I have fond childhood memories of baking chocolate chip cookies with my my mom and sister. When my sister and I saw our mom’s circa 1972 split pea green KitchenAid Stand Mixer come out, we knew we were in for a treat.
The process of helping my mom in the kitchen and being her little helper was almost as good as the cookies we’d bake together.
My dad always knew if my sister and I had been in the kitchen that day helping out as evidenced by the eggshells in his cookies, which we’d proudly present to him and that he’d never turn down. They simply added a delicious crunch.
As a helper, I learned early on not to crank the mixer to high speed immediately after adding the flour. A good way to make my mom mad was to spray her kitchen with flour.
The best part of cookie making came when adding the chocolate chips to the dough.
I’d always sneak a handful of chocolate chips that were supposed to make it into the cookie dough, but made it into my mouth instead.
With this cookie recipe, I wanted to embrace the classic chocolate chip cookie I grew up eating, but also incorporate everyone’s favorite fall ingredient: pumpkin.
Plenty of recipes exist for soft, cake-like, pumpkin whoopie pie cookies, but I wanted these cookies to have the traditional chewiness of a true chocolate chip cookie, but infused with pumpkin.
After testing and experimenting with so many recipes and creating everything from cakey, soft, pumpkin mounds to pumpkin-laced hockey pucks, I finally found the texture and flavor I was in search of with this recipe.
The resulting cookies are soft, tender, light and have just a touch of cakiness, but they are also chewy with some heartiness. Soft pumpkin cookie meets chewy chocolate chip cookie. The edges crisp up and the centers remain pillowy soft.
They’re packed with the warming flavors of fall, including cinnamon, pumpkin pie spice, cloves, and a dash of molasses.
The chocolate chips pair nicely with the pumpkin and the flavors complement each other so well. Then again, chocolate pairs so well with most anything for me.
A few cook’s notes:
The dough is soft and a bit tacky to work with, courtesy of the pumpkin puree. Pumpkin does a beautiful job of tenderizing baked goods, but it makes the dough a bit sticky. Counteract the stickiness by chilling the dough before scooping it into balls. In my trials, I chilled the dough ranging from 90 minutes to 4 days. The longer the dough is chilled, the easier it is to work with.
Prior to baking, rolling a ball of dough through a cinnamon-sugar mixture not only creates a extra bonus of texture and flavor in the finished cookies, but it does double-duty by taking the edge off some of the dough’s stickiness.
I found the best cookies result from using 1 1/2 tablespoons of well-chilled dough, scooped using a cookie scoop, dredged through cinnamon-sugar, and flattened slightly before baking.
The cookies spread very little while baking and I recommend flattening the dough mounds slightly before baking otherwise the base will cook through and become too well done before the top sets.
The cookies keep beautifully, and paradoxically, get softer over time. The brown sugar and molasses attract moisture from the air so there’s little worry of them drying out.
Then again, I don’t think you’ll have too many extra cookies just lingering around.
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Pumpkin Chocolate Chip Cookies
Makes about 3 dozen medium-sized cookies
1/2 cup unsalted butter, softened (1 stick)
3/4 cup light brown sugar, packed
1/2 cup granulated sugar
1 large egg
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
3/4 cup canned pumpkin puree (not pumpkin pie filling)
1 tablespoon unsulphered molasses (I use Grandma’s Original)
3/4 teaspoon cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon pumpkin pie spice
1/4 teaspoon ground cloves
1/4 teaspoon ground nutmeg, ground ginger, salt – all optional and to taste
3 1/4 cups all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 1/2 cups Nestle Tollhouse Semi-Sweet Morsels
Cinnamon-Sugar Mixture, for rolling
1/3 cup granulated sugar
3/4 teaspoon cinnamon
To the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, combine butter, brown sugar, 1/2 cup granulated sugar, and beat on medium-high to high speed for 3 to 4 minutes to cream ingredients; stop and scrape down the sides of the bowl. Add the egg, vanilla, and beat on high speed for 3 to 4 minutes until mixture is light and fluffy. Add the pumpkin, unsulphered molasses (blackstrap molasses may be substituted but it’s bolder and more intense), 3/4 teaspoon cinnamon, pumpkin pie spice, cloves, optional spices, salt, and mix until incorporated, about 1 minute. (All spices should be added to taste and use more or less, depending on how robustly-flavored you prefer your cookies. As written, the spices are nicely balanced and the cookies are of average intensity. Adding ginger, additional cinnamon or cloves, will give them a stronger punch and kick, rendering them more like a pumpkin-ginger-spice cookie)
Add the flour, baking soda, and mix until just combined. Fold in the chocolate chips by hand. Dough will be thick and dense yet soft, and must be refrigerated and chilled before it’s suitable for scooping out and baking off. Cover mixing bowl with plastic wrap or transfer dough into an airtight container and refrigerate dough for at least 90 minutes, overnight, or up to four days.
Preheat oven to 350F. Prepare baking sheets by lining them with Silpat liners, parchment paper, or spray them with cooking spray; set aside. Make the Cinnamon-Sugar Mixture by combining 1/3 cup granulated sugar and 3/4 teaspoon cinnamon in a small bowl and stir to combine; set aside.
Form 1 1/2 tablespoon-sized balls of dough using a cookie scoop and dredge each ball through the cinnamon-sugar mixture. Place balls on baking sheets; cookies spread very little and can be spaced about 2 inches apart on baking sheets. Flatten balls slightly before baking to ensure cookies cook through evenly. Bake for 12-13 minutes or until the edges near the bases of the cookies are golden and set, and tops have just set; cookies will continue to firm up as they cool. Allow cookies to cool on baking sheets for at least 10 minutes before moving them. Cookies will keep in an airtight container at room temperature for up to one week or in the freezer for up to 3 months.
Cookies can be kept vegan by using vegan margarine such as Earth Balance and replacing the egg with a flax egg. Cookies can be made gluten-free by using a gluten-free flour blend such as Bob’s Red Mill.
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And now, onto the Giveaway portion of this post. You can enter to win:
a $200 gift card from Williams-Sonoma
and a KitchenAid Stand Mixer
Yes, one lucky person will win both.
The mixer is from the KitchenAid Custom Metallic® Series | Tilt-Head Stand Mixer | Flour Power™ Rating – 9 Cup
It’s a 5-Quart size with a 10-speed Solid State Control
It comes with a flat beater, wire whip, and dough hook
It retails for $649.95
I’m sure I don’t need to sell you on the benefits, workmanship, and high quality nature of a KitchenAid Stand Mixer or twist your arm to pick out $200 worth of items from Williams-Sonoma.
Although Tweets, Facebook mentions, or Pinterest Pins about this post are appreciated, they are not required for entry.
Simply answer the following question by leaving a comment below to enter the giveaway:
Please share a favorite baking memory. (Please be detailed and specific)
Contest ends Monday, October 8, 2012 and winner will be chosen randomly. Open to continental U.S. residents only. Complete contest rules can be found at the bottom of this page.
This post is sponsored by Nestlé® Toll House® Morsels, the perfect special ingredient for all of your family’s favorite treats!
I already have a beautiful KitchenAid (thanks to you!) so please don’t enter me in the giveaway, but I love that baking brings out memories for so many people. I could probably spend all day reading the responses here and it would put a smile on my face!!
Like a the silly girl that I am, one evening I decided to make the cover cake from one of my baking books. It was a beautiful three tier dark chocolate cake with a white whipped frosting. I failed. The layers were horribly uneven, the frosting was so bad I had to run to the store to get more ingredients, and when all was said and done – at 1 am – my roommate and I finally tried it. It was TERRIBLE! haha! Too sweet! That baking memory is what first bonded us as best friends…she’s the friend I had always hoped to have and now will never live without.
These look really yummy! I’m going to try them very soon.
Favorite baking memory is making molasses cookies with my granddaughter.
Making m&m cookies with my mom at Christmas!
I grew up always spending time with my mom whenever she was in the kitchen. I was always telling her that she was “the best cooker”. I loved eating macaroons and mayonnaise cake, sneaking a bit of cookie dough or licking the brownie bowl before it was washed. After high school, I went to culinary school and have been cooking ever since. I LOVE food, and I have since found out that my mom may not have been the world’s best cook, but she did a lot with what she had to work with, and for that, I am extremely grateful. But anyway, for the record: I LOVE my mom. Teresa Anne Markwood, you’ll always be “the best cooker” in my mind.
My two children (4 and 2) and I just made mini strawberry pies. They had so much fun stiring the strawberries, stretching the dough and placing them in the muffin tins. They also loved the strussel topping we put on top- it was funny to listen to my daughter (4) instructing my son (2) what the perfect amount of pie to topping ratio was!
My favorite baking memory was the first time my grandmother taught me how to make chocolate chip cookies and let me lick the beaters. It was SO delicious (obviously) and that moment sparked my interest in baking forever.
I’m not sure if this is a specific memory, or an amalgamation of experiences that merged into one as my life progressed… I learned to bake from my grandmother, and I know quite certainly that all our hours in the kitchen together directly led to my lifelong love of baking. I remember going to grandma’s and always asking her if we could bake… My grandmother had a ritual about it that I always found so special and magical. We would pull out all the dishes and utensils and set them beside the ingredients on the kitchen block, and then choose aprons from the apron drawer hidden below all the other drawers. I liked the ones patterned with flowers, and bonus if it was pink. She would set the step stool next to her and up I would climb. I’m very certain I had very little hands on participation in the crafting of the dough, but she would always ask for my input on flavor choices. Our favorite cookies to bake together were Mandelbrot, which are of course like Yiddish biscotti, baked twice and everything. Sometimes we did chocolate but usually we did walnut ones studded with maraschino cherries. now, maraschinos are disgusting, particularly when baked, but I thought they were like secret jewels in the cookies and I loved eating them as a kid, so that was my favorite part- when we’d pull the initial cookie loaves out of the oven and slice, I was the one who got to put the single cherry half atop each warm cookie, before the went back into the oven for their final cook. Then she would make me an egg cream – chocolate milk and seller- or sometimes strawberry milk with strawberry syrup, and we would sit in the nook and drink and wait for the cookies to bake.
My favorite baking memory is standing on my little chair breaking up the stale bread on Thanksgiving for the stuffing. Now my kids do the same with me!
These cookies look amazing!!!! I love how pillowy they look. I will be baking these up soon!!!
My mom is an awesome cook, but even she will admit she is no baker. Evey year when me and my brother and sister were young, she would drop us off an my Aunt’s house and leave us there for the day to get our fill of Christmas cooking baking! My aunt had THE BEST sugar cookie and frosting recipe, and we would bake and decorate all day. Growing up in Florida, days like those made it okay that there was no chill in the air around Christmas time, because we had the best cookies ever!
Watching my mother bake every holiday as a little girl was always so amazing! Growing up and being able to help was even more of a pleasure, but having my own home and baking for my little boy means so much to me. I love to invite my mother over to watch me bake her traditional recipes, so much love fills the room. <3
My favorite baking memory would have to be when I went to make Eat Live Run’s chocolate chip almond butter cookies for the second time (because they were wonderful the first time) and they came out SO flat that I had to turn it into a cookie cake! It turned out that the coconut oil I used was too melty, resulting in one giant cookie all mushed together. I was so disappointed because they were for a friend’s birthday until I realized I could cut it into a circle, drizzle it with chocolate and call it a cake :) Sometimes you have to see the funny side of things!
One of my favorite baking memories also involve my mom – she bakes the best cheesecakes and when I was a kid, I remember being so giddy whenever she would break out her recipe for a cheesecake that involved cottage cheese. I love cottage cheese and I never thought it would be an ingredient in cheesecake. After she was done mixing the cheesecake batter, I would go to town on the leftover cottage cheese. Then a few hours later we would all be rewarded by her dense, creamy, indulgent tasting cheesecake.My sisters and I (and my dad) all love cheesecake because of my mom and while I’ve had many other kinds and even baked a few myself, her cheesecake recipe with cottage cheese would always stay in my heart!
Growing up, my parents were always working so my older brother would cook dinner for my sister and I. Needless to say, he’s a pretty darn good cook. . but when it came to baking, b/c we all had a sweet tooth!, we made the instant – already made- Tollhouse chocolate chip cookie logs. We didn’t care. we were kids and sometimes, we made the cookies ourselves. . other times, with my mom. Now, I am a mother of 2 young girls and I am always baking. I so want them to remember these times. . we bake together, I let the older one only- help me mix or put on the m&m’s, whatever. . they both seem to have fun and I love seeing their smiling faces, usually with chocolate on their mouths when we are eating them together!
My favorite baking memory is renewed every year. My mom and I have a tradition of making some Filipino cookies called Polvoron (a type of short bread cookie). I look forward to this every year because we always have fun doing it. It is a very laborous (and sometimes painful) process, but its always fun. It is no easy task because we make at least 10-15 recipies (about 1000 cookies) every year plus individually wrapping the cookie and boxing them up for family. We end up with really painful hands from molding the cookie but it is well worth it when we see our whole family enjoy their own box. Our christmases are not complete without these cookies. One year we did not make any and everyone was asking for them and we learned from then that we needed to continue this tradition. My boyfriend is now also involved in the process so I know we will be able to continue this holiday tradition for years and years to come (hopefully generations ahead too).
Mmmmm — baking Christmas cookies! We’d make 10-15 different varieties over a couple of days and the house would smell heavenly…