The Lonely Mixer

I love to bake! And my shinny mixer has been calling to me for some time now. Even though I love to bake I don't do it very often. Let's just say that the rewards that I reap aren't the kind of rewards one looks for. That's right... I look at a cookie and I put on a pound or two! But this week a friend of mine had her baby and I thought to myself, self....... this is a perfect excuse to whip something up. So being an October baby I thought that Pumpkin cookies with chocolate chips would be perfect. They are soft, hard to mess up and most of all delicious! These cookies are too good not to share with everyone I know. So here's the recipe. Enjoy!

Pumpkin Cookies

1/2 cup sugar

1 tsp. baking soda

1/2 cup brown sugar

1/2 tsp. salt

1 cup margarine/butter

1.5 tsp. cinnamon

1 tsp. vanilla

1/2 tsp. ginger

1 egg

1 cup m&m or chocolate chips

1 cup canned pumpkin

2 cups flour

• Preheat oven to 350
• In large bowl beat sugar, brown sugar and margarine until light and fluffy
• Add vanilla, egg and pumpkin; blend well
• Stir in flour (don't over pack the flour when measuring), baking soda, salt, cinnamon and ginger , mix well
• Stir in candy

Drop onto ungreased cookie sheet using two spoons, 3 inches apart. Using metal spoon, flatten into 3 inch circles. Bake for 14-17 minutes or until edges are light golden brown. Let cool 1 minute on cookie sheet; put on cooling rack. Yields approx 2 dozen.

Kate's tips:

• Candy - I have always used the chocolate chips and I use the whole bag rather than the 1 cup that the recipe calls for. (Can you tell that I love chocolate?) I think it's a good balance between the pumpkin & chocolate. I have asked others and they agree.
• Butter/Margarine - If using real butter the cookies will melt/spread more than if you use margarine. They will be more thin and crispy rather than light and fluffy. I prefer the light and fluffy.
• I don't flatten them, I just spoon them onto the cookie sheet

Don't they look yummy?!