It’s practically a law that Thanksgiving desserts involve pumpkin. I believe that they should also involve chocolate, and that the combination of pumpkin and chocolate isn’t given nearly enough respect. In my family, my grandma, aka Honey, cooks most of the Thanksgiving feast. Several of the ladies in my family provide desserts. I had planned to make a chocolate pumpkin pie. Then I found a recipe for pumpkin chocolate chip cookies at A Tasteful Garden. These are the most wonderfully moist, cakelike cookies you will ever taste. Because they weren’t decadent enough on their own, I decided to sandwich two cookies together and add cream cheese frosting to the center.

Pumpkin Chocolate Chip Whoopie Pies
Makes approx. 2 dozen mini pies

Cookie Ingredients
2 cups. fresh roasted pumpkin
1/4 cup white sugar
3/4 cup brown sugar
1/2 cup vegetable oil
1 egg
2 cups all-purpose flour
2 tsp. baking powder
2 tsp. cinnamon
1/2 tsp. nutmeg
1/2 tsp. salt
1 tsp. baking soda
1 tsp. milk
1 tbsp. vanilla extract
1.5 cups semisweet chocolate chips

Frosting Ingredients
8 oz. cream cheese, softened
1 stick butter, softened
1 cup powdered sugar
1 tsp. vanilla
a dash of cinnamon & nutmeg

Directions
1. Preheat oven to 350ºF.
2. In a large mixing bowl, combine pumpkin, sugars, egg and oil.
3. In another bowl, mix flour, baking powder, cinnamon, nutmeg and salt. Dissolve baking soda in milk and add to the mixture. Add this mixture to the pumpkin and combine well. Add vanilla and chocolate chips.
4. Drop onto a greased cookie sheet by half teaspoons and bake until lightly browned, about 9 minutes.
5. While cookies are cooling, combine frosting ingredients using a stand mixer.
6. Make whoopie pies by spreading frosting on the flat side of half of the cookies. Top with another cookie and press together lightly.

My thoughts:
1. This cookie dough spreads a lot. Be sure to leave ample space between cookies on the cookie sheet. The first time I made these, they were too big. I backed off on the size the second time I made them, and christened them mini whoopie pies.
2. Normally, cream cheese frosting calls for 2 cups of powdered sugar. The cookies are so rich that it would be overwhelming if the frosting was that sweet.

Recipe Source: A Tasteful Garden

• We usually think of pumpkin as a sweet food that goes best with cinnamon and nutmeg. With this soup recipe, The Kitchn shows that it also goes well with bacon. Then again, what doesn’t?
• Right now, the grocery stores and farm markets are full of squash. Taste of Home‘s website has a quick guide to the more common varieties currently available, along with some ideas for what to do with them.
• Who’d think to grill apples? Certainly not me, until I came across this Grilled Apple and Chicken Salad recipe on Serious Eats. It will be on next week’s dinner menu.
• I’m not such a fan of candy corn. But this Candy Corn Cordial from Food Network is so pretty that it has me tempted to infuse some vodka with candy corn anyway.
• Finally, I’ve decided that my utensil drawer is in dire need of these lightsaber chopsticks.

Fall is here, meaning it’s time for apples and pumpkins. While those fruits lend themselves well to pies and cakes, sometimes I want something a little healthier. Last fall, I discovered this pumpkin muffin recipe from Kristen at Cheap, Healthy, Good. These muffins are high in fiber, low in calories and fat and taste good. Yes, it is possible!

Pumpkin Muffins with Pecan Streusel Topping
Makes 12

Muffin Ingredients
1 3/4 cups whole wheat flour
1/2 cup oat bran
3/4 cup brown sugar
1 tablespoon baking powder
2/3 cup mashed pumpkin
1 cup skim milk
2 egg whites
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
2 teaspoons pumpkin pie spice

Topping Ingredients
8 pecan halves, finely chopped
3 tablespoons brown sugar
1 1/2 tablespoons whole wheat flour
1 tablespoon butter

Directions
1. Preheat oven to 350°F.
2. Combine flour, oat bran, brown sugar, and baking powder.
3. Add the remaining ingredients and stir until the dry ingredients are just moistened.
4. In a separate bowl, combine the pecan halves, butter, and remaining brown sugar and whole wheat flour. Mash with fork until crumbly.
5. Grease muffin tin or line with 12 paper liners. Fill each liner 3/4 full with batter. Sprinkle topping evenly on muffins. Bake for 17 to 20 minutes, or until a wooden toothpick inserted in the center of the muffin comes out clean.

My thoughts & modifications:
1. I added 1/2 cup of chopped pecans to the batter and made a little extra streusel topping.
2. If you don’t have pumpkin pie spice, just combine cinnamon, nutmeg, cloves and ginger. I actually prefer this since I can adjust the seasonings to suit my taste.
3. Do yourself a favor and use fresh pumpkins. They taste much better than canned. There are several ways to prepare them, all of which are quite easy. I wash mine, halve them and scoop out the seeds. Then I spray them with cooking spray and microwave them for 7-9 minutes. Let cool, scoop out the pulp and use it like you would canned. If you have leftover, pumpkin pulp freezes very well.

Recipe Source: Serious Eats