Pumpkin Chocolate Chip Cookies Pair Really Well With Oysters.

Last week I was daydreaming about the pumpkin chocolate chip cookies from Whole Foods. I randomly decided to make them just to see what they'd be like. They turned out awesome and I wanted to share them with my friends, family, and coworkers. I needed to bring a check from Jenna to Santo's house, and I figured I'd bring him some cookies as well. I told him I would leave the check and cookies in his mailbox. When I got to his house, this was waiting for me.

 

Such thoughtful gifts!

Along with the cookies, I left Santo this note: 

To make a dramatic story short, there ended up being a war over cookies. I figured I might as well make things better by making an entire batch to bring with me to the Lowcountry Oyster Festival on Sunday. After all, we should 

MAKE COOKIES NOT WAR!

Here is the recipe for the cookies, adapted from Cookie Madness :

Ingredients:
1 cup canned pumpkin
1 large egg
3/4  cup granulated sugar
5 tablespoons vegetable oil
2 teaspoons vanilla
2 cups all purpose flour
2 teaspoons cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon baking soda
2 teaspoons double-acting baking powder
1 cup milk chocolate chips

Procedure:
Preheat oven to 360* F.
Mix together pumpkin, egg, sugar, vegetable oil, and vanilla. In a separate bowl, combine flour, cinnamon, salt, baking soda, and baking powder. Combine wet and dry ingredients until mixed well. Stir in chocolate chips. Drop by spoonful onto a baking sheet and bake for 11-12 minutes. Let the cookies cool completely before putting them away. 


These cookies are sooooooo soft. They're more like pumpkin muffin tops. I chose to use the milk chocolate chips over semi-sweet because I felt like it would be a better balance of sweet and spice. 

The yummy and very versatile canned pumpkin:

It's not a typical cooking adventure unless I hurt myself:

Everything mixed together:

Ready to go in the oven:

DONE! :)

Note the thickness...and the blackberry blowing up in the background:

The second batch came out even better and I was excited to take them with me to the festival. Because Santo is such a good-looking guy, I brought him a whole bag of them. Here is a picture of us fatties indulging on more sweets:

And here's Jenna looooving my cookies on the way home:

Oyster shots!

Happy 1st of the month! Can you believe it's February already? February is National American Heart Month. Please make sure you are getting at least 20 minutes of cardiovascular exercise at a minimum of three times a week for a happy, healthy heart. Do it for your valentine!!