Pumpkin Chocolate Chip Snickerdoodles
This past Sunday, I had planned for just a day of Fall baking, which in my mind meant that whatever was coming out of my oven was going to be heavy on the pumpkin. But Sunday plans turned into whipping out the deep fryer + going hard on the fried cauliflower for appropriate football Sunday snacks. I just couldn’t quite get my head around revolving dinner around fried meal (even if it was just cauliflower) & baking, so baking day got moved to Monday, & it was a delightful way to kick off the week.
The menu - Pumpkin Chocolate Chip Snickerdoodles. My muse - combining my craving for a pumpkin spice dessert with Jordan’s love for chocolate chip cookies. & this is where landed - a true Fall cookie with a Snickerdoodle twist. They’re true pumpkin cookies - lots of distinct pumpkin spice flavor & a very appropriate pumpkin-like color, & loaded to the brim with chocolate.
Pumpkin cookies are the jam. Using real pumpkin in a cookie or a bar always brings the pumpkin flavor (duh!), but the texture is super unique. Soft + fluffy + a little cake-like. I find it really pleasant because It’s just this added layer or moisture, & I love it.
I went the route of starting my day early on this particular Monday, making pumpkin butter while I sipped my morning coffee. Added perk - your house will smell sooooo good! Think pumpkin spice candle on steroids. It’s also just really easy to make, & passive enough a task to complete while you drink a cup of coffee & clean the kitchen (exactly what my morning looked like). The main ingredient is just canned pumpkin. Cooking it down kind of caramelizes the pumpkin, & adds a nice dark, rich orange color to your pumpkin butter. & the maple syrup, spices + vanilla just add even more of a Fall vibe to the whole thing, all of which comes through strong in these cookies.
Just be prepared the whole pumpkin butter thing - it does make a bit of a mess. I couldn’t really find a way to avoid the pumpkin from splattering all over my stove top as it bubbled, but maybe I’ll be a little luckier in future attempts.
The smack is key
I feel like this year was the year that we learned smacking your pan on the counter top when you’re making chocolate chip cookies is key to getting them to be thin, crinkly, crispy on the outside + still gooey on the inside. 100 % the key to a really good chocolate chip cookie + 100% what I wanted to achieve here. The smack is literally just taking the pan out of the oven mid-bake, & lifting one end a few inches off the countertop & dropping it a little aggressively back down. Your cookies will flatten, spread out, & take the form of bakery worthy chocolate chip cookies. Big picture - don’t skip this step in the instructions.
So chocolate-y
I used 2 kinds of chocolate in my recipe to really bump up the chocolate action, & did not skimp on either variety. Some semi-sweet chocolate chips (just ones you can buy at the store) & dark chocolate chunks. I went the route of buying a small dark chocolate bar & cutting it my myself, which gave me so really big + hearty chocolate chunks + pieces that were more like shavings. Very enjoyable, & the dark chocolate was so melty. Even after the cookies cooled, the dark chocolate in particular was soft, giving that whole “melt in your mouth” vibe.
Pro-tip: Try dipping these cookies into a hot cup of coffee in the morning. The bitter + sweet flavor combo is real, real good, and that’s kind of a perk of at-home cookies. The ones that make it to the next day are pretty damn good in the AM!
A cinnamon sugar finish
A snickerdoodle finish is just the kicker. A simple cinnamon sugar combo is all you need, & you just roll each little cookie so that the entire thing is coated in your cinnamon + sugar combo. Just be prepared for sticky fingers. The dough is a bit wet because you did add a shit ton of pumpkin butter to it, but it should still be able to be easily formed into balls + rolled in cinnamon sugar. Just messy, but it’s inevitable + worth it.
A perfect first pumpkin treat of 2020, & I’m still snack on the frozen leftovers!
For pumpkin butter
2 15 oz. cans pumpkin
1/4 c. apple cider vinegar
1/2 c. maple syrup
1 tbsp vanilla
1 tbsp pumpkin pie spice
1 tsp cinnamon
pinch of salt
For the cookies
2 stick of butter (room temp)
3/4 c. dark brown sugar
1/4 c. granulated sugar
1 egg
1/3 c. pumpkin butter
2 tsp. vanilla
2 1/4 c. flour
1/2 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp. pumpkin pie spice
pinch of salt
1 heaping cup semi-sweet chocolate chips
4-5 ounce dark chocolate (highly recommend buying a good quality dark chocolate bar), & chopping roughly
cinnamon sugar (mix a 1/2 c. sugar with 1 tbsp cinnamon)
Start by making your pumpkin butter. Place all pumpkin butter ingredients in a sauce pan over medium heat, stirring consistently until it start to boil light. Let it it over medium heat for 15 minutes, giving it a stir every 3-5 minutes. After that cook time, turn the heat to low & let it continue to cook for 10-15 minutes. Turn off the heat & let the mixture coo at room temp for 1 hour, then transfer to jars and place in the fridge. It should cool in the fridge for at least 4 hours.
Preheat your own to 350 + line a few baking sheets with parchment.
In a large bowl, cream together the butter + sugars until you have a light + fluffy mixture. Mix in the egg + pumpkin butter. Add in the vanilla & stir until everything is combined. Stir in the flour (1/2 c. at a time) along with the baking soda + spices. Finish with a pinch of salt, and stir until all the flour is absorbed. Stir in your chocolate.
To assemble the cookie for baking, scoop out the dough with a smalll cookie scoop, form the dough into a ball with your hands, & roll thee ball in the cinnamon sugar, gently pressing the ball in the sugar as you do so. Transfer the sugar coated dough to the pan, leaving a couple inches between each cookie. Bake for 8 minutes. At the 6 minute mark, take the cookie out of the oven and smack the pan on the counter 2-3 times. Return to the oven to bake for the last 2 minutes. Remove the pan for the oven & let them rest on the hot pan for 1-2 minutes. Transfer to a cooling rack. Repeat this process until all the dough is cooked.
Eat the cookies warm, and if you need to put them back in a low temp oven for just a couple minutes to get warm + gooey. So good!
