While I was home, I made these awesome cookies. I know you're probably thinking that it's too early for pumpkin anything and you're probably right. But I just get so excited for autumn flavors, scents, festivals, and activities that I start celebrating a bit earlier than most other folks. I just can't help it! I guess it's my way of coping with the fact that Texas doesn't really have an autumn season; I can't go to my favorite farmstand and pick a peck of my favorite apples or go on a hayride after picking pumpkins. Texas doesn't even have apple cider the way it's supposed to be. Sigh...
So I went into the kitchen and started whipping up some cookies with pureed pumpkin as the star ingredient. It took me a good while to finally come up with a dough I liked the taste of and the resulting treats are definitely unique! I'm calling them vegan Chocolate Chip Pumpkin Bread Cookies. A mouthful, I know, but they taste like and have the texture of pumpkin bread but in cookie form. Neat! I think I made pumpkin chocolate chip cookies once before, but my friend Teresa introduced me to the idea back in the 90s or early 00s. She's also to blame for my love of lavender in baking after making a lavender pound cake!
Other pumpkiny things I've made over the years include pumpkin bread (kind of obvious), pumpkin soup and chili, and pumpkin roll. I think I might attempt to veganize the pumpkin roll for Thanksgiving. It is truly one of the most decadent desserts I've ever had. In the meantime, though, I hope you enjoy this recipe!
1/2 cup turbinado sugar
1 cup evaporated cane juice
2 teaspoons vanilla
3/4 cups canola or vegetable oil
1 cup pumpkin puree
1/2 cup soymilk
2 tablespoons tapioca flour
3 cups all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon baking powder
1 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon ground nutmeg
4 teaspoons ground cinnamon
2 teaspoons ground ginger
1 cup vegan chocolate chips
DIRECTIONS
Preheat your oven to 350 degrees and oil two cookie sheets or line them with parchment paper.
Combine sugars with liquid ingredients and pumpkin until dissolved. Add the tapioca, baking powder and soda, salt, and spices and mix well. Slowly add flour as you mix. This is easier in a standing mixer.
Your dough should be shiny, thick, and sticky but not stiff and unscoopable. It should try sticking to your fingers when you touch it, but should also resist and stretch slightly. If you think your dough is too wet, add a couple more tablespoons of flour. When you have reached the proper consistency, add your chocolate chips and fold. Do not overmix!
Scoop heaping tablespoons of dough onto your cookie sheets, providing enough space for them to spread slightly. I baked them six cookies per sheet at a time and used one spoon to scoop and another to scrape the dough off the other. Use your spoons or fingers to shape the dollops of dough into round shapes.
Bake for 10-12 minutes. Let cool for five minutes before transferring to a wire rack and allowing to cool completely.
Makes 24-30 cookies, depending on the size of your dollops.
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