Okay who made pumpkin anything this Thanksgiving weekend?! Yes me too, I made a pumpkin cake with cream cheese icing. Moist and delicious just like a carrot cake but with pumpkin. But this recipe isn’t about the cake (I didn’t take pictures so can’t blog about it, but it was a hit so will definitely be made again – photographed and recipe to be blogged), it is about what do we do with that leftover pumpkin puree.
Yes you can add it to soups – and I still have a little left over so will definitely finish it off in there. It’s a great thickener so really good in those kind of applications. Use it for breads, muffins and – wait for it, Pumpkin Tuxedo Cookies. That’s what this recipe is about. Make this and you will never have the dreaded pumpkin dilemma again. I know, life is complicated; this is one less thing to stress about! And you thought my life was easy?! 🙂
There are no eggs in this recipe and no mixer is required – my favorite kind of baking. This is almost like making a brownie but with pumpkin instead of cocoa. I called it tuxedo because I used dark and white Lindt chocolate – when you have your own blog you can call it Zebra Pumpkin cookies or something creative like that. This is a nice cookie, diarize to bring it out after every “pumpkin” holiday and worry no more. As always – be thankful and enjoy!
8 tbsp. butter (1 stick or 114g), melted
¼ cup packed light brown sugar (dark brown also works fine, just a darker cookie – nothing to be offended about 🙂 )
½ cup granulated sugar
6 tbsp. pumpkin puree – or ¼ cup plus ½ of a ¼ cup – 3/8ths of a cup – I measured, 85 g. I measured, had some free time
1 tsp vanilla extract
1 ½ cups all-purpose flour
¼ tsp Kosher salt plus more for sprinkling on top of the cookie before baking
¼ tsp baking powder
¼ tsp baking soda
1 ½ tsp cinnamon powder
1 tsp ginger powder – you could use pumpkin spice, but really, haven’t we used it enough. I like this combo
¼ cup each Lindt dark and white chocolate, chopped (I wouldn’t look down upon you if you added more)
Preheat the oven to 350f
Line 2 baking trays with parchment, set aside
Melt the butter – microwave in 30 second blitzes depending on how cold your butter is, mine was right from the fridge
While the butter is hot, stir in the sugars until no lumps remain in the mix
Add the pumpkin and vanilla, stir to mix – set aside
Combine the flour, baking powder, baking soda, salt, cinnamon and ginger – whisk to combine
Add to the pumpkin mix – stir to incorporate until no flour remains
Add the chocolate and stir to incorporate
I used a purple handled scoop and got 24 round cookies – gently flatten the tops with your thumb or the back of the scoop – these aren’t spreading cookies so you don’t need to leave a lot of room around them – about 1” should be okay
Sprinkle a little kosher salt on top of each cookie
Bake the cookies for 12 – 14 minutes – rotate the trays half way through the process
They will be soft in the center but firmer on the sides – you cannot use the nudge test as the melted chocolate sticks to the bottom until it sets. Mine were ready in 12 minutes
Let them cool completely – until the chocolate sets. If you are using Lindt, this could take 4 – 6 hours to firm up the chocolate, if using chocolate chips, about 30 minutes to an hour
