Ever since Austin Bakes for Bastrop, I’ve had a serious jones for Pumpkin Chocolate Chip Cookies. One of the ladies that was volunteering at The Triangle location with me had baked these amazing, pillow soft cookies, and now I can’t get them out of my head. I liked the so much that I gobbled them up all by myself, without ever telling my dear husband they existed. You know how the mind can conveniently forget certain harmless indescretions? Stupid memory.
After I made this recipe I ask my hubby how he thought they compared to the cookies from Austin Bakes. As he gave me a blank stare I suddenly remembered how I had purposely hidden those cookies from him so that I could keep them all to myself. The wheels started turning and his blank stare became decidedly accusatory. The jig was up.
In my defense, that guy is a snack monster. Those little cookies didn’t stand a chance with him around. I had to keep them safe! Besides, I’ve more than made up for it by reproducing them in mass quantities. (He doesn’t have to know that they aren’t quite as good as the Austin Bakes batch.)
There were lots and lots of different recipes for these cookies online, and I was prepared to hem and haw over which one to use, but then I saw a recipe posted on The Bangor Daily News. Problem solved! I’ll always happily support The Bangor Daily News when given the chance. Not only is it the local paper from my birth place, it is the long time employer of my Uncle Andy. Andy is my hero. (Just look at him eating some bluberries like it ain’t no thing.) He’s the chillest, woodsiest, most down to earth dude ever, and maybe the only person in the world who loves ice cream as much as I do. We understand eachother, me and him. So these cookies are dedicated to Andy, whose birthday also happens to be today. In fact, a portion of this batch will be on its way to Bangor this afternoon. I hope he likes them!
Pumpkin Chocolate Chip Cookies
(Recipe available at The Bangor Daily News)
These little cookies are just wonderful. They have a flavor much like carrot cake, a texture sort of like a cup cake, and they are an adorably muted shade of orange. I think that they could stand to be spiced up just a little bit more, so next time I might use Pumpkin Pie Spice instead of Cinnamon and Nutmeg, but overall, I was very pleased with them. The other thing I should mention is how very sticky they are on the bottom. I used Silpat mats so I thought I wouldn’t have to worry about sticking. They came off with a spatula, but I think using a little pan release would have been wise.