Tinned pumpkin puree – who would have thought?

Who would have thought that you could make something so delicious from a tin of pureed pumpkin, but these cookies are so delicious they will become a staple in our home every autumn. They also freeze very well, and it is advisable to freeze some of them because I have prepared this recipe so that you can use a whole tin of pumpkin puree (so there won’t be any waste or half a tin of puree that you don’t know what to do with).

Where do you buy pumpkin puree? Most supermarkets in the UK sell pumpkin at certain times of the year (in Autumn).

What’s nice about pumpkin cookies

You can’t beat a mix of spices for an autumnal or wintery treat, and these cookies have spices in abundance. Cinnamon, cloves, ginger, vanilla and nutmeg.. what more can I say?

Actually, there is more: they are very fluffy and soft, almost cake like in texture. They go down a bit too well, but then we can say they’ve got vegetables in them, so perhaps that means it’s not too bad if you eat one too many.

The amount of sugar in this recipe is quite small, as I prefer cookies that are not too sweet. If you like them sweeter, simply increase the amount of sugar.

My pumpkin chocolate chip cookie recipe

Makes roughly 40 cookies

Ingredients:

• 1 tin of pureed pumpkin (usually 425g)
• 450 g self raising flour
• 2 eggs
• 300 g soft brown sugar (350 g if you like them sweeter)
• 200 ml sunflower oil
• 1 tsp vanilla bean paste
• 100 g dark chocolate chips
• 1/2 tsp salt
• 2 tbsp ground cinnamon
• 2 tsp ground ginger
• 1/2 tsp ground cloves
• a good grating of nutmeg

Method:

1. Preheat the oven to 180°C (fan) and line two baking trays with baking parchment.
2. Combine the flour, salt and spices using a whisk (I find this is just as effective as sifting the flour and much less hassle)
3. Beat the sugar with the oil using a stand mixer if you’ve got one (a hand mixer will do the job just as well).
4. Add the eggs, vanilla paste and pumpkin puree.
5. Carefully fold in the flour mix.
6. Fold in the chocolate chips.
7. Scoop heaped dessert spoons of the mixture on to the trays, leaving enough space between them to allow them to rise.
8. Bake for 12 minutes roughly, or until their tops and edges are slightly browned.

Tip: Freeze cookie dough portions for an instant accompaniment for a cuppa

Plop dessert spoon portions of any cookie mix onto a parchment lined baking tray (they can be quite close together here) and freeze them. After an hour in the freezer, take out the tray and put the frozen lumps into a compact freezer container.

When you are ready to bake them, spread them out on a lined baking tray and bake them for an additional five minutes than the original baking time in your recipe(or until they are slightly brown).