I'm doing research in the South today and tomorrow, then heading back home this weekend and I don't have my handy-dandy little camera with me (the one I use in the kitchen) so let's go with these delicious morsels... and call it good!
I blame facebook. And Sally's Baking Addiction!!!
The minute word gets out that you love cooking and baking, everyone sends you STINKIN' AMAZING RECIPES and you're so hungry already, that what else can you do besides want to make every single one of them????
My friend Sherrie just sent me one for Stuffed Pepper Soup.... all rich and tomato-ey and rice-y and delicious looking and the wind's blowing and the clouds are scudding and the birds are chirping here and there, the hearty ones that don't leave me behind every September!
Here's a gander at Taste of Home's version because I couldn't find a link to Biker Chick's version on facebook. But Biker Chick's version is in my facebook feed, so trot over there and check it out because it looks m-a-r-v-e-l-o-u-s.... And I may or may not be starving at this moment.
So these cookies started the same way. Jennifer, one of my cute young moms sent me a pic of cookies on facebook.... So instead of writing the great American novel, I went and checked out the picture and right next to it, I'm not even KIDDING it was that close was a chocolate chip version....
HOOKED.
She had me at hello.
Doomed.
Here's the link to "Sally's Baking Addiction" and with a name like that we could be BFFs already!
First, I roasted my own pumpkin and then stewed it on top of the stove during a busy morning so it would thicken a little. I have a bajillion pie pumpkins and I had no canned pumpkin, so it was holistic-by-necessity!
Like Sally, I've discovered that not using eggs in some recipes gives you a really fun different result, so this eggless recipe was a fun surprise! Here are Megan and Mary Ruth helping me...
I didn't melt the butter, but the pumpkin puree was hot, so it kind of melted the entire butter/sugar mixture with no ill effects! I doubled the recipe (Well, duh!!!) and then wished I'd tripled it! I used 1 1/2 teaspoons of cinnamon, 1/4 teaspoon of nutmeg and a dash of cloves. A little clove goes a long way.
But here is the interesting part: When baked on an air-bake cookie sheet, the cookies puffed more and had a delightful chewy inside and a crisper shell.
When baked on parchment paper, they had a store-bought look to them, very professional looking and no crispy outside....
And I rolled some in cinnamon/sugar just to give them a Snickerdoodle type feel, and then dipped them in melted Ghirdelli chocolate.
OH MY STARS.
OH MY STARS.
OH MY STARS.
The melding of spice and chocolate was legendary! Delightful. Habit forming! Addictive! And yet, still safe to drive with! :) (This is clutch when caring for children. I'm just sayin'....)
Changes I made to Sally's recipe (on link above):
- I didn't use melted butter and it wasn't unsalted. I like salt as a background for sweets.
- I used twice as many Hershey's milk chocolate chocolate chips, so a full cup/batch so two cups when I doubled the batch
- I rolled half the cookies in cinnamon sugar before baking and they were delicious but next time I'll bake them all on parchment paper.
- I dipped the cinnamon sugar cookies into melted Ghirardelli dark chocolate and let them cool in the fridge.
- I used 1 1/2 teaspoons of cinnamon, 1/4 teaspoon nutmeg and a dash of cloves per batch and they were just nicely seasoned!
Our favorite? The dipped chocolate variety with the extra cinnamon and sugar, but the regular ones done on parchment paper were amazing. I would do them exactly the same way and (shh... don't tell Sally!!!) dip them in chocolate.
Because everything is better with chocolate! :)
This is exhausted Libby our standard poodle after I had to brush a gazillion burdock seeds out of her hair.... Poor Libby!!!!
RUTHY AGAIN.... Libby is still with us. She's nearly twelve years old and loves to sleep... and doesn't like to run around with Maggie Mae, our Golden Doodle 9-month-old puppy.... She prefers her quiet time and she's earned it!
Reposting this reminded me to make these again this week and send some to my son in Dallas now that it's cool enough to ship cookies again. He shares them with his office co-workers, and I'd love to hear what the Dallas crew things of chocolate and pumpkin! We'll soon find out!
Thanks so much for being here and I hope your early November is filled with thoughts of peace, hope and love.
Multi-published author Ruth Logan Herne loves God, her family, her country, cookies, chocolate, coffee (the three C's) and dogs.... And she's crazy excited about her newest release with Mary Connealy and Margaret Brownley "Christmas at Star Inn", available here!
Friend Ruthy on facebook or visit her website ruthloganherne.com
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