There is a place at Pike’s Place Market in Seattle that sells these wonderful pumpkin cookies all year round – and they are huge.  They are bigger than your hand, and at least 1-2 inches high.  They are delicious – you can get them frosted or plain, and both are amazing. 

I have always wanted to make pumpkin cookies, and I decided it was time.  I went to my favorite cookie book – Martha Stewart’s Cookies – and found a recipe that I thought looked interesting.  The only problem was that I didn’t have a lot of time – and the recipe I found had a brown sugar frosting on top.  All of a sudden it hit me – pumpkin and chocolate – so instead of frosting these, I added some chocolate chips.  It was almost as thought they were supposed to be that way.  I used mini-chips instead of big ones since the batter was so delicate, and I think it was a good call.  These cookies were more like cake – in fact, the batter completely resembled cake batter.  It made sense when I saw the consistency of the batter why you need to pipe them in a circle.  You can probably get away with not doing that, but I must say, it definitely make the cookies come out perfectly.  They were moist and delicious, and stayed that way for a couple of days.  With only a few more days until Thanksgiving – here is just one more pumpkin recipe you must try…

Ingredients

• 2 3/4 cups all-purpose flour
• 1 teaspoon baking powder
• 1 teaspoon baking soda
• 1 1/4 teaspoons coarse salt
• 1 1/2 teaspoons ground cinnamon
• 1 1/4 teaspoons ground ginger
• 3/4 teaspoon ground nutmeg
• 3/4 cup (1 1/2 sticks) unsalted butter, softened
• 2 1/4 cups packed light-brown sugar
• 2 large eggs
• 1 1/2 cups canned solid-pack pumpkin (14 ounces)
• 3/4 cup evaporated milk
• 1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
• 2 cups mini-chocolate chips

Preparation

Preheat the oven to 375 degrees. Whisk together flour, baking powder, baking soda, salt, cinnamon, ginger, and nutmeg in a medium bowl; set aside.

Put butter and brown sugar in the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with the paddle attachment. Mix on medium speed until pale and fluffy, about 3 minutes. Mix in eggs. Reduce speed to low. Add pumpkin, evaporated milk, and vanilla; mix until well blended, about 2 minutes. Add flour mixture; mix until combined.  Add the chocolate chips and gently fold into the batter.

Transfer 1 1/2 cups batter to a pastry bag fitted with a 1/2-inch plain tip (such as Ateco #806). Pipe 1 1/2-inch rounds onto parchment-lined baking sheets, spacing 1 inch apart. Bake cookies, rotating sheets halfway through, until tops spring back, about 12 minutes. Cool on sheets on wire racks 5 minutes. Transfer cookies to wire racks; let cool completely.

Cookies can be stored in single layers in airtight containers at room temperature up to 3 days.

Makes about 6 dozen

For a printer-friendly version of this recipe, please click here:  Pumpkin Chocolate-Chip Cookies