The Best Flavor Combo...EVER

If I had to pick the one thing I love most about Fall it would have to be, without any doubt, PUMPKINS!

I love those vegetables above all else come September...and October...and November too. Orange or white or any variety of color. Round or oblong or bumpy with pumpkin warts. I love them all. Especially my little friend the 'Pie Pumpkin' because it is from him that we get pumpkin puree.

And man oh man, once you've got that pumpkin puree, the possibilities are endless.

Pumpkin pie is the direction most people would go. But you could also do pumpkin chili (it's delicious) or pumpkin bread or pumpkin pancakes or spiced pumpkin seeds. And it's the best part of Schwan's seasonal ice cream Autumn Treat. And it's versatile, since you can use little pumpkins as bowls for whatever pumpkin concoction you dream up. I'm telling you, I LOVE pumpkin.

My favorite pumpkin recipe came out of the recipe pile (I don't have time for a box or a folder...yet) yesterday when Libby and I were looking for something to do. And to be honest, I've been craving these little goodies. Hands down best pumpkin food ever: pumpkin chocolate chip cookies.

Yep, that's right. Pumpkin.Chocolate.Chip.Cookies. And they're delish. Seriously, the best flavor combo EVER!

Oh yeah, and crazy easy to make. Just do this:

Beat a cup of butter until smooth. Then beat in a cup each of white and brown sugar until fluffy.

Beat in one egg, then another before adding a teaspoon of vanilla and a cup of pumpkin puree. Normally I would use fresh pumpkin puree, but we're not going to the pumpkin patch until tomorrow so I was stuck using canned. But it was Libby's brand, so it's all good.

In a separate bowl, whisk together 3 cups of flour and all the other dry ingredients...baking soda, salt, cinnamon, ginger, nutmeg, and cloves.

Then add it into the batter in a little at a time. If working with a small child who has recently discovered the speed control lever on your mixer, make sure they don't push the knob past 'stir' to a setting of 4 or greater. If you don't, this happens:

Flour goes everywhere. It was like a mini-snow storm in our kitchen.

When you've mixed it all, the batter looks all heavenly like this:

Finally, add a bag of milk chocolate chips. Not semi-sweet. MILK chocolate chips.

Be sure to save a few for your assistant to eat.

Drop it by heaping tablespoon onto a cookie sheet lined with parchment paper, bake for 15 minutes at 350 degrees, then remove from the oven and let cool.

We Bruns girls are a fan of the heaping tablespoon method of cookie preparation. As anal as I am, I stay away from the scoop method those Flynn's over at Fresh Picked use. Obviously, the method isn't important, as our respective cookies turned out looking equally as delicious.

These cookies are best enjoyed either warm, right from the over or cold, straight out of the refrigerator. And despite the slightly odd combination of pumpkin and chocolate, they are amazing. A-mazing. And the recipe makes a good sized batch. Enough cookies that some of ours were lucky enough to be boxed up and mailed off for an old friend to enjoy.

They are so very, very good. Oh pumpkin how I love you. Now get going, and go make your own equally delicious favorite Fall treat for yourself.

love always, Kendra

P.S. Baking always goes better when you have a "Snow White" costumed assistant in an apron.