Pumpkin Chocolate Chip Bites

Have you ever seen the movie Runaway Bride? I feel a little bit like Julia Roberts from that movie, when she had no idea what eggs she liked.  At this moment, you might be wondering what does Runaway Bride have to do with Pumpkin Chocolate Chip Bites? Karen, from Trilogy Edibles asked me what my favorite pumpkin recipe is the other day and I had no answer. I know the pumpkin recipes that other people like to order from me, but I didn’t know which one was my favorite. So, I headed into the kitchen this past weekend to make a bunch of different pumpkin recipes.

There is something about pumpkin and chocolate chips. I throw chocolate in just about everything I make with pumpkin when I am not adding nuts. When ordering cupcakes or cookies from me you will either get pumpkin pecan or pumpkin chocolate chip.

Pumpkin Chocolate Chip Bites

2 ¾ cups unbleached, all-purpose flour

1 tsp. baking powder

1 tsp. baking soda

1 ½ tsp. cinnamon

1 tsp. nutmeg

½ tsp. all spice

½ tsp. salt

¾ cup granulated sugar

¾ cup brown sugar

1 stick butter

1 egg, slightly beaten

1 cup pumpkin puree

1 tbsp. Praline {pecan liqueuor}

1 tsp. vanilla

11 oz. semi-sweet chocolate chips

Preheat oven to 350. Whisk the flour, baking powder, baking soda, spices and set aside. In a small bowl, combine the pumpkin puree and the prailine liqueur.  If you do not have prailine liqueur near you, don’t stress. Just omit. The prailine liqueur adds a nice caramel flavor to the pumpkin but it’s not essential. It’s just tasty! Set aside.

Cream the sugar and butter till light and fluffy. Add the egg, pumpkin and pecan liqueur mixture, vanilla; mix until just blended.

Gradually add the flour mixture and beat just until combined, scraping down the bowl, especially the bottom. With rubber spatula, mix in chocolate chips.

Slightly grease ice cream scoop. Use ice cream scoop to drop cookies on a cookie sheet. Since the cookies have very little fat in them, they do not spread but puff up.

Bake for 13 to 15 minutes or until lightly browned. Remove from oven and let cookies cool completely.

Cinnamon Drizzle

1/2 cup confectioners sugar {sifted}

1 1/2 tsp. milk

3/4 tsp. cinnamon

Sift confection sugar into a small bowl. Add milk. If you want a thinner drizzle just add more milk till you reach your desired consistency. Stir in cinnamon.

Take a spoon and drizzle the cinnamon mixture on top of the cookies.

There are a couple of things I figured out while making the pumpkin chocolate chip bites.  One of the things I figured out it when I was messing around with this recipe is that pumpkin “poofs” up when baking. These will not look like normal cookies, but more like scones. The other thing that hit me was these cookies do not have a lot of fat in them. Fat is what causes normal cookies to spread out.  Did you know canned pumpkin is a nutrient dense food?  It has high levels of vitamin A, vitamin C, Iron and Calcium. One cup of canned pumpkin packs 760% of your daily vitamin A intake in the form of beta carotene. Beta carotene give pumpkin its rich orange color and helps improve eye health as well as proper formation and growth of mucus membranes, soft tissues and skin.

ENJOY! What is your favorite pumpkin treat?

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White Chocolate Pear Cookies Pumpkin Spice Caramel Corn Dark Chocolate Andes Mint Cupcakes The Great Food Blogger Cookie Swap 2012: Clove Crisps