Wishful Thinking?

Perhaps I am being a bit preemptive, seeing as it is still August, but all week I have been craving the flavors (and weather) of Fall.  Fall has always been one of my favorite seasons for an exhaustive list of reasons, some of which include:  new school supplies, a new school year, new clothes, beautiful colors, amazing weather, the return of sweatshirts, pumpkins, spices, Halloween, and all sorts of delicious fruits and vegetables.  This is the first year in 20 years that is not a "back to school" year!  Crazy, but I'm enjoying it so far!

So I decided today that maybe if I start thinking like it's fall, it will start to feel like fall sooner!  I made these delicious and virtually guilt free Pumpkin Chocolate Chip Cookies, and they came out fantastic!!!  They are a bit more cake-like than I usually like cookies to be, and they're sort of more like muffin tops, but the flavor is just incredible!

The Recipe:

• 1 cup canned pumpkin
• 1/2 cup white sugar
• 1/2 cup brown sugar
• 1/2 cup unsweetened applesauce
• 1/4 cup egg beaters
• 2 cups whole wheat flour (unbleached)
• 2 teaspoons baking powder
• 2 teaspoons ground cinnamon
• 2 teaspoons nutmeg
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1 teaspoon baking soda
• 1 teaspoon almond milk
• 1 tablespoon vanilla extract
• 2 cups semisweet chocolate chips

1. Combine pumpkin, sugar, applesauce, vanilla, and egg beaters. In a separate bowl, stir together flour, baking powder, ground cinnamon, nutmeg and salt. Dissolve the baking soda with the almond milk and stir in. Add flour mixture to pumpkin mixture and mix well.
2. Add chocolate chips.
3. Drop by spoonful on greased cookie sheet and bake at 365 degrees F for approximately 10 minutes or until lightly brown and firm. 

 

Happy Almost-Fall!