Pumpkin Chocolate Chip Cookies

 It's fall!  I love fall.  And Shipyard Pumpkin Head Ale is my favorite fall beer!  It has the perfect mix of cinnamon and nutmeg without being too pumpkiny.  It just tastes like fall.  During my senior year in college, one of my roommates made these pumpkin chocolate chip cookies and we sat on our stoop (we had an awesome stoop) and had the cookies with the beer.  It is kind of a fall tradition for me now.  I make the cookies every year but this is the first time that I’ve actually gotten to have Shipyard again because I’m back in Boston! (I’ve never seen it in DC.)  The recipe calls for milk chocolate chips and even though I usually prefer dark chocolate, I think the milk chocolate works with the pumpkin.  These cookies are delicious and you should make them right now.

Pumpkin Chocolate Chip Cookies

Makes a TON of cookies (about 30)

Based on a recipe from the Food Network

1 cup (2 sticks) unsalted butter, softened

1 cup white sugar

1 cup light brown sugar

2 large eggs

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

1 cup canned pumpkin puree

3 cups all-purpose flour

2 teaspoons baking soda

1/2 teaspoon salt

1 teaspoon ground cinnamon

1/2 teaspoon ground ginger

1/4 teaspoon ground nutmeg

1/4 teaspoon ground cloves

2 cups (12-ounce bag) milk chocolate chips, not semisweet

Nonstick cooking spray or parchment paper

Heat the oven to 350 degrees F. Spray cookie sheets with nonstick spray or line them with parchment paper.
Using a mixer, beat the butter until smooth. Beat in the white and brown sugars, a little at a time, until the mixture is light and fluffy. Beat in the eggs 1 at a time, then mix in the vanilla and pumpkin puree. In a large bowl, whisk together the flour, baking soda, salt, cinnamon, ginger, nutmeg, and cloves. Slowly beat the flour mixture into the batter in thirds. Stir in the chips. Scoop the cookie dough by heaping tablespoons onto the prepared cookie sheets and bake for 15 to 20 minutes, or until the cookies are browned around the edges. Remove the cookie sheets from the oven and let them rest for 2 minutes. Take the cookies off with a spatula and cool them on wire racks.