Pumpkin Chocolate Chip Cookies

Ingredients:

1/2 cup (1 stick or 115 grams) unsalted butter

1/4 cup (50 grams) light brown sugar

1/2 cup (100 grams) granulated sugar

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

6 Tablespoons (86 grams) pumpkin puree

1 and 1/2 cups (190 grams) all-purpose flour

1/4 teaspoon salt

1/4 teaspoon baking powder

1/4 teaspoon baking soda

1 and 1/2 teaspoons ground cinnamon

1/4 teaspoon ground nutmeg

1/4 teaspoon ground cloves

1/4 teaspoon allspice

1/2 cup (90 grams) semi-sweet chocolate chips

Method:

In a medium bowl, whisk the melted butter, brown sugar, and granulated sugar together until no brown sugar lumps remain. Whisk in the vanilla and pumpkin until smooth. Set aside.

In a large bowl, toss together the flour, salt, baking powder, baking soda, cinnamon, nutmeg, and cloves. Pour the wet ingredients into the dry ingredients and mix together with a large spoon or rubber spatula. The dough will be very soft.  Fold in 1/2 cup semi-sweet chocolate chips. They may not stick to the dough because of the melted butter, but do your best to have them evenly dispersed among the dough. Cover the dough and chill for 30 minutes, or up to 3 days. Chilling is mandatory.

Take the dough out of the refrigerator. Preheat the oven to 180 C. Line two large baking sheets with baking paper.

Roll the dough into balls, about 2 Tablespoons of dough each. Slightly flatten the dough balls because the cookies will only slightly spread in the oven. Bake the cookies for 8-10 minutes. The cookies will look very soft and under-baked. Keeping them in the oven for longer may dry them out.  Remove from the oven and press a few more chocolate chips onto the tops, if desired.  If you find that your cookies didn't spread much at all, flatten them out when you take them out of the oven.

Allow the cookies to cool for at least 10 minutes on the cookie sheets before transferring to a wire rack.  The longer the cookies cool, the chewier they will be. Let them sit out for at least 1 hour before enjoying. Their chewiness and pumpkin flavour is improved if you leave them for a day before consuming them. Cookies stay soft, moist, and chewy stored at room temperature for up to 1 week.

Freezing directions: 

Roll the chilled dough into balls and freeze in a large ziplock bag for up to 2 months.  Baked cookies may also be frozen up to 2 months.