Cookies, Cupcakes, or Muffins?

My latest baking adventure proved to be one of the most surprising, and most delicious, adventures yet! I departed from my custom of only baking pumpkin items in fall and winter, and tried a recipe from this book for pumpkin butterscotch cookies. I substituted milk chocolate chips for butterscotch ones (apparently butterscotch chips are too processed for Whole Foods) and was blown away by the results. Here is the recipe:

• 2 C unbleached all-purpose flour
• 1 1/2 t baking powder
• 1 t baking soda
• 1/2 t salt
• 1 t ground cinnamon (per family baking tradition, I slightly-more-than-doubled this)
• 2 large eggs
• 1 C sugar
• 1/2 C canola or corn oil
• 1 C canned pumpkin
• 1 t vanilla extract
• 1 C butterscotch chips (or milk chocolate chips...I definitely put in more than 1 cup)

1. Position a rack in the middle of the oven. Preheat the oven to 325F. Line two baking sheets with parchment paper and butter the paper.
2. Stir the flour, baking powder, baking soda, salt, and cinnamon together in a medium bowl and set aside.
3. In a large bowl, using an electric mixer on medium speed, beat the eggs and sugar until smooth and lightened in color, about 1 minute. Stop the mixer and scrape the sides of the bowl as needed during mixing. On low speed, mix in the oil, pumpkin, and vanilla until blended. Mix in the flour mixture to incorporate it. Mix in the chips.
4. Using a 1/4 C measuring cup, scoop out mounds of dough onto the buttered parchment paper, and smooth them over. This method makes approximately 16 cookies.
5. Bake the cookies one sheet at a time until the tops feel firm and a toothpick inserted in the center comes out dry, about 15 minutes. Cool them on the baking sheets for 5 minutes, and then transfer them to a wire rack to cool completely.
6. Dust the cooled cookies lightly with powdered sugar. The cookies can be stored in a tightly covered container at room temperature for up to 4 days.

The dough was so easy to make, and as you may recall from previous entries I always appreciate the use of oil in place of more fattening / less flavor-friendly dairy ingredients! I was initially apprehensive of the 1/4 C of batter per cookie, but the end result allayed all concerns. These baked items are less like cookies, and more like the plump tops of large cupcakes or muffins. They are unusually moist and pumpkin-y, and the extra cinnamon really complemented the rich pumpkin flavor. The edges of the chocolate chips got slightly crispy as they baked in the oily batter environment, but the chips' interiors stayed rich, creamy, and melted *just* enough. Plus, the crispy crunch isn't a bad thing in the context of the extremely soft, smooth cookie. They taste delicious right out of the oven but also keep extremely well, retaining all moisture several days after baking. While they taste phenomenal as is, one particularly fun way to enjoy them is to frost them in warm chocolate icing - it really is like having a pumpkin-chocolate cupcake! I have never experienced a pumpkin-chocolate combination that worked as well as these, or any baked good that stayed so moist over time.

With the success of my chocolate improvisation in mind, I hope to repeat this recipe as it was originally intended, with butterscotch chips. White chocolate chips, cranberries, or apple chunks may also be worthwhile...