Pumpkin & Dark Chocolate? OK!

My roomie made this adorable platter at Seize the Clay! We have a small cupcake obsession in our house.

I know, I know, I know. Yet another pumpkin recipe! Somebody stop me! I can't help it! Pumpkin season is my favorite! About a week ago, I was craving some pump-kin! Probably because it was the second day where it actualy FELT like fall in the fabulous city of Memphis. And thank goodness for that!

I went on a search for a pumpkin cookie recipe, I even consulted my ABSOLUTE favorite healthy living blogger, Tina from Carrots 'N' Cake. I think her blog was the first one that I started reading regularly. She also has an adorable little pug of her own, Murphy. I think Murphy and Mr. Teddy would be good friends, don't ya think? They seem to have similar hobbies (sleeping in their owner's bed... all the live long day!) I cracked up when I saw this picture of Murphy on Tina's blog the other day, because I had taken a quite similar picture of Mr. Ted a few weeks ago (with my camera phone, so 'scuze the poor quality) before leaving for work at 7:30AM! Mr. Teddy... not a morning pug.
 

Murphy

  

Mr. Teddy



Tina literally whipped up this batch of Pumpkin Spice Cookies within 2 hours of my request for a good recipe recommendation. TGITwitter, right? She's a rockstar blogger. Check her out, for realz!

I didn't have some of the ingredients that Tina's recipe required, but her original recipe did give me some inspiration to create my own. I actually found THIS recipe on allrecipes (the google of recipe search engines.) It had the most reviews and look delightful. And then I saw the nutrition content! Holy flaxseed! We're talking 406 calories and 21.5 grams of fat people (this is based on a suggested serving size of only 2 cookies!!!) So to that I said... "HECK NO TECHNO!" 

So, I put my creative/more nutrition thinking cap on... and got to work! I came up with the following recipe. I was able to SLASH the calorie content in half! AND I cut the fat content down to less than 1/3 of the fat in the original recipe! Here's the breakdown of what I did...

                           Original Recipe:                    *Laurie's Recipe:

Calories               406                                               202

Total Fat              21.5g                                             6g

Saturated Fat       6.6g                                               4g                

Cholesterol          18mg                                              2mg

Sugars                  33.8g                                             18g

Original Recipe                       Laurie's Recipe 
1 C. white sugar                1/4 C white sugar, 1/4 C. brown sugar, 2 Tb. agave nectar
1 egg                                         3 Tb liquid egg whites
1 C. canned pumpkin               1 1/3 C. canned pumpkin
1/2 C. oil                                   1/2 C. unsweetened applesauce
2 C. semisweet choc. chips        1 1/2 C. dark chocolate chunks
1/2 C. walnuts                         No walnuts
                   
*I used NutritionData.com to analyze the nutritional content of my recipe makeover. It's a free online resource and very easy to use! I love to use it for situtaions like this when I make my own healthy adjustments to a recipe.

These cookies are yummmmmmmmy! They taste kind of like a cross between a cookie and pumpkin bread... so soft and moist. In fact, I may or may not have eaten 2 of these babies for breakfast with a glass of milk this morning :)

Remember... portion control peoples! Serving size is 2 cookies :)

Now that you've got the FACTS... give this recipe a whirl, you will NOT be disappointed. How can you not love pumpkin and dark chocolate? I mean, really. In case, you're wondering... feel free to substitute regular milk for almond milk, and semi-sweet chocolate chips for dark chocolate chunk.

Keep in mind, I have a lactose intolerant roomie... and when I bake, I need someone else to help me with the actual eating of the baked goods. So the recipe below is lactose-intolerant friendly. Cheers!

Pumpkin & Dark Chocolate Chunk Cookies
1 1/3 cup canned pumpkin

1/4 cup white sugar

1/4 cup dark brown sugar

2 Tb. agave nectar

1/2 cup unsweetened applesauce

3 Tb liquid egg whites (or 1 whole egg)

2 cups self-rising flour*

1 tsp. vanilla almond milk

1 tsp. cinnamon

1 1/2 tsp. pumpkin pie spice

1 tsp. vanilla extract

1 1/2 cup dark chocolate chunks

- Combine pumpkin, sugars, agave nectar, applesauce, milk, and liquid egg whites (or egg.) In a separate bowl, stir together flour, cinnamon, and pumpkin pie spice. 
- Add flour mixture to pumpkin mixture and mix well.
- Add vanilla, chocolate chips and nuts.
- Drop by spoonful on greased cookie sheet and bake at 350 degrees F for approximately 10 minutes or until lightly brown and firm.

Yields: 27 cookies

* I didn't have enough all-purpose flour, so I had to use self-rising instead. The difference between the two is that self-rising already has baking powder and salt added to it. You can absolutely use all-purpose flour for this recipe, just add 2 tsp. baking powder and 1/2 tsp. salt as well.

Before going into the oven... mmm! I love this cow mixing bowls!