Pumpkin Oatmeal Chocolate Chip Cookies

Recipe From: Shae

These were the cookies I brought to the Halloween Party.  Like many of you, I love all things pumpkin this time of year.  Like most cookie recipes, be sure to chill the dough before you preheat the oven and bake your cookies. I was able to get about 3 dozen small cookies.

Ingredients

·         3/4 cup unsalted butter softened

·         1 cup light brown sugar lightly packed

·         1/2 cup white sugar

·         1/2 cup + 2 tablespoons canned pumpkin (not pumpkin pie filling and not the entire can)

·         1 large egg

·         1 teaspoon vanilla extract

·         1 and 1/2 cups white all-purpose flour

·         1 and 1/2 cups quick oats

·         1 teaspoon cinnamon

·         1 teaspoon baking soda

·         1/2 teaspoon baking powder

·         1/2 teaspoon salt

·         1/2 cup + 2 tablespoons miniature semi-sweet chocolate chips

·         1/2 cup regular milk or dark chocolate chips (or omit mini chocolate chips above and make this 1+ cup chocolate chips)

Instructions:

 In a large bowl, with hand mixers beat together the butter (softened and not melted) with the brown sugar and white sugar.

Beat in the pumpkin, egg, and vanilla. (Make sure your canned pumpkin is high quality and not watery. If it is watery your cookies will be more cakey. Drab the pumpkin with some paper towels if needed.)

 In another bowl stir together the flour, quick oats, cinnamon, baking soda, baking powder, and salt. If you like more seasonings in your pumpkin cookies feel free to add them here. Some ideas would be some pumpkin pie spice, more cinnamon, a little bit of nutmeg, allspice, cloves, etc.

 Add the dry to the wet and mix until just combined. The mixture should pull away from the edges once all the flour is added. Stir in the chocolate chips.

Cover and place in the fridge for at least 30 minutes and preferably 1 hour. This is a crucial step and if skipped your cookies will likely spread like a pancake.

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F.

Once the dough has been chilled, line a baking mat with a nonstick liner (or parchment paper) and roll into balls and put in oven. Bake for 12-14 minutes or until very lightly browned at the bottom/sides. The key to these cookies is slightly under-baking - that will keep them soft and chewy in the inside.

Remove from the oven and allow to "cook" for another 1-2 minutes on the baking sheet before removing them to a wire cooling rack. This is optional but huge for appearance: I press in 5-6 additional chocolate chips into the tops of each of the cookies as soon as I remove them from the oven. These cookies taste even better the next day -- the cinnamon and pumpkin flavor have definitely intensified by then!

Store in an airtight container.

 **Please note as you measure your flour that packing in too much flour will also lead to cakey cookies. I spoon the flour into the measuring cup and then level it at the top with my finger without pressing it down. Too little flour and your cookies will spread way too much and too much flour and they will be cakey. If experiencing either of these problems, you likely measured your flour incorrectly.**