Pumpkin Spice Cookies

It has been quite the day in Mama Sarah's kitchen. Had my first rum and coke last night, and needless to say, I slept later than normal today. Spent an hour or two feeling funky, then the cooking commenced! I'm going to do everything in separate posts, as I've decided I really like to have only one recipe per post, but I'll give you a quick run down of everything I made. First, for work, we have pumpkin spice cookies and cinnamon cheesecake blondies. For dinner, I baked smashed potatoes and honey dijon chicken tenders. And for the hubby, I made a cheesecake and a simple strawberry sauce to go with it. Hopefully, I'll get all the posts up tonight..

First up, the cookies:


This recipe comes from Joy the Baker. Like Joy, I harbored a can of pumpkin deliciousness in my pantry. I'm not ashamed; it gave me the opportunity to make these amazing cookies which will replace pumpkin pie at my Thanksgiving dinners. Seriously. They are fluffy, yet slightly dense with a perfect level of spice. Mmmmmm. I'd eat another one now if they weren't meant for work (and if I hadn't eaten so many goodies already today).

This morning.. er.. afternoon when I made my way to the store, I planned on following the recipe exactly, using chocolate chips.. Then I started thinking that maybe dried cranberries would go well. THEN after baking the blondies (I'm not sure why I didn't post in the order that I baked) I discovered Hershey's cinnamon chips. Nom nom deliciousness. My favorite chip. I hit this horrible (yet wonderful) point where I could NOT decide which of the three to put in. So, I mixed up the batter and dropped 6 cookies onto a cookie sheet. I made two of each, pressing the cranberries/chocolate chips/cinnamon chips into the cookie dough, then kind of mixing it around gently. After they baked, hubby and I sampled them and both decided the cinnamon chips were the boss of this match. The cranberries didn't add the right flavor, and the chocolate chips were too overwhelming, in my opinion.

These are delicious.

Pumpkin Spice Cookies:
2 cups flour
1 1/2 tsp baking powder
1 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp salt
1 tsp cinnamon
1/4 tsp grated nutmeg
1/4 tsp ground cloves
2 eggs
1 cup sugar
1/2 cup canola oil
1 cup canned pumpkin
1 tsp vanilla extract
1 cup cinnamon chips

Preheat oven to 325F. Line baking sheet with parchment paper.
Whisk together the flour, baking powder, baking soda, salt, cinnamon, nutmeg, and cloves together. Set aside.
In a large bowl, beat together the eggs and sugar until they are smooth and a light yellow color - about 1 minute.
Mix in the oil, pumpkin, and vanilla. Add the flour; mix until incorporated.
Stir in chips.
Using a cookie scoop or 1/4 cup measuring cup or whatever else floats your boat, drop the cookie dough onto the cookie sheets. Slightly flatten them.
Bake for about 16 minutes, or until springy to the touch and an inserted toothpick comes out clean (unless you hit a chip.)

The cookies have an amazingly fluffy texture, which I love. I hate crunchy cookies. I love these.