'Tis The Season For Pumpkin

Fall is, in my opinion, the best time of the year.  Mostly because of a. halloween and b. pumpkin goodies.  I loooooooove pumpkin everything!  If you've never eaten a toasted pumpkin seed, you need to do that, like...today.

I made my first pumpkin concoction this weekend for the UVa v. LA tech tailgate.  Pumpkin chocolate chip cookies!  I used to think that pumpkin and chocolate - two of my favorite foods - needed to be loved separately, I just didn't think the flavors would mesh well.  But they do...makes my life (and sweet consumption) a lot easier.

Anyways, so these cookies are amazing if you like pumpkin and chocolate, and even if you don't.  Seriously.  They also are super puffy and round, if you are tired of making cookies that spread and flatten a lot. 

Here's what they look like fresh out of the oven:

They're almost like muffin tops, they're so puffy!  The good thing is, they keep their shape, so you don't have to worry about putting them so far apart on the tray and having them STILL run together (this happens to me literally every time I make regular CCC's.)

Here's how to make these festive treats!

You'll need:

2 1/2 cups flour
1 tsp. salt
1 tsp. baking soda
1 tsp. cinnamon
pinch of ground ginger
1 stick of butter
1 cup brown sugar
1/2 cup white sugar
1 egg
About 15 oz. of canned pure pumpkin
1 tsp. vanilla extract
2 cups chocolate chips

Preheat the oven to 375 degrees (I did 350 on convection bake)

Combine flour, salt, baking soda, cinnamon and ginger in a small bowl and set aside.

Let butter come to room temperature and mix in bowl with brown and white sugar.  Once this is well combined, add in the pumpkin, the vanilla and the egg.  Beat until it's all incorporated.

Slowly beat in the dry ingredients, mixing well after each addition.

Stir in the chocolate chips.

Use a cookie or ice cream scoop and place in rounded spoonfuls on baking sheet lined with parchment paper.  Like I said before, you can put them closer together than you think because they barely spread.  Bake for 12-15 minutes.  Let them cool about 2 minutes then transfer to wire rack to let them cool completely.  And the parchment paper = no clumsy sheet tray cleaning!

I hope yall enjoy these as much as I did.  And don't worry - I got a 29 oz. can of pumpkin so I'll be back to share what I made with the rest of the can!