Chocolate Chip Pumpkin Cookies

I've never been the biggest fan of anything pumpkin flavored.  Not pumpkin pie.  Nor pumpkin cheesecake.  And especially not pumpkin spice lattes.  The flavor is just "meh" to me.  All that to be said, my whole family tends to love the taste.  And from the looks of social media, it appears that the rest of the free world feels the same way as my family.  #oddmanout

A few years ago I baked this delicious chocolate chip pumpkin bread and...shockingly...absolutely LOVED it.  

We've been on a bit of a cookie kick lately and I wanted to take that same bread concept and bake it in cookie form.  I don't come up with my own recipes so I set out to find the perfect method already tested and tasted by one of the pros :)  And let me tell y'all right now...this one is a WINNER.  My new go-to cookie recipe. 

This batch lasted a total of 1.5 days in the house.  My husband and my boys were CRAZY about them.  And while I'm not a fan of pumpkin myself, I have to say that I was crazy about these, too.  The pumpkin isn't overwhelming, but you can definitely taste it.  They're bakery style soft and fluffy.  And even though I try *really* hard not to eat sweets during the week, these were simply irresistible.  

PUMPKIN CHOCOLATE CHIP COOKIES

via Chelsea's Messy Apron

1 CUP canned pure pumpkin (NOT pumpkin pie filling)

1 C. granulated sugar

1/4 C. light brown sugar, lightly packed

1/2 C. vegetable oil

1 large egg

1 TBSP. vanilla extract

1 tsp. ground cinnamon

1 tsp. pumpkin pie spice

2 tsp. baking powder

1 tsp. baking soda

1/2 tsp. salt

2 C. all-purpose flour

1 C. semi-sweet chocolate chips

1 C. milk chocolate chips

You'll only need one bowl for this, so cleaning up isn't a beast.  

In a large bowl, combine 1 cup of pumpkin, white sugar, brown sugar, vegetable oil, egg, and vanilla.  Use an electric mixer to beat ingredients until smooth.  Add in the cinnamon, pumpkin pie spice, baking powder, baking soda, salt, flour, and both chocolate chips.  Beat these in with your electric mixer, but only until combined!  DON'T overmix!!  

You'll notice that your batter seems more cake batter-like in consistency and that's exactly how it should be.  Cover the bowl tightly and chill for 1-10 hours.  I chilled mine for approximately 1 hour and 15 minutes.  

Remove from fridge and scoop out about 1/4 C. of the batter and place in a mound on a cookie sheet lined with parchment paper. This amount will yield larger, bakery style cookies.  If that's white you like, be sure to only place 6 mounds of dough on the baking sheet at a time to prevent it from running together.   

Bake for 12-15 minutes at 350.  

Remove from oven and place on racks to cool.

Truly, y'all.  These cookies are AMAZING.  If you're a fan of pumpkin...or just cookies in general...you'll want to add this to your list of things to bake IMMEDIATELY.  I'm headed out in just a bit to grab more ingredients because my boys are begging for more.

I'm so grateful for people who actually know how to combine the right ingredients in just the perfect way so that I could, in turn, enjoy the tastiness without any of the frustration :)  Chelsea's Messy Apron knocked this one out of the ballpark.

These cookies are a bit thicker than your regular chocolate chip cookies.  And they're so unbelievable fluffy and moist.  Almost like cake, but not quite.  Somehow they're both dense and airy.  Easy to prep and bake, quick to disappear.  

8 very enthusiastic thumbs up from this family of four! 

Double the Chocolate, Double the YUM

It's the Friday before a holiday weekend and that means this momma and her boys are baking. We're planning on heading to the bayhouse for Grandma's gumbo on Sunday, but we can't go empty handed.  We're bringing some sweets!  My boys LOVE these cookies.  My oldest says it's "double the deliciousness because it's double the chocolate."  Bless him.  A boy after my own heart.  He knows a good thing when he tastes it.  The bonus here is that these cookies are super simple to prep and the recipe yields a little over 4 dozen.  We baked a batch yesterday and I sent a couple dozen to school with Mr. Spouse so his trainers would have something yummy to munch on before the game tonight.  Any day spent eating chocolate is a great day in my book :)

CHOCOLATE CHIP PUDDING COOKIES

2 1/2 C. all-purpose flour

1 tsp. baking soda

1 C (2 sticks) salted butter, softened

3/4 C. light brown sugar, packed

1/4 C. granulated sugar

2 eggs, lightly beaten

1 (3 oz.) pkg. instant chocolate pudding mix

1 tsp. vanilla extract

2 C. chocolate chips

In a large bowl, whisk together the flour and baking soda.

In a separate bowl, cream the brown sugar, granulated sugar,and butter until light and fluffy.

Add the eggs to the wet mixture and beat until combined.  

Pour the wet mixture into the flour/baking soda mix and toss in the chocolate pudding and vanilla.  Mix until well combined.

Fold in the chocolate chips.

Line a baking sheet with parchment paper and drop the batter onto the sheet by the teaspoonful. Be sure to place the cookies 2 in. apart and bake at 375 for 8-10 minutes being careful not to overbake.  

Double the chocolate, double the YUM!

Now the struggle will be keeping these cookies around 'til Sunday.  Something tells me they won't make it quite that long!!!