Soft Pumpkin Cookies

WET INGREDIENTS: In a large bowl, add in ONE CUP of canned pumpkin (not pumpkin pie filling and not an entire can of pumpkin), white sugar, brown sugar, vegetable oil, the egg, and vanilla. Mix until completely smooth. If desired, add in the food dye. This will give you a darker more “pumpkin-looking” cookie. (The photos in the post have 3 drops of orange food coloring.) Mix until completely smooth.

DRY INGREDIENTS: Without stirring in between these additions, add in the cinnamon, pumpkin pie spice, baking powder, baking soda, salt, flour, ¾ cup miniature chocolate chips, and regular chocolate chips. Mix by hand or with an electric hand mixer until just combined. Do not overmix. The dough is wet, thick, and sticky!

CHILL DOUGH: Cover tightly and chill the dough for 30 minutes up to 10 hours. Chilling is not necessary but it makes the dough easier to work with and intensifies flavors.

BAKE: When ready to bake, preheat the oven to 350 degrees F and line a large tray with parchment paper or a silicone liner. Use a 1-tablespoon measuring spoon to scoop out balls of dough. Each cookie should be about 1 tablespoon in size. Once dough is in the tablespoon measuring spoon, use a small spoon to scoop it out of that onto the lined sheet pan. Try to smooth or round the balls, but it’s okay if they’re a bit bumpy; the dough is messy to work with. Bake for 8-11 minutes and remove. Use the remaining 1/4 cup miniature chocolate chips to press a few more chocolate chips onto the tops of the cookies straight out of the oven.

ENJOY: Let cookies stand on the cookie sheet for 3-4 minutes before using a spatula to transfer the cookies from tray to cooling rack. Repeat the baking process with the rest of the dough, keeping dough in the fridge until it’s scooped into cookies (colder dough = easier to work with!) For a fudgy pumpkin pie-type cookie, chill the cooked cookies in the fridge — delish!