My achilles heel

I'm here today to discuss my achilles heel, my personal kryptonite (or one form of it, anyway). This is the kind of thing that, once you're within five feet of a batch of them, your short term memory gets erased and you lose all ability to properly judge how many is an acceptable amount to consume. I've already had 5 in a row? How about 15 more? Sure! Sounds great. I think I'll take the biggest one, for starters.

Yes, October is here and 'tis the season for

p u m p k i n  c o o k i e s .

In fact, I don't even need it to be October. We make these year round at my house. But even so, I had some leftover pumpkin in the fridge after making some pumpkin waffles a few days ago, and I could not let it go to waste. So it became necessary for me to bake some pumpkin deliciousness today.

In my mind, this is the best pumpkin cookie recipe ever. There are many versions, so to each his own. But as for me and my house, I like lots of chocolate chips, just a hint of cinnamon, and they're not complete until they're topped with a delectable cream cheese frosting.

Pumpkin Cookies

1 c. pumpkin

1 c. sugar

1/2 c. oil

1 egg

2 c. flour

2 t. baking powder

3/4 t. cinnamon (scant)

1/2 t. salt

1 t. baking soda dissolved in 1 t. milk

1 c. chocolate chips (or more)

1 t. vanilla

Combine pumpkin, sugar, oil, and eggs. Stir together with flour, baking powder, cinnamon, and salt; add to pumpkin mixture along with dissolved soda and mix well. Stir in chocolate chips and vanilla. Drop onto lightly greased cookie sheet. Bake at 375 degrees for 10-12 minutes until lightly golden brown.

Cream Cheese Frosting

(this is very vague, so feel it out)

2 oz. softened cream cheese

2-3 T. softened butter

2-ish c. powdered sugar

1-2 T. milk

1/4 t. vanilla (to taste)

Mix until smooth.

And don't be fooled by the size of this recipe. We're so hardcore here that we often triple the recipe so we can use an entire large can of pumpkin (including the extra 1/2 cup of pumpkin—maybe that's the secret weapon?). Sometimes we freeze some cookies for later, sometimes we don't and eat way too many over the next few days. 

Oh the humanity, I think I've probably eaten 100 today. These pumpkin cookies are probably only second (as far as the memory-erasing, judgment-paralyzing power of temptation is concerned) to Satan's Bait: my mother's rolls. But that's a recipe for another day.