Fall Pumpkin Chocolate Chip Cookies

I love fall. A Colorado fall is only 5 minutes long, but they are 5 glorious minutes. As a cool weather girl, I eagerly anticipate 50 degree temperatures and warm fires as I sweat my way through a too hot summer.

Fall clothes are better. There is less of a need to "go go go" and more reasons to curl up with the kids or a book. And the food. I am happy to be cooking comfortably again instead of avoiding my stove as the evil heat monster that will kick the air conditioner into overdrive.

To welcome fall, and the requisite return to all things pumpkin and spiced and delicious, Jude, Aidan and I made the pumpkin cookies I grew up eating. (Well, Jude helped and Aidan ate chocolate chips.) These cookies are like the best part of the muffin...and can quickly lead to an addiction that will result in the less desirable form of muffin tops.

Music pairing: Band of Horses "Cease to Begin"
Drink pairing: Ice cold milk

Pumpkin Chocolate Chip Cookies

Ingredients

(no high altitude adjustment required) 

1/2 C butter

1 C sugar

1 C pumpkin puree

1 egg

2 C flour

1/4 tsp baking soda
1 tsp baking powder

1/2 tsp cloves

1/2 tsp cinnamon

1/2 tsp nutmeg

1/2 tsp salt

1/2 C chocolate chips

Cream butter and sugar. Add egg and pumpkin and mix well. Sift together dry ingredients and gradually incorporate into pumpkin mixture. Drop by rounded teaspoonfuls onto greased cookie sheet and bake at 350 degrees for 15 minutes. Do not cut cooking time. Yield: 24+ cookies. 

(Note: Cookies are better on day 2 and 3. I don't know about day 4...they've never lasted that long.)

Blueberry Banana Bread

It's 90 degrees outside. I am tired of watching director's reels while simultaneously trying to find an "A-list photographer" who will work for high school intern wages. I have laundry to fold, chores to do, and fruit literally rotting on my counter in the kitchen. What's a girl to do? Why, fix a cocktail, crank up the air, and bake of course!

Drink pairing: San Pellegrino Aranciata Rossa with vodka over ice.

Music pairing: Nathaniel Rateliff. (You can watch a stellar Sideshow Alley rooftop performance here.)

Thermostat: 72 degrees...just until I don't want to melt, then it's back up to an eco-friendly 78.

Blueberry Banana Bread

Ingredients: 

2 cups flour
1 tsp baking soda
1/4 tsp salt
1/2 cup butter
3/4 cup light brown sugar
2 eggs, beaten
5 mashed bananas
1/2 cup blueberries

Preheat oven to 350 and lightly grease a loaf pan. I prefer Pyrex, as it never overcooks like the darker pans do.

Combine flour, baking soda, salt. Cream butter and brown sugar in a separate bowl. Stir in eggs and mashed banana until well blended. Fold in blueberries. Add to flour mixture until just mixed. Pour into loaf pan.

Bake 60-65 minutes. 
(For high altitude, I add 2 TB flax seed, turn the oven to 375, and bake for 60 minutes.)



Voila! A very banana-y banana bread with tart little blueberries to cut the sweetness. Okay, back to the grind...At least I'm buzzed and full!

Afternoon cookie break?

I make a mean cookie. I know, I know. We've been down this road before. But today, I share with you my best recipe. This is the one that friends curse me for as they are eating their second...third...fifth...enormous chocolatey treat. I, on the other hand, easily justify this as a breakfast food because it has oatmeal. It all depends on how you look at things. I prefer to view the world through sugar-coated glasses.

Usually I have to adapt baking recipes for high altitude (curse you, Denver) but this chocolate chip cookie is courtesy of 5280 Magazine and Denver's own Fuel Cafe. I've swiped this directly from the 5280 article, so hopefully they'll forgive me. Subscribe to 5280, eat at Fuel Cafe! (See? Free advertising!)

I've also decided to use this as an opportunity to try out my new Miu silicone baking liner and Wear-Ever half sheet pan. I usually rely on my Pampered Chef Stoneware Large Bar Pan for cookies, so we'll see which one produces the best results. Or if there is any difference at all...

FUEL CAFE'S CHOCOLATE-CHIP OATMEAL PECAN COOKIES

Ingredients:

½ pound unsalted butter, softened but not melted

1 cup brown sugar

¾ cup sugar

1 teaspoon salt

1 teaspoon baking soda

2 eggs

1 teaspoon vanilla

2 cups flour

2 cups old-fashioned oats (not instant)

2 cups mini chocolate chips

2 cups pecans, chopped and untoasted

Preheat oven to 375°. In a stand mixer, with paddle attachment, cream together butter, brown sugar, and regular sugar for about 5 minutes. Add salt and baking soda. On low speed, add one egg at a time until incorporated. Do not over-mix. Add vanilla. Mix in flour at low speed until incorporated. Do not over-mix. Add oats, chocolate chips, and chopped pecans, only until combined. 

NOTE: Part of the reason these cookies work at this altitude, and taste so so delicious, is the high "chunky bits : dough" ratio. Don't mess with this, or your cookies will pancake out. If you decide to leave out the pecans for some crazy reason, replace them with an additional cup of oats. The adorable beater-licking toddler is optional, but I can't recommend him enough. 

Scoop dough by ¼ cups onto parchment-lined baking sheet and bake for approximately 11 to 12 minutes until golden brown.  

Miu baking liner with Wear-Ever sheet pan

Pampered Chef Stoneware

Cool briefly on baking sheet before transferring to wire cooling rack.

Makes 20+ large cookies.

And for my results?

Stoneware vs. Miu/Wear-Ever

Both sets of cookies were chewy and addictive, but the cookies on the Stoneware pan kept their shape and density while the Miu cookies fanned out. I'm sure I'll use the silicone liner and half sheet for other things, but I'll keep making cookies on my secret weapon, the Pampered Chef Stoneware. (I use their pizza stone as my second pan for large batches.) 

Bake on.