IT’S HERE, IT’S FINALLY HERE!!! Autumn, my one true love, has arrived. And you know what that means: cinnamon, cloves, nutmeg, roast chicken and vegetables, garlic mashed potatoes, butternut squash, acorn squash, turnips, cranberries, pears, and last but not least, pumpkin. Come fall all of the usual suspects, even chocolate chip cookies, get an autumn injection in the form of a pumpkin twist.

As much as I love most things pumpkin (I would say all, but you can never be sure of what’s out there), I hadn’t thought of adding pumpkin to something as classic as the chocolate chip cookie. I’m always wary of tampering with things that are good as they are. However, I recently saw mention of pumpkin chocolate chip cookies on Taylor Swift’s tumblr, and was immediately intrigued. She attributes her favorite recipe for the treat to foodnetwork.com. Although she says that she prefers using semi-sweet chocolate chips, the recipe recommends milk chocolate, so I went with that option. The end result is fabulous; the cookies are reminiscent of pumpkin pancakes in both texture and taste. Just make sure you mix in the chocolate chips thoroughly, or the morsel-free batter will spread too much when baking. Original Recipe: http://www.foodnetwork.com/recipes/pumpkin-chocolate-chip-cookies-recipe.html

INGREDIENTS:

1 cup (2 sticks) unsalted butter, softened

1 cup white sugar

1 cup light brown sugar

2 large eggs

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

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

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

DIRECTIONS:

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Line 2-4 cookie sheets with parchment paper for an easy clean up.

Using an electric 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 (remember to stir thoroughly!). Scoop the cookie dough by heaping tablespoons onto the prepared cookie sheets.

Bake for 15 to 20 minutes, or until the cookies are browned around the edges, and the cookies are a deep gold. Remove the cookie sheets from the oven and let them rest for 2-4 minutes. Carefully take the cookies off with a spatula and cool them on wire racks.

Enjoy!

Leslie