Dark Chocolate Chip Pumpkin Cookies

October is my favorite month of the year... leaves changing, cooler weather, Halloween, cider, pumpkins. So when I wanted to bake a new cookie, it was only fitting that I chose one with pumpkin. This recipe is from allrecipes.com, though I am sure there are many versions of this popular cookie.

This is a soft, almost cake-like cookie, and perfect to drink with hot apple cider.


Ingredients

• 1 cup canned pumpkin
• 1 cup white sugar
• 1/2 cup vegetable oil
• 1 egg
• 2 cups all-purpose flour
• 2 teaspoons baking powder
• 2 teaspoons ground cinnamon
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1 teaspoon baking soda
• 1 teaspoon milk
• 1 tablespoon vanilla extract
• 2 cups semisweet chocolate chips
• 1/2 cup chopped walnuts (optional)

Directions

1. Combine pumpkin, sugar, vegetable oil, and egg. In a separate bowl, stir together flour, baking powder, ground cinnamon, and salt. Dissolve the baking soda with the milk and stir in. Add flour mixture to pumpkin mixture and mix well.
2. Add vanilla, chocolate chips and nuts.
3. Drop by spoonful on greased cookie sheet and bake at 350 degrees F (175 degrees C) for approximately 10 minutes or until lightly brown and firm.

*To make this cookie healthier, I replaced the vegetable oil with applesauce, and the all-purpose flour with whole-wheat flour. I also used dark chocolate chips. To make the cookies "orange", I added four drops of red food coloring to the batter before putting them on the cookie sheet.