pumpkin chocolate chip cookies

I’m so excited about fall! It has been a long, record-breakingly hot summer, and I actually get a little excited that I need a jacket to leave the house in the mornings now. And nothing says fall like stuffing your face with as many pumpkin-flavored treats as possible. These really are the perfect pumpkin chocolate chip cookies! Geoff and I stand divided on the icing… I think it’s too much (the cookies are plenty sweet by themselves) but Geoff thinks it’s awesome. I think that the older I get, the more my sweet tooth disappears. I find myself craving things like bread much more often than I crave sweets. In any case, you may choose for yourself whether to dollop them with frosting or not, but make these awesome cookies!

Pumpkin Chocolate Chip Cookies
MADE

½ cup shortening (I used butter. I’m a rebel.)
1 cup sugar
1 cup pumpkin puree
1 tsp vanilla extract
2 cups flour
¼ tsp salt
1 tsp baking soda
1 tsp baking powder
1 tsp ground cinnamon
1 ½ cups chocolate chips

Preheat oven to 350. Grease cookie sheets. In medium bowl, cream the shortening and sugar. Stir in the pumpkin and vanilla. In separate bowl, stir together the flour, salt, baking soda, baking powder, and cinnamon; stir into the creamed mixture. Then stir in the chocolate chips. Drop dough onto cookie sheets. Bake for 10 minutes in preheated oven. Allow cookies to cool for a minute on cookie sheets before transferring to wire cooling racks.

frosting:
4 oz cream cheese (1/2 package)
4 T butter
1/2 lb powdered sugar
1 tsp vanilla
dash of salt

Mix it all together and place a healthy dollop on each cookie. Enjoy!