jackpot

you may recall that last month i was frustrated and looking for a pumpkin cookie that would ship well, without getting mushy, sticking to the packaging, etc… i scoured my recipe books, favorite websites, and google images, but i did not find any that looked good enough. i considered making a regular cookie and just adding pumpkin pie spices (and i still might try that in the future because, well, let’s face it, the spices are what i really like about pumpkin goodies), but i felt like that would be short-changing the recipients as well as you fellow bakers.

so, what’s a girl to do? i know that a lot of my dieting friends replace the butter or oil in recipes with apple sauce so i thought, hey, why can’t i try the same thing but with pumpkin? i found a chocolate chip cookie recipe and was excited to turn it into one for pumpkin butterscotch chip cookies! i did a quick check online to make sure there weren’t postings about someone else doing this and disaster ensuing, and since there weren’t, i went for it. i still wanted to keep them from getting too moist, so i only replaced half of the butter, and i think this was a great decision because these cookies are fan-freakin-tastic! a lot of times i ask a friend or coworker to taste test a cookie before i send them off, but with these i was able to say with complete certainty that they were worthy of sharing…so worthy that i considered not sharing  [o:

oh… you might be wondering why there are no butterscotch chips in the cookies in the pictures… i had already packaged up the butterscotch ones, and i wanted to bring some over as a housewarming gift to my friend caren that just moved into my neighborhood. since she has a severe peanut allergy, i did not want to risk using chips that were manufactured in a plant that handles peanuts, so i left them out. i, of course, accidentally put them on a platter with chocolate chip cookies (and i was not sure how they were processed), so it turns out she didnt eat them anyway. i will have to try again to make her something that won’t potentially cause her harm.

Ingredients

• 1/2 cup butter, softened
• 1/2 cup canned pumpkin (not pumpkin pie filling)
• 1 cup white sugar
• 1 cup packed brown sugar
• 2 eggs
• 2 teaspoons vanilla extract
• 3 cups all-purpose flour
• 1 teaspoon baking soda
• 2 teaspoons hot water
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• pumpkin spice & cinnamon to taste (at very least 1 Tbsp)
• 1 cup butterscotch or chocolate chips (i used butterscotch)

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C).
2. Cream together the butter, pumpkin, white sugar, and brown sugar until smooth. Beat in the eggs one at a time, then stir in the vanilla. Dissolve baking soda in hot water. Add to batter along with salt. Stir in flour, spices, and chips. Drop by large spoonfuls onto ungreased pans.
3. Bake for about 10 minutes in the preheated oven, or until edges are nicely browned.