Recipe: Kneaders’ Pumpkin Chocolate Chip Cookies

The recipe for these pumpkin chocolate chip cookies comes courtesy of a popular western U.S. bakery chain

Colleen Worthington’s new cookbook, “Kneaders Bakery & Café: A Celebration of Our Best Recipes and Memories” (Shadow Mountain, $34), inspired these autumnal pumpkin chocolate chip cookies.

Worthington cofounded the Kneaders restaurant chain, which has locations from Nevada to Colorado. Their baked goods are decadent and delicious, especially their cinnamon bread French toast and this cookie recipe. Feel free to substitute nuts or raisins for the chocolate chips, or to combine walnuts and chocolate chips — or to go all-out chocolate.

Pumpkin Chocolate Chip Cookies

This recipe yields 6 dozen cookies.

INGREDIENTS

3 sticks softened butter

1 pound brown sugar

2 lightly whisked eggs

1 can (16 oz.) pumpkin puree

234 cup regular flour

1 tbsp. baking powder

1 teaspoon ground cinnamon

1/2 teaspoon ground nutmeg

1 teaspoon of salt

1 tablespoon dried ginger

1 pound chocolate chips

1 cup (optional) nuts

1 cup (optional) raisins

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INSTRUCTIONS

Preheat the oven to 400°F.

Cream together butter and brown sugar in a stand mixer fitted with a paddle attachment on medium speed until the butter begins to lighten and the mixture becomes fluffy.

Mix in the eggs and pumpkin puree. Mix on low for one minute. Scrape down the bowl’s sides. Mix for another minute.

Whisk together the flour, baking powder, cinnamon, nutmeg, ginger, and salt in a separate bowl.

Add the dry ingredients to the wet and mix for another minute on low speed until combined. Hand-fold in the chocolate and, if using, the nuts or raisins.

Remove from the oven and set aside for 10 minutes to finish baking before transferring to cooling racks to cool.