Pumpkin Pecan Cookies with White Chocolate Chips – Have you ever eaten a cookie thinking “I’m going to eat one cookie, then, no more today”? I have. I have this strange relationship with cookies. We can’t really be in the same room together or one of us becomes a snack (the cookie, not me). I’m not sure exactly what the weakness is, it’s not the same for me with all desserts or snacks. No, just cookies. Mix that with the fact that these cookies have pumpkin in them, which is one of my very favorite flavors on the planet, and the result is…..well, the result is me eating like four or five cookies a day. I can’t help it either. I try to be stern with the cookies, but they don’t care. They just call to me from the kitchen in their sweet cookie voices (also high-pitched, I don’t know why, maybe because they’re small) “Alicia, come and eat us”. And I tell them “quiet cookies”. But alas, here I am, typing this recipe and eating one of these cookies. That’s OK though because I’ve convinced myself that these cookies are healthy. Not like healthy, healthy like low-fat and all of that stuff, but healthy like they have pumpkin in them. For crying out loud they have to have some kind of vitamin content and fiber- right? Yes, I think so. Plus, cookies make people happy. Being happy is very important to your overall health (some study somewhere at sometime said :D) and pumpkin is definitely good for you, therefore, by reason, pumpkin cookies are good for you. I think I’ll have another. You see, you see how devious the cookies are. They get into your head. BAD COOKIES! No, no, you’re not bad, you’re good, I love you cookies. :D Happy Cooking everyone!
Ingredients
dry ingredients 
3 cups AP (all purpose) flour
1 teaspoon baking powder
1 teaspoon salt
2 teaspoons pumpkin spice *see note
2 sticks butter
1 cup brown sugar
1/2 cup white sugar
2 eggs
1 1/2 teaspoons vanilla
15 ounce can pumpkin puree
1 cup pecans
1 1/2 cups white chocolate chips
If you’re new to making cookies, I’d like to invite you to read my article and watch a short video “The Cookie Method – How to Properly Mix Your Dough :D! ”
Instructions
1. Bring all of your ingredients to room temperature. At least make sure that your butter is soft. This helps everything blend together better. 
2. In a small bowl, combine all of your dry ingredients (flour, baking powder, salt).
3. Pre-heat your oven to 350°F. (I don’t usually do it at the beginning of the recipe because then it just sits there wasting electricity and making the house too hot :).
4. In a large bowl, cream the butter and sugar. Scrape the bowl with a rubber spatula making sure to get the bottom and the sides really well. It is important not to leave any chunks of butter behind.
5. Add the eggs into your creamed butter mixture and mix until well combined. If you happen to be doubling this, add the eggs two at a time and mix in between additions.
6. Add the vanilla and the pumpkin puree and mix until well combined. Scrape the bowl with a rubber spatula, again, make sure to get the bottom and the sides.
8. Add in half of the dry ingredients. Mix until just combined. Scrape the bowl. Add in the other half of your dry ingredients and mix just until combined. Don’t over mix once you’ve added the dry ingredients. Over mixing causes your flour to develop gluten strands and makes your cookies tough.
9. Stir in the white chocolate chips and the pecans. Just as a side note, you can buy pecan pieces instead of pecan halves which and they are less expensive. It makes more since to buy the pieces for this recipe since you will have to break them up anyway if you buy the halves.
10. Drop by spoonfuls onto a parchment lined sheet pan (cookie sheet). You can also use a Silpat if you have one or use cooking spray or butter.
11. Bake until they’re done. Mine took about 12 minutes at 350°F. They don’t really brown much on top (or shouldn’t), but the bottoms will brown, so watch the sides of the cookies for signs of browning.
12. Remove your delicious pumpkin pecan cookies with white chocolate chips from the oven and let them set on the pan for about one minute.
13. Transfer them to a cooling rack and allow them to cool.
14. Enjoy your awesome, delicious cookies, you deserve it! Also, keep reading for a little more info on the health benefits of pumpkin.
Here’s a little extra information about pumpkins and their nutrition and health benefits – just in case you wanted to know.
Did you know that a pumpkin is a fruit? Yep, it is. There is a really easy way to tell if you have a fruit or vegetable. Fruits have seeds, veggies don’t. But what about tomatoes and zucchini and cucumbers? They’re fruits too. Yes, even tomatoes – even though there is a whole legal thing about tomatoes being a veggie. I’ll get into that another time since we’re talking about pumpkin here. So, pumpkin is rich in vitamin A. Vitamin A is an anti-oxident. It is great for your skin and vision and believed to lower risk of lung cancer among other benefits. Pumpkin also contains the vitamin B-complex group of vitamins like folates, niacin, vitamin B-6 (pyridoxine), thiamin and pantothenic acid. Not to mention vitamin C, and E. It is also a source of the minerals phosphorus, calcium, copper, and potassium. It is low in calories and contains no saturated fats or cholesterol. It also contains other flavonoid compounds which are also anti-oxidents and have tons of benefits. They have been shown as “anti-aging”, they help protect your eyesight (zea-xanthin), the list goes on and on. If you would like to know more about the benefits of pumpkin, I encourage you to just google it because there is a ton of information out there. Just make sure you’re at a reputable source like mayoclinic.com or USDA.gov. See, I knew that they were “healthy” :).
Hi :), my name's Alicia!
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