Oatmeal Pumpkin Chocolate Chip Cookies

It is my favorite time of year! Football is back on (go Tigers!), the ridiculous heat is subsiding and it is no longer weird for me to bake with my favorite ingredient, pumpkin. There's just something about pumpkin and all of the rich spices that are used with it that just make me so happy.

My husband's coworker started calling them Clemson cookies. I actually had the same thought while I was making them since they are orange. And from another of hubby's coworkers: "Your wife must be a wizard because these cookies are magical." Much akin to a cheesy pick-up line, but I figured it was worth mentioning, at least for the cheese factor.

Another alternative is to use raisins instead of chocolate chips. They are equally as delicious =)

Oatmeal Pumpkin Chocolate Chip Cookies

1 1/3 cups flour
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon nutmeg
1 teaspoon cinnamon
1/4 teaspoon ground clove
1/4 teaspoon ginger
2/3 cup shortening
1/2 cup sugar
2/3 cup packed brown sugar
2 eggs
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 cup pumpkin puree
1/4 cup milk
2 cups old-fashioned oats
1 cup semi-sweet chocolate chips (or raisins)


Preheat oven to 375.

In a medium bowl, combine flour, baking soda, salt, nutmeg, cinnamon, clove and ginger.

In a large bowl, cream shortening and sugars. Beat in eggs, vanilla and pumpkin. Add flour mixture slowly, mixing thoroughly with each addition. Add milk and mix completely. Stir in oats and chocolate chips.

Roll into 1-inch size balls and place 1 1/2 inches apart on an ungreased baking sheet. Bake for 10-12 minutes. Let cool on baking sheet for 1-2 minutes and then place onto wax paper or wire rack until complete cooled.

Gluten-Free Chocolate Chip Cookies

I have a quite a few friends who have to eat gluten-free and I always feel badly when I'm all like, "look at these delicious treats that I made that you can't eat or else you will be in an immense amount of pain." Yeah, not cool, not cool at all.

I knew that finding gluten-free recipes was becoming easier, but I did have some trouble finding ones that were for high altitude. I was pretty excited when I somehow stumbled upon this page and even more excited when I realized that the blogger had a cookbook out as well. Obvi, I immediately ordered it. The book has some great ideas, but I did tweak this recipe a bit since I prefer more salt and the batter was really dry. Also, the directions were a little confusing/unclear. But it got the important things right so I was satisfied.

I was more nervous than usual making these since I've never made any gluten-free desserts before and had no idea how they would turn out. I always think of gluten-free as being pretty terrible and I certainly did not want to force my friends to eat something terrible and then have to pretend that it wasn't terrible. I was also nervous cause I was petrified that even though I was following the recipe that I would somehow screw it up and put gluten into it and then my friends would be sick. But, thankfully, neither of these things occurred.

I suspected that everything was going to be okay when I tasted a bit of the batter and realized that it tasted exactly the same as regular Chocolate Chip Cookies. I knew that everything was going to be okay when they got out of the oven and my husband asked to taste test them and then proceeded to eat them and I had to tell him to stop because I was afraid there wouldn't be any left for the people they were intended. And further proof that they were a hit? I was told that they were better than the ones my friends had gotten from a bakery.

Gluten-Free Chocolate Chip Cookies

1 1/2 cups white rice flour

3/4 cup cornstarch
1/2 teaspoon xanthan gum
3/4 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
3/4 cup butter
2/3 cup sugar
1/2 cup brown sugar
1 egg
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 1/2 cups chocolate chips
2 tablespoons water

Preheat oven to 375.

In a medium bowl, combine flour, cornstarch, xanthan gum, baking soda and salt. In a large bowl, cream sugars and butter. Add egg and vanilla and beat until smooth. Add flour mixture slowly and thoroughly, a little at a time. Stir in chocolate chips and water. Drop cookies, about an inch around, onto an ungreased cookie sheet about an inch apart. Bake for 10-12 minutes. Remove cookies from the cookie sheet immediately and place on a cooling rack or wax paper

Plain Ole Chocolate Chip Cookies

Well, grab a coat, because Hell must have frozen over - I finally made good on my promise to make good ole regular chocolate chip cookies (thanks to my High Altitude Baking cookbook).

I know, I know, I am just as shocked as you are.

There's really no funny little anecdote to go along with this. I made chocolate chip cookies. They tasted good. Boom.

But here's a picture of a kitten for stopping by:

Chocolate Chip Cookies

2 cups flour

1 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 cup sugar
1/2 cup packed brown sugar

2/3 cup shortening

2 eggs
1 teaspoon vanilla extract 
2 tablespoons water
1 cup semi-sweet chocolate chips

Preheat oven to 375.

In a medium bowl, combine flour, salt and baking powder. In a large bowl, cream sugars and shortening. Add eggs and vanilla and beat until smooth. Add flour mixture slowly and thoroughly, a little at a time. Stir in chocolate chips and water. Drop cookies, about an inch around, onto an ungreased cookie sheet about an inch apart. Bake for 10-12 minutes. Remove cookies from the cookie sheet immediately and place on a cooling rack or wax paper.

Chocolate Chip Potato Chip Cookies

There was a gathering at my husband's workplace last night and I wanted to bring something to the event. I asked my husband for some inspiration and without skipping a beat he tells me a story about how one day he and his former roommate ate raw cookie dough and potato chips and how amazing the combination was. At first I thought he was suggesting I serve raw cookie dough and I was like, "Yeah...no, I'm not comfortable with that" but then I realized he just thought I should put potato chips into chocolate chip cookies. And this I could totally get behind because I love salty and sweet combinations.

I did a quick search on the Googles and realized that this was actually a thing and there were quite a few recipes out there (none for high altitude, of course). Many of the recipes called for potato chips and pretzels, but I decided to just add potato chips.

Rather than mess with a good thing, I used the standard drop cookie recipe from my High Altitude Baking book that I've used for my Caramel Bacon White Chocolate Chip Cookies and my Maple Bacon Chocolate Chip Cookies.

Per my usual, there was no way that my baking experience was going to be flawless. This time, when I grabbed the brown sugar, I realized it had gotten hard.

Luckily, this was an easy fix. I put the brown sugar in a bowl and popped it into the microwave for 10 seconds and it softened enough for me to measure it. Once it was creamed with the sugar and shortening it was like there was never even an issue in the first place.

There was one more moment of panic when my guinea pig/husband did the taste test. He stood there for a few moments with the strangest and (and from what I perceived) non-positive expression on his face. I thought, "Oh no! They are terrible!" but it turns out they weren't and then he proceeded to eat 10 more.

Chocolate Chip Potato Chip Cookies

2 cups flour

1 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 cup sugar
1/2 cup packed brown sugar

2/3 cup shortening

2 eggs
1 teaspoon vanilla extract

1 cup semi-sweet chocolate chips
2 cups crushed potato chips

Preheat oven to 375.

In a medium bowl, combine flour, salt and baking powder. In a large bowl, cream sugars and shortening. Add eggs and vanilla and beat until smooth. Add flour mixture slowly and thoroughly, a little at a time. Stir in chocolate chips and potato chips. Drop cookies, about an inch around, onto an ungreased cookie sheet about an inch apart. Bake for 10-12 minutes. Remove cookies from the cookie sheet immediately and place on a cooling rack or wax paper.

Chocolate Chocolate Chip Cookies

Chocolate Peanut Butter Chip Cookies used to be my go-to back in day, so I figured I should go back to my roots and whip up a batch. I found an awesome recipe online that had conversions for high altitude (side note: did you see how many changes had to be made?!?!) and decided to try it. I was pumped, until this happened:

Yup, the peanut butter chips melted. I'd left them on a side counter and in the afternoon that part of the kitchen gets quite a bit of sun. I panicked for a minute, because I was making these at the last minute and didn't have time to head back to the store. But then I remembered I had some leftover semi-sweet chocolate chips and realized all was not lost (yay!).

Another side note, when I bake, I tend to make a mess. Like, a huge mess. I don't know how others are able to keep their kitchens clean when baking. I spilled a lot of flour onto the stove this time, and when I turned my back for a second, my husband, who is apparently 12 years old, had done this:

Isn't he sweet?

 Everything else went off without a hitch and the cookies ended up tasting awesome. I mean, seriously, who doesn't love chocolate?!?!

Chocolate Chocolate Chip Cookies

 2 cups + 2 tablespoons flour
3/4 cup cocoa
1/2 teaspoon salt
3/4 teaspoon baking soda
2 teaspoons water
1 1/4 cups butter, softened
1 2/3 cups sugar
2 eggs
2 teaspoons vanilla
1 cup chocolate chips

Preheat oven to 350. In a medium sized bowl, mix together flour, cocoa, baking soda, salt and water.

Beat butter and sugar in a large bowl with a mixer until fluffy. Beat in eggs and vanilla. Slowly add flour mixture, a little at a time until it's all well mixed. Stir in chocolate chips.

Drop cookies, about an inch around, onto an ungreased cookie sheet about an inch apart. Bake 7-8 minutes. Cookies will be soft and puffy when you take them out of the oven.

They will flatten while cooling.

Once flattened, remove from cookie sheet and place on cooling rack or wax paper to cool.

Bacon Chocolate Chip Brownies

 

In celebration of World Baking Day I decided to make some Bacon Chocolate Chip Brownies. Actually, that's kind-of a lie. I was planning on making the brownies to bring to a BBQ before I realized there was even such a thing as World Baking Day, let alone that it was today. I decided to combine the brownie recipe from the Cadbury Creme Egg Brownies with the bacon and chocolate chip measurements I used in both the Maple Bacon Chocolate Chip Cookies and the Caramel Bacon White Chocolate Chip Cookies.
They turned out to be a great hit and I was even complimented on how moist they were and was asked what my secret was. Too bad I spaced and forgot to mention this blog. Oh well, maybe next time I'll be quicker on my feet and won't miss the opportunity to promote myself ;)

Bacon Chocolate Chip Brownies

4 1-ounce squares unsweetened chocolate
3/4 cups vegetable shortening  
2 1/4 cups sugar  
3 eggs
1 teaspoon vanilla
1 1/4 cups flour
1/4 teaspoon baking powder
1/4 teaspoon salt   
2 tablespoons 2% milk
1 cup chocolate chips
1/2 cup cooked, chopped bacon
 
Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

Melt chocolate with shortening in a large bowl in the microwave on high for 2 minutes. Stir until chocolate is completely melted. 
Add sugar into the mix and stir until completely mixed. Add in eggs and vanilla until those are completely mixed. Mix in flour, baking powder, salt and milk until all is thoroughly blended.

Stir in the chocolate chips and then the bacon into the mix. Spread in a greased and floured 9x13 inch pan (glass works best).

Reduce oven temperature to 325 degrees. Bake for 40 minutes or until toothpick inserted in center comes out clean.   

Cool completely before cutting.

Oatmeal Raisin Chocolate Chip Cookies

For my husband's Birthday, I asked him what type of baked good he wanted for his special day. He requested oatmeal raisin cookies (actually at first he requested an apple pie and I told him no...on account of not having a rolling pin...and cause, you know, it's a pain in the ass =)). Me being the overachiever that I am, couldn't just stop at oatmeal raisin and decided to add some chocolate chips to the mix. I found a great recipe in my High Altitude Baking book. I modified it slightly due to preference and the fact that I didn't have dry milk (whatever that is) and it was snowing and I didn't feel like venturing out of the house to find it.

Oatmeal Raisin Chocolate Chip Cookies

1 1/3 cups flour
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon nutmeg
1 teaspoon cinnamon
2/3 cup shortening
1/3 cup sugar
2/3 cup packed brown sugar
2 eggs
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1/4 cup milk
2 cups old-fashioned oats
1/2 cup raisins
1 cup semi-sweet chocolate chips

Preheat oven to 375.

In a medium bowl, combine flour, baking soda, salt, nutmeg and cinnamon.

In a large bowl, cream shortening and sugars. Beat in eggs and vanilla. Add flour mixture slowly, mixing thoroughly with each addition. Add milk and mix completely. Stir in oats, raisins and chocolate chips.

Roll into 1-inch size balls and place 1 1/2 inches apart on an ungreased baking sheet. Bake for 10-12 minutes. Let cool on baking sheet for 1-2 minutes and then place onto wax paper or wire rack until complete cooled.

Maple Bacon Chocolate Chip Cookies

I have to admit, this isn't the first time I have made these cookies. The idea came to me when my husband and I were invited to our friends' house for a party. The wife is a vegetarian, so my husband feels the need to feed her husband meat as much as possible. I had already decided I was going to make cookies, but thought it would be fun to figure out a way to add meat (to be fair, I did also bring hot chocolate cupcakes without any meat in them ;)).

I've had maple bacon cupcakes before, so I figured there must be a cookie version. I found some inspiration on allrecipes.com and combined it with the basic drop cookie recipe from my High Altitude Baking book.

I enlisted my husband to make the bacon because he makes the best bacon ever. However, when I asked him if I could post his recipe on here, he told me it was a secret. So, you'll just have to use your own special bacon recipe or even Oscar Mayer Real Bacon Bits.

Another snow day had me working at home so I decided to give these cookies another go. I wasn't completely satisfied with the way they came out the first time because I felt like you couldn't taste enough of the bacon, so this time I didn't chop the bacon as much as the last time. This go 'round, I feel like the bacon flavor is much more evident, as it should be.

Maple Bacon Chocolate Chip Cookies

  2 cups flour

 1 teaspoon salt

 1 teaspoon baking powder

1/2 cup sugar

 1/2 cup packed brown sugar

2/3 cup shortening

2 eggs

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

1 teaspoon maple extract

1 cup semi-sweet chocolate chips

1/2 cup chopped, cooked bacon

Preheat oven to 375. In a medium bowl, combine flour, salt and baking powder. In a large bowl, cream sugars and shortening. Add eggs, vanilla and maple and beat until smooth. Add flour mixture slowly and thoroughly, a little at a time. Stir in chocolate chips and bacon. Drop cookies, about an inch around, onto an ungreased cookie sheet about an inch apart. Bake for 10-12 minutes. Remove cookies from the cookie sheet immediately and place on a cooling rack or wax paper.