Pumpkin Pecan Cookies

These cookies are soft, pillowy, and very moist due to the addition of pumpkin puree in the dough. The crunch of pecans on top give a nice contrast to the cakey cookie and pairs great with the pumpkin spice flavour. They are delicious as a fall treat when pumpkin is abundant, as well as any other time throughout the year! 

Ingredients:

2 cups all purpose flour

1 and 1/4 tsp. baking powder

1 tsp. baking soda

1 tsp. ground cinnamon

1/4 tsp. ground ginger

1/4 tsp. ground nutmeg

1/2 tsp. salt

2 large eggs, room temperature

1 and 1/4 cups light brown sugar

1/2 cup canola oil

1 tsp. vanilla extract

1 cup canned pumpkin puree

1 cup pecans, roughly chopped

Directions:

Preheat oven to 325 degrees F and place oven rack in the centre of the oven. Line two baking sheets with parchment paper.

In a large bowl, sift or whisk together the flour, baking powder, baking soda, ground cinnamon, ground ginger, nutmeg, and salt. In an electric mixer or with a hand mixer, beat the eggs and sugar until light and smooth. Beat in the oil, vanilla extract, and pumpkin puree. Add the flour mixture and mix just until incorporated.

Drop small mounds (about 1/4 cup) of batter onto the prepared baking sheet, spacing about 2 inches apart. The batter won't look like your usual cookie dough or come together in nice even balls - it will be a thick cake-like batter that you just need to plop on the baking sheet, so don't worry if it doesn't look perfect! These cookies puff up quite a bit while baking rather than flattening out. I like to make mine really big and fat but a mini bite-sized version would also be great.

Sprinkle chopped pecans over the tops of the batter mounds until covered, press them very gently down into the batter so they will stick onto the cookie. If you wanted pecans throughout the whole cookie instead of only on top then you could just incorporate the pecans into the batter before baking. If you're not a nut person, these would also be delicious topped with cream cheese icing (after they've come out of the oven and cooled) or even just plain.

Bake for about 15 - 17 minutes or until a toothpick inserted in the centre of a cookie comes out clean. Remove from oven and transfer to a wire rack to cool.

*Recipe adapted from Joy of Baking