Big Puffy Pumpkin-Spiced Chocolate Chip Cookies

I’ll tell y’all one thing:  Nate is getting SERIOUSLY tired of the pumpkin-flavored bomb that went off at our house in the past couple of weeks.  The cinnamon, the ginger, the cardamom, the pumpkin.  It’s true: my handsome man is NOT a pumpkin fan.  It’s basically his only fault.

 

Me on the other hand?  I love the stuff.  So much so that I’ve had to put a ban on myself with baking for a while; since Nate doesn’t love pumpkin I’ve found that I justhaveto eat it all and my waistline is getting a little annoyed at that.  So I took these suckers and froze the dough so that I can bake them off some other time after I’ve sufficiently backed off of the sugar high for about 18 months.  Or 18 days.  Whatever.

 

You guys know that I love a good crispy-chewy cookie…in fact, that’s really the best kind if you ask me.  But these are big, puffy and cake-like and so incredibly addictive that it’s made me question my initial cookie-texture preference more than once.  You can make them whatever size you like, but I’ll admit that the bigger the better seems to be my favorite.  The instructions reflect the big size, but you can obviously make them smaller and adjust the baking time as needed.  I promise not to judge 😉

BIG PUFFY PUMPKIN-SPICED CHOCOLATE CHIP COOKIES

• 1 cup (2 sticks) butter, softened
• 1 1/2 cups brown sugar
• 1/2 cup granulated sugar
• 2 eggs
• 1 Tbsp vanilla (I used vanilla bean paste – SO good!)
• 1 cup pumpkin puree
• 3 cups flour
• 2 tsp baking soda
• 2 tsp pumpkin pie spice
• 1/2 tsp salt
• 2 cups semi-sweet chocolate chips

Preheat oven to 375.  Cream together the butter and sugar until smooth and fluffy.  Beat in the pumpkin puree next, making sure you get it well incorporated.  Mix in the eggs and vanilla until the wet ingredients are well combined.  Gently fold in the flour, baking soda, pumpkin pie spice and salt until just mixed, then fold in the chocolate chips until evenly distributed.  For the big puffy kind: scoop the cookies out with an ice cream scoop (yes, you read that right) and place on a baking sheet lined with parchment paper or a Silpat.  Bake at 375 for 20 minutes until the bottom is golden brown and the top doesn’t look wet or doughy anymore.  Let them cool on the baking sheet.  Devour.

Oh, and looky there – I added Oreos to the middle of some!  Just divide the dough in half, put the Oreo in the middle, and then roll the dough around the Oreo.  And then ban yourself from baking until the sugar high goes away.  Really. 😉