Halloween Party Treat: Pumpkin Chocolate Chip Cookies

I know, Starbucks rushed the season by offering their pumpkin spice latte in August. I sipped one while sneering at a Christmas display when I was back to school shopping. (Just kidding. August was too hot for lattes.)

But now that Halloween is truly around the corner, it is exactly the right time for our favorite pumpkin chocolate chip cookies.

I created this recipe years ago when the boys were toddlers- the recipes I had found seemed unnecessarily complicated, so I experimented with a cross between chocolate chip cookies and pumpkin pie. I promise there is nothing intimidating here, except maybe the amount of flour.

If you have younger helpers, have them pack the brown sugar while you assemble the dry ingredients. The boys also used to enjoy scraping the sides of the bowl with the spatula in between steps.

The cookies are light, almost cake-like, with a mild pumpkin flavor. We like them better with walnuts (then you get two superfoods in one cookie!) but we make them without for school functions and parties to avoid nut allergy issues.

Now… set aside a few hours this weekend, dust off your stand mixer, and have a little fun telling yourself you’re making a healthy-ish snack everyone will love. (Also, this is WAY better than eating that giant bag of Halloween candy you wish you hadn’t bought.) You’ll thank me later, I promise!

Pumpkin Chocolate Chip Cookies

4 cups flour
2 tsp baking soda
1 tsp baking powder
1 tsp salt
1 tsp cinnamon
¼ tsp nutmeg
¼ tsp cloves (heaping, if you like more cloves)
2 sticks butter, softened
½ c sugar
1 c firmly packed brown sugar
2 tsp vanilla
2 eggs
1 can pumpkin (lately I’ve used Farmer’s Market organic pumpkin 16 oz box)
3 cups chocolate chips
1 c chopped walnuts, optional

(Before you do anything: Take butter out of freezer and allow to soften. I forget this step often.)

1. Whisk together flour, baking soda, baking powder, salt and spices in separate bowl, set aside.
2. In a stand mixer, cream butter and sugars until fluffy, scraping the sides. Add vanilla, scrape again.
3. Add eggs, one at a time.
4. Add pumpkin, half can at a time. Scrape sides and bottom.
5. Add flour mixture, scrape sides and bottom.
6. Add chocolate chips, slowly. Then add nuts (optional).
7. Put on cookie sheets in rounded teaspoons. (Drop cookie style- you can put them close together because they will hold their shape, unlike regular chocolate chip cookies.)
8. Bake at 375, in the upper part of oven, for 13-15 minutes. Let stand on the cookie sheet for a minute before cooling on wire rack.
   Makes 7-8 dozen small drop cookies.