Pumpkin Chocolate Chip Cookies

My mom used to make these cookies from a recipe she once got from a friend. When I was in college, my sister made some and sent them to me, and then when she was in college, I made some and sent them to her. For reasons we still don't understand, the ones I sent her took more than a month to navigate through the postal service and into her campus mail box. From what I have heard, she wanted to eat them so badly that she was pulling the chocolate chips out and nibbling on those. Her roommate had to forcibly remove the box from her hands and dispose of the contents.

The good news is that now that neither of us lives in dorm rooms, we can easily make these cookies any time we like. They are quick and easy and delicious. Everyone I've fed them to has loved them. Better yet - they don't have any butter or milk, so even my lactose-free friends can enjoy them! The pumpkin makes them moist, and they travel well (which is why we got in the habit of mailing them to each other in the past!).

Bake them! Eat them! Share them with your friends!

Pumpkin Chocolate Chip Cookies

Mix together:

1 cup cooked pumpkin

1 cup sugar

1/2 cup oil

1 egg

Combine, in a separate bowl:

2 cups flour

2 tsp baking powder

1 tsp cinnamon

1/2 tsp salt

Combine, in a tiny bowl:

1 tsp baking soda

1 tsp milk

Mix those three bowls together.

Stir in:

1 tsp vanilla

1 cup chocolate chips

1/2 cup nuts (optional)

Spoon onto cookie trays, and bake at 375 for 10-12 minutes.

Oatmeal Cookies

Well folks, I've been doing a fair amount of cooking lately, but I've been bad about posting. Early in dating, my boyfriend and I wrestled a fiesty, very large (3 1/3 lb) dungeness crab into a pot and after picking the meat he made delicious crab cakes. On Valentine's Day, we avoided the crowds and instead stayed in and cooked one of our favorite cuisines - Ethiopian! We made Doro Wat, Lamb Tibs, red lentil stew (which I can't recall the name of) and greens. We made injera too, but that wasn't quite so successful, though I'm not giving up! When I find my misplaced cookbook, I will post the recipes for those items, and some pictures too.

As for the this post, as the title suggests, we made oatmeal cookies last night. They are so delicious. The cookie dough from oatmeal cookies is by far the best cookie dough, the cookies themselves are delightful, and they are so easy to make. And they have oatmeal in them, so they've got to be kind of good for you, right? Excellent.

Ingredients: 1/2 cup brown sugar, 1/2 cup sugar, 1/2 cup butter (1 stick, cut into smaller pieces), 1 egg, 1 t vanilla, 1 T milk, 1 1/2 cups flour, 1/2 t baking powder, 1/2 t baking soda, 1/2 salt, 1 cup rolled oats, 1 cup chocolate chips, raisins, and /or nuts (optional).

Directions: In a medium bowl, mix together the sugars and butter, blend a bit with a mixer, and then add the egg, vanilla and milk. Blend until smooth. Add the flour, baking powder, baking soda and salt. Blend well. Add oats and stir with a spoon or if you have a strong mixer, continue to blend. If you so desire, add in any other ingredients (though I like my cookies pure!).

Cook at 350 degrees F for 10-12 minutes. Let cool, serve warm with milk(okay, okay, serve however you wish with whatever beverage, but warm with milk is the best way)!