Pumpkin Chocolate Chip Cookies

These cookies looked good and the cookie dough was delish but when baked, the cookies were tough and rubbery. I used gluten-free flour from Trader Joe's and I don't think that flour was best for cookies. I usually use oat flour or a mixture of oat and garbanzo or another gluten-free flour...and I'm not gluten-free, per se, I just usually end up being gluten-free by default; it just seems to go well with being vegan. So, for this recipe, you can use regular all purpose flour, I just want to be able to make these GF and have them turn out fabulously. Also, I didn't have baking powder so that may have thrown the cookies off as well.

I'm usually not a cookie person; I'd rather have cake if i'm going to give into my sugar craving. But I am surrounded by cookies at Christmas parties and they are so much easier to make than cake so I figured why not make a batch of decadent chocolate chip cookies. My friend Beth, who also has a blog, made chocolate chip cookies with the new vegan egg so check out her recipe. It's slightly different than mine and her cookies look so scrumptious. Beth is vegan and gluten-free so check out her blog!

Trader Joe's semi sweet chocolate chips are, indeed, dairy free...something I did not know. They MAY contain traces of milk but honestly I don't worry about that, as long as there is not a form of dairy in the ingredients, I'm set. I made two batches of these cookies and the second batch turned out great when I used oat flour. Be careful with what flour you choose; use a flour that you've used before when baking cookies. I used pumpkin instead of a banana or applesauce and I put a ton of chocolate chips in them! For the oat flour, I just put rolled oats in my food processor and they become flour.

Ingredients:

2 cups of oat flour

1 cup of Earth Balance non dairy butter

1/2 cup of organic pumpkin puree

2 tsp of baking powder

1 1/2 cups of coconut sugar

2 tsp of vanilla

2 tsp of pumpkin pie spice

1 bag of chocolate chips

1/4 cup of non dairy milk

Combine everything except the chocolate chips and milk in a large bowl. Hand mix everything together and slowly add the milk, mixing the entire time. Stir in the chocolate chips; the mixture should be thick cookie dough when you are done mixing. Taste it; add more sugar but it should be sweet enough. For some reason, I thought this recipe needed more sugar but it's personal preference.

After mixing all the ingredients, use a tablespoon measuring spoon to scoop out the dough and put on a non stick cookie sheet. Scoop out all of the cookie dough; you should have at least 20 cookies. Bake at 350 degrees for 15-20 minutes and then let them cool. Serve for Christmas dessert, pack them in a Christmas tin to give out for a gift or bring them to work! Or eat them all by yourself lol

Notes: Instead of pumpkin, use a mashed banana. Instead of coconut sugar, use 1/4 cup of maple syrup but eliminate the milk. Bake until they are slightly brown on the edges but don't overdo. I like cookies a little underbaked so they are soft the next day.

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