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!