Pumpkin Chocolate Chip Cookies

Fall is a wonderful time to whip up all those yummy recipes that use pumpkin! As soon as October arrived, my daughter asked me to pick up some canned pumpkin at the grocery store. To my surprise, I couldn't find any at my local grocery store. I asked a manager why they didn't have it and was told that there was some sort of shortage and that they wouldn't be getting any until the end of November...I'm sorry, but that's a little too late. 

My daughter wouldn't give up on her pumpkin cooking dreams and the next day while we were at Target, we found canned pumpkin. She would have put all the cans on the shelf into the cart, but I stopped her at 12. I am amazed at how many pumpkin recipes she finds. She has made pumpkin cinnamon rolls, pumpkin muffins with cream cheese center, pumpkin crepes, and pumpkin pancakes, to name a few. 

I beat her to the pumpkin chocolate chip cookies and used a tasty recipe I found on the Internet. The only change I made was to use whole wheat flour instead of white. I substitute wheat flour in almost all my baking recipes. There are a few reasons I do this: it is healthier so I can eat more (I think that's the way it works,) it doesn't change the flavor of the treat-I really can't tell the difference, and making the treats with wheat flour is the only way my husband will eat them. The color of the cookies might be a little darker because of the wheat flour. This recipe made about 30 cookies. I put them in the freezer to keep them fresh and the kids take out what they want.

Ingredients:

1 cup (2 sticks) unsalted butter, softened

1 cup white sugar

1 cup light brown sugar

2 large eggs

1 teaspoon vanilla

1 cup canned pumpkin puree

3 cups all-purpose flour

2 teaspoons baking soda

1/2 teaspoon salt

1 teaspoon ground cinnamon

1/2 teaspoon ground ginger

1/4 teaspoon ground nutmeg

1/4 teaspoon ground cloves

2 cups (12-ounce bag) milk chocolate chips, not semisweet

Nonstick cooking spray or parchment paper

Directions:

Heat the oven to 350 degrees F. Spray cookie sheets with nonstick spray or line them with parchment paper.

Using a mixer, beat the butter until smooth. Beat in the white and brown sugars, a little at a time, until the mixture is light and fluffy. Beat in the eggs 1 at a time, then mix in the vanilla and pumpkin puree. In a large bowl, whisk together the flour, baking soda, salt, cinnamon, ginger, nutmeg, and cloves. Slowly beat the flour mixture into the batter in thirds. Stir in the chips. Scoop the cookie dough by heaping tablespoons onto the prepared cookie sheets and bake for 15 to 20 minutes, or until the cookies are browned around the edges. Remove the cookie sheets from the oven and let them rest for 2 minutes. Take the cookies off with a spatula and cool them on wire racks.