Pumpkin Chocolate Chip Cookies - Happy Fall!

Today is the first day of fall.  I love fall.  I love love love love love it. As summer falls away, the sun gets softer and the temperatures are perfect 70's. The light is somehow more beautiful.  The evenings and mornings are crisp. Hints of red and gold appear in the trees. And we've settled into a nice routine with school and lessons by the time autumn comes along.

To celebrate the first day of fall today, I kept Eliza and Ashton out of school an hour longer after we finished their eye appointments (Liza's eyesight is a bit better but she still needs glasses, Ashton's 20/20 - headaches he's been having must be from something else and I guess the focusing problems I talked to his math teacher about must be because he's got a kid next to him who's a talker, not because he can't see the board).  We've got the school carnival to help with all afternoon and evening so the only time we could do our first-day-of-fall tradition of making pumpkin cookies would be while they were out of school for the eye appointments.

Liza and Ashton were very happy to skip just a bit more school so we could make the cookies together.  And wow, are they ever good!  I've eaten 3 (plus way too much cookie dough).  But hey, they have lots of healthy pumpkin in them - and some whole wheat flour...

Here are the cookies - plus a leaf we found on the first brilliant fall tree we've seen -
it was right by our car at the eye doctor's parking lot.

Here's the recipe in case you want your own delicious fall treat:

Pumpkin Chocolate Chip Cookies

2 ¼ cups canned pumpkin (one 15 oz can, however many cups that is!)
2 ½ cups sugar
½ cup canola oil
½ cup applesauce
1 tsp vanilla
4 cups flour (I like to do 3 cups white flour, 1 cup whole wheat flour)
2 tsp baking soda
2 tsp cinnamon
1 tsp allspice
1 1/2 - 2 cups semi-sweet chocolate chips (depends on how chocolatey you want them to be)

Mix together all the wet ingredients and sugar.  Then add the flour one cup at a time, mixing between each cup. Add the baking soda and spices with the last cup of flour.  Then fold in the chocolate chips. Add a cup of chopped walnuts or pecans if you like (I usually do).

Drop by spoonfuls onto cookie sheet sprayed with non-stick spray. Bake at 350 for 10 - 12 minutes – be sure not to overbake! Take cookies out when they’re still a bit doughy looking. Makes about 40 cookies.

Enjoy!

Now I'm off to help set up for the school carnival.  How do I always end up helping with these things? At least I don't have 2 wandering toddlers to worry about while helping at the school as was always the case a few years ago...