In true Abby Normally fashion I wrote a “Don’t Forget to Vote” blog and forgot to post it this morning. Oh well, hope you voted!

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It was late October of my Junior year of college. I was sharing a dumpy apartment in South Oakland with some of my best friends and we did our best to make it as much as home as possible. Although, I certainly wasn’t thrilled about painting the living room and raging burnt orange color..but that’s another story…

The weather was starting to get cold and we agreed that it was finally time to turn on our heat. Not only for our own comfort, but because we were hosting a Halloween party that weekend. The night before, well after I went to bed, my roommate Amanda baked pumpkin chocolate chip cookies in anticipation of our guests. If my memory serves me correctly, it was early Friday morning and my alarm had not gone off reminding me about my 9 am Latin class. I was so comfortable laying there…warm from the combination of my jersey knit sheets and the furnace, I couldn’t help but smile as I smelled the wonderful pumpkin and autumn spices wafting from the kitchen. It was, without a doubt, the perfect fall morning.

It was also the day that I fell in love with all things pumpkin. I didn’t need to have a bite of the cookie to know that it would be amazing. And every fall since then, I have made it a point to make pumpkin chocolate chip cookies in hopes that I wake up the next morning greeted by the same warmth and the same smells.

No such luck. My husband not only snores in the morning, but he also sets the thermostat at 57 degrees each night before bed.  However, he does ask for these cookies by name.

Pumpkin Chocolate Chip Cookies

• 1 cup canned pumpkin
• 1 cup sugar
• 1/2 applesauce
• 1 teaspoon almond milk
• 1 tablespoon vanilla extract
• 1faux-flax egg (1 tbsp ground flax, 3 tbsp water, mixed) or 1 real egg works too.
• 2 cups whole wheat flour
• 2 teaspoons pumpkin pie spice
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1 teaspoon baking soda 
• 1 1/2 cups semisweet chocolate chips (I added some white chocolate chips, too)

Mix together flour, baking soda, pumpkin pie spice, and salt.  Then add the remaining ingredients to the flour mixture and blend well.

Place spoonfuls of dough on slightly greased tray about 1 inch apart.

Bake for approximately 10 minutes.

I probably won’t ever know that peace again, but at least I still have pumpkin chocolate chip cookies to comfort me. If only they could keep me warm too.

Do you love pumpkin? What’s your favorite way to eat it?
Have you ever painted anything burnt orange?