Life Moments column
By Christine Bryant
I have an obsession, and it’s always this time of year when that obsession turns into a challenge – to eat and enjoy all things pumpkin.
I love pumpkin, but it’s just as the leaves start to change and the temperatures turn a little cooler that it’s all I want. And I’m not just talking pumpkin spice lattes.
Pumpkin cookies, bread, ice cream, coffee creamer, pies, donuts – even candles and lotions. That’s just the tip of the iceberg, too.
Take a trip to Trader Joe’s and you’ll find even more pumpkin treats – pancake mix, chips, salsa, chocolates, pumpkin butter, cornbread, cereal bars, macarons, ravioli and more.
Don’t even get me started on picking, decorating and displaying pumpkins, or the Circleville Pumpkin Show.
I saw on PBS that archaeologists discovered the oldest domesticated pumpkin seeds in the Oaxaca Highlands of Mexico, and pumpkins are believed to have originated in Central America more than 7,500 years ago, though they held little resemblance to the pumpkins we know today.
American pumpkin recipes were introduced closer to the mid- to late-17th century that were much like our recipes today for mashed sweet potatoes.
Over time, dessert and other food recipes that include pumpkins have evolved, and very rarely does any restaurant or grocery store not have some sort of pumpkin delicacy.
In the spirit of the giving season upon us, I would love to share my favorite pumpkin recipe with you, pumpkin chocolate chip cookies. The yield varies on how large you make the cookies, but you can expect about a dozen out of this recipe.
Happy pumpkin season!
Christine Bryant is a Messenger staff writer.
Pumpkin Chocolate Chip Cookies
Ingredients
1 cup canned pumpkin
1 cup white sugar
1/2 cup vegetable oil
1 egg
2 cups all-purpose flour
2 teaspoons baking powder
2 teaspoons ground cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon milk
1 tablespoon vanilla extract
2 cups semisweet chocolate chips
1/2 cup chopped walnuts (optional)
Directions
Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.
Combine pumpkin, sugar, vegetable oil and egg. In a separate bowl, stir together flour, baking powder, ground cinnamon and salt. Dissolve the baking soda with the milk and stir in. Add flour mixture and mix well.
Add vanilla, chocolate chips and nuts.
Drop by spoonful on greased cookie sheet and bake at 350 degrees F for about 10 minutes or until lightly brown and firm.
