New cookbook day is like Christmas. Do you feel that way, too? Gazing at the cover and wondering what treasures await inside...very much like seeing those wrapped presents under the Christmas tree.
When the publisher of The Cookie Book: Decadent Bites for Every Occasion by Rebecca Firth sent me a copy, I was beyond thrilled. I actually felt like a live version of the "praise hands" emoji. The cover alone had me swooning.
Is there any question that I want to make them ALL?!?
Flipping through the pages, I knew it would be almost impossible to choose which of the incredible-sounding cookie recipes to try first. And then I saw it...Chocolate Pumpkin Swirl Cookies. Basically, the cookies of my dreams.
The cookies are soft, puffy, nicely spiced, and flecked with bits of melty chocolate. They're THE cookie for a pumpkin and chocolate lover. I speak from experience.
You start by making a base pumpkin dough. It's then divided in half.
Into one half of the dough goes Dutch-process cocoa and chopped chocolate. (I used Gerbs cocoa...find it on Amazon...on the recommendation of Stella Parks and it's superb.) For the chopped chocolate in the recipe, I roughly chopped Ghirardelli bittersweet chocolate chips. It worked like a charm - and since I didn't have a bar of dark chocolate on hand, it saved me a trip to the store. Win/win.
A little flour and fall spices get stirred into the other half of the dough.
Both doughs are refrigerated to make the next step easier - the rolling. Now, I'll confess that I found this a bit messy. My hands were covered in sticky dough. I mean, it was totally WORTH it, but don't say I didn't warn you. I probably would not have kids help with this part of the recipe.
As I've been doing for all of my pumpkin recipes lately, I strained the pumpkin before using. It takes out a lot of the liquid and leaves a firmer consistency pumpkin. I'm so happy I did that here as the dough, even after refrigerating is very soft. Draining the excess liquid helped, I think.
The recipes call for rolling 4 teaspoons of dough together to get the swirl effect. My smallest cookie scoop is about 2 teaspoons, so my cookies were twice the size. Instead of the yield of 63 cookies, I ended up with only 22. That's ok. They are big and glorious. As they say, everything is bigger in Texas...even cookies.
The bigger cookies were packaged up for a little college care package. Here's a quote Jack sent me from his roommate, "How does somebody make cookies this good?" ♥ (And how CUTE are those little bags?!? They have a zip top! From Michaels.)
Oh! I'd be remiss if I didn't point out the sprinkling of sea salt on top. I used my favorite, fleur de sel. It's the perfect finish to these perfect cookies.
Chocolate Pumpkin Swirl Cookies
(adapted from The Cookie Book, makes 22 cookies)
8 tablespoons unsalted butter, room temperature
1 cup packed light brown sugar
1/2 cup granulated sugar
1/2 cup vegetable oil
1/2 cup strained pumpkin puree, see note
2 eggs, room temperature
1 tablespoon vanilla extract
2 1/3 cups + 1/4 cup unbleached, all-purpose flour, divided
1 1/2 teaspoons kosher salt
1 teaspoon baking powder
1 teaspoon baking soda
2 teaspoons cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon freshly grated nutmeg
1/2 teaspoon cloves
1/2 teaspoon allspice
1/4 cup Dutch-process cocoa powder
1 1/4 cup roughly chopped bittersweet chocolate chips (or bar)
fleur de sel, for sprinkling
[NOTE: at least 30 minutes, and up to several hours before making, scoop a can of pumpkin puree into a cheesecloth-lined mesh sieve. Place over a bowl or large measuring cup. Let the excess liquid drain, pressing occasionally with a spoon. Before using squeeze the cheesecloth to release even more liquid. Measure after straining.]
In another bowl, whisk the 2 1/3 cups flour, salt, baking powder, and baking soda. Add to the pumpkin mixture and mix on low just until combined.
Divide the dough evenly between two bowls. To one bowl, add the remaining 1/4 cup flour and spices. The the other, add the cocoa powder and chopped chocolate. Refrigerate both bowls of dough for 45 minutes or more.
Preheat oven to 350. Line two cookie sheets with parchment.
Use a 2-teaspoon cookie scoop to portion one of each dough into your hand. Roll into a ball. Add one more scoop of each and roll gently between your palms until swirled. Place onto the prepared sheet, leaving 2 inches between. Sprinkle with fleur de sel. (Place the doughs back in the refrigerator between batches.)
Bake the cookies for 11-12 minutes. The cookies should be soft in the centers, but not raw. Cool on the sheet for 5 minutes, then transfer to a cooling rack to cool completely.
Who are my chocolate and pumpkin fans??? Should we form a club? I'm picturing jackets kind of like The Pink Ladies. ♥
Also, go get that book!!!