Dark Chocolate Chip Pumpkin Cookies

Have you ever substituted applesauce for oil in cakes and muffins? Well, as it turns out, you can also substitute pumpkin for butter in cookies. I found out yesterday, when I woke up with a sore neck and back and decided that I needed to skip the gym. I baked instead, and pumpkin cookies were born. Don’t thank me too much for skipping my workout; I have Nestle to thank for the bulk of this recipe .

Dark Chocolate Chip Pumpkin Cookies

*adapted from Original Nestle Toll House recipe

Preheat oven to 375 degrees

2 1/4 cup flour

1 tsp baking soda

1 tsp salt

3/4 cup sugar

3/4 cup packed brown sugar

1 tsp vanilla

1 stick butter (1/2 cup), softened

1/2 cup pumpkin

2 eggs

1 bag dark chocolate chips

Combine flour, baking soda and salt in small mixing bowl and set aside.

Beat sugars, butter, pumpkin and vanilla in large mixing bowl. Add in eggs, one at a time, and beat until the mixture is creamy.

Slowly add dry ingredients to the wet ingredients; beat until the mixture is thickened and smooth. Stir in chocolate chips.

Drop by rounded tablespoon onto baking sheets, and bake at 375 for 10-13 minutes (the addition of pumpkin resulted in a longer baking time). After 10-13 minutes, take the baking sheet out of the oven and let the cookies sit and bake on the sheet for a few more minutes. Remove to wire racks or foil to cool completely.

By no means are these cookies “healthy,” but it’s a fun way to use up the pumpkin that’s sitting in your pantry. The pumpkin makes the cookies much softer and chewier than your traditional chocolate chip cookie, in a good way. If you’re not a huge fan of pumpkin, don’t worry, it’s more for texture than it is flavor  — next time I think I might add some cinnamon to make them taste a little more fall-like!

If you do bake them, wait until they are completely cooled to munch away (surprisingly, they taste better this way), and pass some off to your neighbors so you don’t eat the whole batch (the batter is what got me — so, so good). They’re addicting. I won’t even tell you how many I ate today .

What’s your favorite pumpkin baked good?

Have you baked with pumpkin this year?