Joyeux Kitchen: Pumpkin Chocolate Chip Cookies

"They were delicious.  As far as pumpkin-anything goes, these are the best I've ever had." (said by Doug, after eating a cookie under duress, because he hates pumpkin-anything)

How many desserts can I put pumpkin into before the end of September?  Stay tuned.  This one is incredible, from George Duran on the Food Network.  As a cookie they're a hard 10, but the dough.... oh the dough.  Like heaven.  I would serve it at a party with a spoon and a hot cup of coffee. 

You'll need:

• 1 cup (2 sticks) of unsalted butter at room temperature
• 1 cup white sugar
• 1 cup brown sugar
• 2 large eggs (room temperature--trust me, all baking ingredients should be room temperature)
• 1 tsp vanilla
• 1 cup canned pumpkin puree
• 3 cups all-purpose flour
• 2 tsp baking soda
• 1/2 tsp salt (1/4 tsp if you use salted butter)
• 1 tsp cinnamon
• 1/2 tsp ground ginger
• 1/4 tsp ground nutmeg
• 1/4 tsp ground cloves
• 2 cups (12 oz. bag) milk chocolate chips
• Nonstick cooking spray or parchment paper

Heat the oven to 350.  Spray your cookie sheets with cooking spray or line them with parchment paper (I use parchment paper--no pans to scrub!!).  Beat the butter in your mixer until smooth.  Add both sugars and cream on medium speed until light and fluffy (3-4 minutes).  Add the eggs one at a time, then the vanilla and pumpkin.  Mix all your dry ingredients in a bowl and add slowly to your wet ingredients.  Stir in the chocolate chips.  Scoop the dough by heaping tablespoons onto your cookie sheets and bake for 15-20 minutes, or until the cookies have browned around the edges.  Remove sheets from the oven and let them rest for 2 minutes.  Then take the cookies off with a spatula and cool them on wire racks. 

These cookies are super soft and gooey.  I made the mistake of putting them in a Ziploc after they cooled, stacking one on top of another.  They're still edible but they aren't pretty anymore.  I'm thinking about crumbling the whole mess up and putting it on top of ice cream (and then going for an 8 mile run).  For storage I'd recommend layering them between sheets of wax paper in an airtight container.

This recipe was from a Food Network special (called Ham on Turkey?).  All the recipes from this episode sound incredible; for a list click here.