Pumpkin Chocolate Chip Cookies

Pumpkin Chocolate Chip Cookies 

Okay okay lets be honest the recipe you are going to find below is not all that “clean” or all that healthy BUT sometimes you just have to make cookies right?  These were amazing and will now be my go to fall cookie! Super moist – tastes like a mouthful of fall flavors!

Ingredients:

·      1/2 cup unsalted butter

·      1/4 cup light or dark brown sugar

·      1/2 cup granulated sugar

·      1 teaspoon vanilla extract

·      ½ can of pumpkin puree

·      1 and 1/2 cups all-purpose flour 

·      1/4 teaspoon sea salt

·      1/4 teaspoon baking powder

·      1/4 teaspoon baking soda

·      1 and 1/2 teaspoons ground cinnamon

·      1/4 teaspoon ground nutmeg

·      1/4 teaspoon ground cloves

·      1/2 cup semi-sweet chocolate chips

Directions·      

In a medium bowl, whisk the melted butter, brown sugar, and granulated sugar together until no brown sugar lumps remain. Whisk in the vanilla and pumpkin until smooth. Set aside.

·       In a large bowl, toss together the flour, salt, baking powder, baking soda, cinnamon, nutmeg, allspice, and cloves. Pour the wet ingredients into the dry ingredients and mix together with a large spoon or rubber spatula. The dough will be very soft.  Fold in 1/2 cup semi-sweet chocolate chips. They may not stick to the dough because of the melted butter, but do your best to have them evenly dispersed among the dough. Cover the dough and chill for 30 minutes, or up to 3 days. Chilling is mandatory.

·       Take the dough out of the refrigerator. Preheat the oven to 350F degrees. Line two large baking sheets with parchment paper or silicone baking mats.

·       Roll the dough into balls, about 1.5 Tablespoons of dough each. Slightly flatten the dough balls because the cookies will only slightly spread in the oven. Bake the cookies for 8-10 minutes. The cookies will look very soft and underbaked. Keeping them in the oven for longer may dry them out.  Remove from the oven and press a few more chocolate chips onto the tops, if desired.  If you find that your cookies didn't spread much at all, flatten them out when you take them out of the oven.

*Recipe found on Sally’s Baking Addiction.com

Pumpkin Spice Shakeology

Pumpkin Spice Shakeology 

ITS BACK!!!!! All of you Starbucks lovers know just what I am talking about when I say that. The sad news is that those amazing PSL drinks (Pumpkin Spice Lattes) at Starbucks are not all that great for your wasteline. I used to be a Starbucks addict - every morning I would hit the drive thru dropping a good $25.00 - $30.00 a week there shortly after my son was born. After a year of expensve trips to Starbucks and a few extra pounds from all the lattes I have since learned how to curb the habit. Rarely do I hit the drive thru there anymore. Of course I did stop in for a Pumpkin Spice Latte this week when they came out just for old time sake. The sad news is that it didn't even taste as good anymore to me - too sweet for my liking. I would rather have had my Shakeology. This left me no choice but to whip up a shake recipie that was similar to the latte. Here is what I came up with.