5 Butterfinger bars, roughly chopped
1 cup unsalted butter, softened
2/3 cup creamy peanut butter
1 cup sugar
1 cup brown sugar
2 eggs
2 tsp. pure vanilla extract
2 2/3 cup flour
1 tsp. kosher salt
2 tsp. baking soda

1.  Cream butter, peanut butter and sugars together.  Add eggs and vanilla and mix until well blended.

2.  In a separate bowl, combine flour, salt and soda.  Add to the butter mixture until just combined.  Add the chopped Butterfinger pieces and mix until fully incorporated into batter.

3.  Bake at 350 for about 10 minutes until cookies are golden brown.  Let sit on pan briefly and remove to a wire rack.  Do not let cookies sit on pan for too long - cooling candy pieces will stick to the pan and make the cookies hard to remove! 

Enjoy!