Emily’s Pumpkin and Chocolate Chip Cookies

Emily’s Pumpkin and Chocolate Chip Cookies

Makes 24 cookies

Crumble

2 tablespoons unsalted butter, melted
2 tablespoons granulated sugar
1/2 cup finely chopped walnuts or pecans
1/2 cup ground gingersnap cookies
1/3 cup old fashioned oats

Cookie Dough

1/2 cup unsalted butter (1 stick)
1/2 cup canned pumpkin puree
3/4 cup packed light brown sugar
1/3 cup granulated sugar
3 tablespoons light corn syrup
1 large egg
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
3/4 teaspoon ground cinnamon (You could substitute 1 1/4 teaspoons pumpkin pie spice for the cinnamon, nutmeg, and cloves)
1/4 teaspoon ground nutmeg
1/8 teaspoon ground cloves
1 1/3 cups all purpose flour (measured by spooning the flour into dry measuring cups, the leveling the top with a knife)
3/4 cup semi-sweet or bittersweet chocolate chips

Heat oven to 350 degrees F. Coat two or three cookie sheets with cooking spray.

In a large mixing bowl, stir together melted 2 tablespoons butter, 2 tablespoons granulated sugar, walnuts, gingersnap crumbs, and oats until well incorporated. Place crumbs on a cookie sheet and bake 10 minutes or until very light golden brown and toasted; set aside.  (If you only have two cookie sheets, pour the crumbs onto a plate to let them cool and spray the sheet to use for the cookies.)

Increase oven temperature to 375 degrees F.

Melt 1/2 cup butter in a small saucepan over medium heat; cook 2 minutes, stirring frequently, until butter foams and turns golden brown. (It’s better to do this in a shiny saucepan so you can see the color, rather than a non-stick one.)  Pour into a large mixing bowl and cool for 5 minutes.

Place pumpkin in a small saucepan over medium heat, and cook 4 minutes, stirring frequently, until some of the moisture evaporates from pumpkin.  It may darken a little in color too.

Place pumpkin, brown sugar, 1/3 cup granulated sugar, corn syrup and egg in bowl with browned butter; mix together using a mixer on medium high speed for 4 minutes. Beat in vanilla, baking soda, salt and spices until well combined. Reduce mixer speed to low and beat in flour until well incorporated – about 1 minute. Stir in walnut-gingersnap crumbs and chocolate chips until combined.

Chill dough in refrigerator for 30 minutes.

Drop tablespoons of dough onto cookie sheets, 12 cookies per sheet. Bake 10-12 minutes or until light golden brown. Cool 6-7 minutes before transferring cookies to wire racks to cool completely.