A Halloween Riddle

So, my sister makes these amazing sugar cookies...amazing cookies in general, actually. This past weekend she brought some pumpkin chocolate chip cookies to a friend's house. They were delicious! And you know how I love pumpkin... So it got me thinking: could you substitute pumpkin for the butter in your classic chocolate chip recipe, and still get a yummy cookie? I decided to give it a go. Using the classic chocolate chip recipe (the Toll House recipe you'll find on nearly every bag of chocolate chips), I replaced the 1 cup of butter with 1 cup of pumpkin puree. I knew I'd likely have to compensate for what was likely to be a "runny" texture, so started with one egg instead of two. Then I added in the dry ingredients. With the default 2 1/4 cups of flour, the batter still seemed a bit thin. I added one more 1/4 cup of flour, and that seemed to do the trick.

The other substitutions / additions I made are as follows:

• Replace brown sugar with sucanat (raw, raw sugar with retained molasses content)



• Replace white sugar with evaporated cane juice (less processing)



• Replace white flour with whole wheat pastry flour



• Add 1 t. cinnamon and 1/2 t. ginger

(PS I'm handing these out to grown-ups that come trick-or-treating with their kids, but only those who are friends of mine ;-). I'll let you know what they think!)

The dough wasn't like a typical chocolate chip cookie dough, it was a bit sticky. So the tip I have for you is to use parchment paper on the cookie sheets, or spray with cooking spray before putting the dough on the cookie sheets. The cookies baked at 350 for 12-14 minutes and have a nice cake-y texture. As Gram would say, "the taste is there," and they have passed E's taste test (though he's hardly picky...). So I would say that to answer the Halloween Riddle, "YES you can substitute pumpkin for butter in chocolate chip cookies. But you can't call them proper chocolate chip cookies anymore, they are their own thing."

Enjoy...and happy Halloween!!

Pumpkin Chocolate Chip Cookies
(makes 36-48 cookies, depending on how stingy you are with the dough)

1 c. pumpkin puree
3/4 c. sucanat or brown sugar
3/4 c. evaporated cane juice
1 egg
1 t. vanilla
1 t. baking soda
1 t. salt
1 t. cinnamon
1/2 t. ground ginger
2 1/2 c. whole wheat pastry flour
9 oz. chocolate chips (semi-sweet, dark, or milk chocolate... up to you!)

1. Preheat oven to 350. Line cookie sheets with parchment paper or spray with cooking spray.



2. In a large mixing bowl, or in the bowl of an electric mixer, combine pumpkin puree, both sugars, egg, and vanilla, and mix on low to medium speed until well blended.



3. Add baking soda, salt, spices, and flour and mix until combined.



4. Add the chocolate chips and mix just until incorporated.



5. Drop cookie dough by rounded tablespoons onto the prepared cookie sheets - depending on how big or small you make them, you should get 36-48 cookies. (Nutrition information is provided based on a 36-cookie batch)



6. Bake for 12-14 minutes; cookies won't spread out much, but they will rise and get golden brown around the edges. Let cool slightly on the cookie sheet before moving to a cooling rack.

Nutrition information (per cookie, 36 cookies per batch): 98 calories, 2 g fat, 20 g carbs, 2 g protein, 1 g fiber, 2 g sodium

Recipe update: dark chocolate brownies

So - last night we had some turkey chili to try and ward off Snow Fatigue... after shoveling snow today for about an hour (E's forearm is still hurt from the spill he took on some ice last week, so I was shoveling solo) I thought about how it would be nice to be someplace warm. Where they have nice, spicy food. And ice cold beer. And nice, spicy food. Ooops, I said that already.

Anyway, when I posted the Dark Chocolate Brownie recipe, I had said I wanted to try them with chipotle, so I thought that today would be the perfect day to do that. I also wanted to see if I could cut the fat - and keep / increase the moisture - by replacing the canola oil with reduced fat buttermilk. I also happened to have dark chocolate on hand, so instead of the substitution I made last time (cocoa powder, canola oil, and sugar), I used the chocolate.

The resulting flavor is nice - the cinnamon really comes out, and the heat is slow to build. You don't taste the chipotle right away, rather it builds with every bite. My suggestion for serving these brownies would be topped with a scoop of either vanilla or dulce de leche ice cream, drizzled with Kahlua, and sprinkled with cinnamon sugar. If you use just a small scoop of ice cream, you're not adding too many calories. Next variation will be to bake these with the Mexican spices, but add some coconut. I'll also try ratcheting up the chipotle, as these could have been a bit spicier.

Oh - and a note on moisture... I think that unless you're using the usual amount of butter called for in brownies, you're going to have a cakier brownie. Delicious, but cakey and crumbly. E said that these brownies were more delicious than the "original". In his taste buds I trust!

So - here is the revised ingredient list; follow the directions as before:

* 8 ounces dark chocolate (chips or broken into pieces)
* 2 tablespoons unsalted butter
* 1 cup whole wheat pastry flour
* 1/4 cup unsweetened Dutch process cocoa powder (from Nuts Online)
* 1/4 teaspoon salt
* 2 teaspoon cinnamon
* 3/4 teaspoon chipotle powder (less or more to taste)
* 1/4 teaspoon baking soda
* 4 large eggs
* 1 cup packed dark brown sugar
* 1/2 cup plain nonfat Greek yogurt (I used Chobani)
* 1/4 cup buttermilk (substitution for canola oil)
* 2 teaspoons vanilla extract

Per brownie (assuming 24): 119 calories, 19g carbs, 5g fat, 3g protein, and 2g fiber (savings of 3g fat and 30 calories per brownie from the "other" recipe)

Dark Chocolate Brownies

Yesterday, a recipe for dark chocolate brownies popped up on my Facebook news feed. The recipe was from Ellie Krieger, the healthy cooking chef from Food Network, and Paula Deen and Ina Garten's caloric opposite. I decided to make them, but on further inspection of my pantry I had to make a few adjustments. So here is the recipe with my adjustments. The result is a cake-y, moist, not-too-sweet brownie with a nice chocolate flavor. The cinnamon gives it a nice flavor dimension. You can save calories by omitting the walnuts, though they don't add too much fat - and provide Omega-3 fatty acids which are good for you!

The recipe makes 24 brownies, each with 142 calories, 8g fat, 15g carb, 3g protein, and 2g fiber.

* 80 g (3/4 c) raw cacao powder (from Nuts Online), plus 1/4 c. canola oil and 1/2 c. granulated sugar (this was a substitute for 8 oz. bittersweet chocolate, which I did not have on hand)
* 2 tablespoons unsalted butter
* 1 cup whole wheat pastry flour
* 1/4 cup unsweetened Dutch process cocoa powder (from Nuts Online)
* 1/4 teaspoon salt
* 1/2 teaspoon cinnamon
* 1/4 teaspoon baking soda
* 4 large eggs
* 1 cup packed dark brown sugar
* 1/2 cup plain 2% Greek yogurt (I used Chobani)
* 1/4 cup canola oil
* 2 teaspoons vanilla extract
* 1/2 cup walnuts

Directions:
Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Coat a 9 x 13inch baking pan with cooking spray.

Combine the cacao powder, granulated sugar, 1/4 c. canola oil, and butter in a double boiler or heatproof bowl set over a pot of barely simmering water, stirring occasionally, until butter is melted and mixture comes together.

In a medium bowl, whisk together the flour, Dutch process cocoa, salt, cinnamon, and baking soda.

In a large bowl whisk the eggs and sugar until smooth. Add the yogurt, 1/4 c. canola oil and vanilla and whisk to combine. Add the cacao-butter mixture to this and whisk until blended. Add the flour mixture to this and mix until just moistened.

Transfer the mixture to the prepared pan and sprinkle with nuts. Bake for 20-25 minutes, until a wooden toothpick inserted in the center comes out with a few moist crumbs. Cool completely in the pan on a wire rack. Cut into 24 squares.

Serving size: 1 square

Notes on this recipe:
* Whole wheat pastry flour: I used Bob's Red Mill flour, which you can find in the natural foods section of most grocery stores, or at Whole Foods. You can also order this from Nuts Online, which is where I source a lot of my ingredients.
* Bittersweet chocolate vs. Cocoa / Cacao: According to joyofbaking.com, if you don't have bittersweet chocolate, you can substitute unsweetened chocolate and sugar at the ratio of 1/2 oz. cocoa plus 1 T. granulated sugar for every 1 oz. bittersweet chocolate. If you don't have unsweetened chocolate, you can substitute 3 T. (20 g) cocoa powder plus 1 T. melted butter or oil for every 1 oz. of unsweetened chocolate you need.
* Brown sugar: I used dark brown sugar in this recipe, although the original called for light brown sugar, in an attempt to deepen the flavor a bit.
* Yogurt: The original recipe called for "low-fat yogurt" but I used low-fat Greek yogurt. What's different about Greek yogurt? It has a thicker, less watery consistency which I thought would contribute to a thicker, denser brownie.
* Cinnamon: The original recipe didn't call for cinnamon at all, but I added this to lend a bit more depth of flavor. Next time I'll try a "wicked" brownie by adding chipotle and cayenne pepper in along with the cinnamon.