Have you ever done a cookie exchange? I’ve been thinking about doing something fun and old school with friends for the holidays. A few years ago I hosted a fun holiday party and have been saying ever since that I want to do it again. It’s hard though with work holiday parties, traveling, and just life, you know? But I’m still thinking it could be to start a sort of tradition that my friends and I can do every year. Casual, easy, minimal effort. Like cookie decorating, gingerbread house decorating or maybe a cookie exchange. We could drink and hang out, do something different and not have to worry about work parties.
Today’s post is super fun since I’m working with a few bloggers to do a virtual cookie exchange. But first up, my recipe! Well, it’s not mine. I tried Half Baked Harvest’s pumpkin chocolate chip cookies recipe a few weeks ago and absolutely loved it. I love all things pumpkin and these are a pumpkin cookie that’s chewy and dense. Apparently it’s hard to get a pumpkin cookie to not be cakey and fluffy more like a muffin. Using canned pumpkin causes this. Who knew! I can’t take credit for the genius of these cookies. Half Baked Harvest uses pumpkin butter instead of canned pumpkin to make a true chocolate chip cookie texture but with pumpkin flavor. Basically heaven!
Pumpkin Chocolate Chip Cookies Recipe
This recipe is from Half Baked Harvest. I followed it exactly except added a bit more pumpkin pie spice for more flavor. You can see the full recipe here.
ingredients
- 1 cup salted butter, at room temperature
- 3/4 cup brown sugar
- 1/3 cup granulated sugar
- 1/3 cup pumpkin butter, I used Trader Joe’s
- 1 egg, at room temperature
- 2 teaspoons vanilla extract
- 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
- 2 1/4 cups all-purpose flour
- 1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon or pumpkin pie spice
- 1/2 teaspoon kosher salt
- 1 1/2 cups semi-sweet chocolate chips
- 4 ounces semi-sweet or dark chocolate chunks
- 1/3 cup cinnamon sugar
METHOD
- In a medium saucepan, brown 1/2 cup of butter over medium heat. Remove from heat and let it cool in the fridge for 15 minutes
- Preheat oven to 350 degrees Fahrenheit and line two baking sheets with parchment. I use these silicone baking sheets, they’re great!
- In a mixing bowl, beat the other 1/2 cup of butter, brown butter, brown sugar and regular sugar until creamy.
- Add in your dry ingredients.
- Fold in your chocolate chips.
- Roll dough into balls and then roll in cinnamon sugar. Leave some space between the cookies as they will spread and flatten out.
- Bake for 10-12 minutes until golden brown.
Virtual Cookie Exchange + A Giveaway!
Now to today’s fun virtual cookie exchange! It seems fitting as a blogger, right? There are 10 bloggers in today’s cookie exchange. But first up, just head to Laura of Louella Reese’s blog to see HER recipe. I’ve been a follower of Laura’s for years now. I just love her style (I feel like she’s the more polished, preppy version of me). And I love following her! We also share the same love for navy and denim.
Over on her blog, she’s featuring her own recipe as well as the next blogger to check out. And so on! How fun, right? By the end of the virtual cookie exchange, you’ll have 10 new recipes to try and hopefully some new faces to follow!
And before you go, we’re also doing a fun giveaway on IG Stories! Be sure to follow along on Instagram this week for your chance to win one of five Target gift cards!
Photos by Hannah Lozano
