saying thanks with pumpkin cookies

     One of the best ways to show appreciation to someone (in my opinion) is to bake for them. Over this last weekend I found myself and friends in Boston for a work event and a coworker was nice enough to let us stay at his home. This was absolutely not necessary on his part, so it only felt right to thank him and his wife with an autumnal baked good (because duh, it's mid-October)!

     Cakey. Spicy. Tangy. Chocolatey. I knew exactly what to make - pumpkin cookies with chocolate chips, toasted pecans, and dried cranberries adapted from the Tate's Bake Shop "Baking For Friends" cookbook (aka my personal baking bible). 

a cakey close-up!

     These cookies are one of the simple pleasures in life. Every fall I look forward to these flavors. My coworker and his wife raved about them, so I am sure the "thank you" was received! Whether you make these as a thank you for others or as a simple treat for yourself they are well worth it.

     Please note that this is a very moist, soft cookie. The dough will appear to be rather wet (as pictured below). Make sure you fully mix or else you'll end up with runny cookies towards the bottom of your last batch(yes, you will have to bake in 2-3 batches). In my version of the Tate's classic, I've made a tweak or two for a slightly heftier cookie. 

wet dollops of delicious dough. tempting to eat raw but so good cooked...

Pumpkin Cookies (featuring fall ingredients)
Adapted from Tate's Bake Shop's Pumpkin Chocolate Chip Cookies, from Baking For Friends
Prep Time: 1st batch 20 minutes, every batch after 5 minutes
Cook Time: roughly 15 minutes per batch
Servings: around 50 cookies

You Will Need:

• 1 1/2 cups plus 2 TBS all purpose flour
• 1/2 cup rolled oats
• 2 tsp ground cinnamon
• 1 tsp ground ginger
• 1/4 tsp ground nutmeg
• 1/4 tsp allspice
• 1 tsp baking soda
• 1/4 tsp baking powder
• 3/4 tsp salt
• 2 sticks room temperature salted butter
• 1 cup packed dark brown sugar
• 1/2 cup sugar
• 15oz (one can) pumpkin puree
• 2 room temperature large eggs
• 2 tsp vanilla extract
• 12oz semisweet chocolate chips
• 1 cup chopped pecans
• 1 cup dried cranberries

1. Turn oven on to 350 degrees. Lay out pecans on a baking sheet with aluminum foil and toast for about 10 minutes, tossing midway. They are done when fragrant and slightly darker.
2. Remove pecans from oven. To cool, place on a plate or in a bowl and put in freezer to chill fast. Leave oven on at 350 and line two baking sheets with parchment paper.
3. Place the flour, oats, spices, baking soda, baking powder, and salt in a bowl and mix thoroughly to combine. Set aside.
4. Place the butter and two sugars into the bowl of a stand mixer and using your beating attachment go to speed 6 until smooth and creamy, about 45 seconds.
5. Bring it down to speed 4 and throw in the pumpkin puree (carefully, as to avoid splatter). While remaining on speed 4, put in one egg at a time giving about 10 seconds between each egg. Finally, add the vanilla extract. Wait 10 seconds.
6. Lower your mixer to speed 2 and slowly add the flour mixture, constantly shimmy-ing it in without dumping the bowl in. Turn off your mixer as soon as there are no more bits of dry flour.
7. Using a spatula, stir in your cooled toasted pecans, chocolate chips, and cranberries. Take advantage of this as a time to be doubly sure there are no dry flour bits lingering on the bottom. Fold the dough in on itself to get an even spread of these ingredients throughout!
8. Make balls of dough using roughly 2 well-rounded spoonfuls of dough for each. Simply drop the dough onto the baking sheets, and don't worry about making them a well rounded ball. Imperfections are fine. The cookies do spread out a bit, so be sure to leave at least 2-3 inches of space between. If the dough seems especially runny, go for 3 inches, otherwise 2 inches is sufficient.
9. Bake cookies for about 15-17 minutes, being sure to rotate halfway through. Remember this is a moist cookie, so they will seem a bit underdone at first glance, but if you press on them and they somewhat bounce back at you then they are done.
10. Remove cookies from oven and let cool for a few minutes on the baking sheets (they will be a little flimsy still yet!) then transfer to a wire cooling rack. 
11. Repeat from step 8 until you are out of dough!

What have you cooked to say thanks to others?