These Pumpkin Chocolate Chip Cookies are chewy, moist and perfect treat for fall - made healthier by using applesauce and whole wheat flour, but no butter!
Preheat oven to 350°F and line two cookie sheets with parchment paper.
In a large bowl, whisk the pumpkin, sugar, oil, applesauce, egg and vanilla extract until smooth. Dissolve the baking soda with the milk and stir into the wet ingredient mixture.
In another medium bowl, toss together the flour baking powder, ground cinnamon, and salt.
Pour the dry ingredients into the wet ingredients and mix together with a rubber spatula. Fold in the chocolate chips.
Use a spring-loaded cookie scoop to drop cookie dough on prepared cookie sheets.
Bake 10 minutes or until lightly brown and firm.
Allow the cookies to cool for 10 minutes on the cookie sheets before transferring to a wire rack.
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Notes
Recipe: This recipe adapted from AllRecipes because it had over 1000 comments and 5 stars. I made a couple changes though with a few modifications:
I swapped 1/4 cup of the vegetable oil for applesauce
I used organic cane sugar instead of white sugar
I also used 1 1/2 cups of chocolate chips instead of the recommended 2 cups.
Storage: They will typically stay fresh in a sealed container for up to 5 days and they will continue to soften overtime due to the moisture from the pumpkin puree.Substitutes: For best results, follow the recipe as is. However here are some common substitutions:
To make it vegan, substitute the egg for a flax egg, which is made by mixing together 1 tablespoon flaxseed with 2 tablespoons water and letting it rest for 5 minutes. You can also skip the egg entirely. And you can use non-dairy milk.