As you all must know, pumpkins are here. They are in our lattes. They are on our doorsteps. They are even on our faces for goodness sake! Heck, I’m not complaining. Love me some punkin! That’s why these cookies were calling my name from my recipe book. “Oh hey – Laura! Remember how good we were last year? Don’t you want to make us again?” Yes, yes I do cookies.

I’m not sure where I got the original recipe, but I’ve had it floating around for years. When I reviewed it this year however I took note of the massive quantities of sugar and butter in the recipe. Eep. Since I do my best to lighten up / healthify recipes, I knew this one could benefit from a sweeter salt makeover.  I reduced the amount of sugar and added some maple syrup. I used 2/3 whole wheat to 1/3 ap flour. I cut the amount of butter by half and added in a mashed banana. I know what you’re thinking “banana? pumpkin? huh?” Trust me. I look at banana much like apple sauce in baking. It adds moisture and sweetness and you don’t really taste it unless you add a lot. There really is no hint of nanner in these cookies. Just pillowy, pumpkiny delightfulness.

Apologies for the blurry phone picture. For some reason my camera has gone missing. Erg.

Pumpkin Chocolate Chip Cookies

Ingredients
1 stick of softened butter
1 mashed banana
1 cup canned pumpkin
1/2 cup brown sugar
1/2 cup white sugar
1/4 cup maple syrup
2 eggs
1 tsp. vanilla extract
2 cups whole wheat flour
1 cup ap flour
2 tsp. baking soda
1/2 tsp. salt
1 tsp. cinnamon
1/4 tsp. ginger powder
1/4 tsp. nutmeg
1/4 tsp. allspice (or cloves)
1-1.5 cups (I may have used closer to 1.5) dark chocolate chips

1.) Pre-heat oven to 350*. Line sheet pans (I used two pans at a time to reduce the amount of batches from 4 to 2) with silpat or parchment paper.
2.) Cream the butter and sugar until light and fluffy. Add in the banana, pumpkin, maple syrup and eggs.
3.) In another bowl, sift together the dry ingredients. Add by the cup to the wet mixture to combine.
4.) Stir in the chocolate chips.
5.) Plop rounded tablespoons on to the baking sheets. Bake for 15 minutes.
6.) Once baked, allow to rest on the sheets for a few minutes then transfer to baking racks.
7.) Attempt to not them all at once.