Pumpkin Chocolate Chip Cookies
My mission is to make allergen-friendly food taste as good, if not better, than traditional fare so that EVERYONE can enjoy it because it’s inevitable: the worlds of people with and without allergies do collide. We must be able to share the same foods from time and time and enjoy the experience fully, together. In order to achieve a familiar cookie with a gooey chewy center, that your aunt Millie would never suspect as “alternative”, I needed to add more sugar than I usually do. Sugar is not only for sweetening, it adds crucial texture and structure, as well as shelf life, to baked goods. I don’t typically use lots of sugar for obvious health reasons, but I decided that you need a high-performance allergen-friendly cookie for the holiday season to keep the skeptics quiet and the good times rolling. Take note: I mixed the dry ingredients first so you can wipe the measuring cups clean with a dish towel and reuse them for the wet. You will also have some leftover pumpkin puree that you can add to a smoothie with a banana, stir into pancake batter, or add to a soup broth if you like!
Pumpkin Chocolate Chip Cookies
Ingredients
- 1 ½ cups super-fine blanched almond flour
- ½ cup tapioca flour
- ½ teaspoon kosher sea salt
- ¾ teaspoon baking powder
- ¼ teaspoon baking soda
- 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
- 1 ¼ cups coconut sugar
- ½ cup ground flaxseed
- 1 cup canned pumpkin puree
- ½ cup melted ghee
- 1 tablespoon vanilla extract
- 1 (10-ounce) bag semisweet chocolate chunks
- Flaky sea salt for finishing (such as Maldon)
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 375°F and line a large baking sheet with parchment paper.
- In a medium bowl, whisk together the almond flour, tapioca flour, salt, baking powder, baking soda, and cinnamon and combine well. Set aside.
- In a large bowl, whisk together the coconut sugar, flaxseed, pumpkin puree, ghee, and vanilla extract to combine well. Add 1/3 of the flour mixture to the pumpkin mixture and fold in using a rubber spatula until thoroughly blended. Repeat with the remaining dry ingredients, in two more additions, until all of the flour is incorporated, making sure to mix well in between batches. The batter will be quite moist.
- Using a 1 ½-tablespoon scoop, drop the batter into mounds about 2 inches apart on the baking sheet, using about half the batter. Sprinkle a little flaky salt onto each mound and place in the oven. Bake on the middle rack for 13 to 15 minutes, or until the edges are golden brown and the tops have cracks in them.
- Allow to cool for 10 minutes, then transfer to a rack to cool completely, about 1 hour, then serve immediately. Repeat with the remaining batter. To store, transfer the cookies to an airtight container and store at room temperature for 3 days.