As part of my Great Pumpkin Massacre of ’09, I have been going through the bags of frozen pumpkin puree that I have stored in my freezer and making delicious treats. This weekend, I decided to bust out a recipe I had made once before: pumpkin chocolate chip cookies. Fall to me = pumpkin, so I will put it in just about anything if you let me. It just makes everything instantly better. So chocolate chip cookies? Pretty damn good. Add pumpkin to that? Amazing.
The funny thing about these cookies is that I make them totally wrong– and I can’t figure out what it is that I’m doing different. Three possibilities: the recipe is actually from the King Arthur Flour website, so they naturally tell you to use King Arthur Flour. I do not, because I have no idea what that is. They also tell you to add walnuts, which I also do not do, because nothing ruins a dessert or a bread faster than nasty little nuts hiding inside, just waiting to ruin all of your flavor fun. The third (and the more I think about it, the most likely) possibility is that the fact that I’m using real pumpkin puree instead of canned is affecting the dough.
Whatever the reason, my cookie dough does not look like the cookie dough that they show you in the recipe. That dough looks firm and solid– like normal chocolate chip cookie dough. My dough, on the other hand, is much fluffier. This results in a almost cake-like cookie. In fact, I would say that they’re reminiscent of muffin tops. While I would prefer a more substantial cookie, it’s still freakin’ chocolate chip and pumpkin. So whatever the texture, it is delightful.
Clacked by Kona Gallagher 
on Nov 17, 2009 @ 12:00 EST5EDT
After reading this post, I had to make these — I too am addicted to anything pumpkin, and when there’s chocolate chips involved, watch out!
I used a combination of white chocolate and semi-sweet chocolate chips, and substituted spelt flour for the white. I did use canned pumpkin and mine came out more like a cookie, so it must be the fresh pumpkin — too liquidy, maybe? I also only cooked 14 minutes (recipe calls for 18).
Here’s a pic of my cookies:
https://www.flickr.com/photos/gudlyf/4112516924/in/pool-cliqueclackfood
And just a warning — these are super-buttery and very rich. One was enough for me.
Those look delicious. I do have a can of pumpkin in the cupboard, so once I’ve gone through all the fresh stuff, I’ll have to try them again using the canned pumpkin.
Hi Kona,
You don’t know what King Arthur Flour is?! Let me give you a little introduction. We’re America’s oldest flour company, founded in 1790 and offering the highest-quality, most consistently performing flour available nationwide in the U.S. You can find us in grocery stores in all 50 states (where are you, by the way?), and online, of course. There’s lots more info about what sets our flour apart at https://www.kingarthurflour.com/flours/, and I’d be more than happy to tell you more about our products and the many baking resources we offer if you’d like to contact me! I’d even like to send you a bag of our flour so you can find out for yourself what a difference the right flour can make.
Give me a shout!
Allison