Chocolate Chip Pumpkin Spice Cookies (Egg Free)

Pumpkin spice season is here! This is the time of year when people seem to be putting pumpkin in everything. Normally I'm not a pumpkin cookie person, but in these cookies the pumpkin flavor is subtle and blends beautifully with a little spice.

If this recipe looks familiar, that's because it's a modified version of these bakery style chocolate chip cookies. I replaced the eggs with 1/2 cup pumpkin puree and added some cinnamon, nutmeg, and cloves. It still has the characteristics of a great chocolate chip cookie: crispy edges, soft (even the next day), and rich flavor. If you use margarine instead of butter this can be egg and dairy free.



Chocolate Chip Pumpkin Spice Cookies

1¼ cups butter
1¼ cups light brown sugar
1 cup + 2 Tb. white sugar
1/2 cup pumpkin puree
2 tsp. vanilla extract
1¼ tsp. baking soda
1½ tsp. baking powder
1½ tsp. coarse salt (1¼ tsp. table salt)
1 tsp cinnamon
1/8 tsp nutmeg
1/8 tsp cloves
3½ cups flour
1½ cups semi-sweet chocolate chips

Using a mixer with the cookie paddles, cream butter and sugars until very light and creamy, about 5 minutes. Add pumpkin puree and mix well, about 3-4 minutes, scraping the bowl occasionally. Add the vanilla. Reduce speed to low, add the baking soda, baking powder, salt, cinnamon, nutmeg, and cloves. Mix well, and scrape the bowl. Finally, add all the flour at once. Mix carefully until all the flour is just combined, 10-20 seconds. Mixing too long will toughen your finished cookie, but make sure you don't have big clumps of flour left. Add the chocolate chips and barely blend in until they are all mixed in. Refrigerate the dough for 24-72 hours*. Bake at 350°F for 11-13 minutes. Allow to cool on the pan.

*This step is very important! The flavor and texture are so much better. Living in a humid climate, I've found that many of my favorite cookie recipes are still too wet after mixing. However, I've found that refrigerating the dough fixes the problem.

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