Since my massage therapist has strictly forbidden me to go out and undo all that she has done this day by raking up the hundred zillion leaves, I figured I could do something a little more lightweight.

I can’t remember who, but someone asked me for my cornbread recipe at the recent Pumpkin Pogrom. And Shawn just asked the other day if I could give him a copy of my recipe for pumpkin chocolate chip cookies.

So here goes.

Even though my mother denied it at the time, this is, in fact, my mother’s cornbread recipe:

Preheat oven to 400F

1 1/2 cups yogurt
2 eggs
1/3 cup butter (melted)

Mix all the moist ingredients together and add

2 cups cornmeal (I prefer polenta because I like the texture better)
1 1/2 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp salt

Put it in a big bowl because when you add the baking powder and the soda to the moist ingredients it will bubble a bit.
Mix it all up and bake in a greased 9 X 9″ pan.

Now I added some roasted sweet corn *YUM* to mine before I baked it which was the source of the sweetness, but you don’t have to add that.
Hm…
Bean soup……

I’ll have to think about that.

Chocolate Chip Pumpkin Cookies

Preheat oven to 350F

5 cups flour
2 tsp baking powder
2 tsp baking soda
2 tsp cinnamon
1 tsp nutmeg
1-2 tsp (to taste) powdered ginger
1/2 tsp salt
3 cups granulated sugar
1 cup butter (melted)
1-2 tsp (to taste) vanilla
3 1/2 cups (one 29 ounce can) pureed pumpkin
12 (or more to taste) ounces semi-sweet chocolate chips

Sift together all the dry ingredients.
Mix all the moist ingredients well.
Add the dry ingredients gradually to the moist ingredients. When the batter is well mixed fold in the chocolate chips.
Drop on a greased baking sheet and bake 10 minutes or so until the edges are set.
Makes about 6 dozen depending on how big your drops are.

A few notes about this one.
First, be sure that your mixer is good and sturdy. The pumpkin mixture is heavy and I actually managed to catch my hand mixer on fire last year when I was baking these. Now granted, the hand mixer was a little on the geriatric side, but it does kind of put a crimp in your baking to have to bolt out of the kitchen and fling your mixer into the back yard to keep it from bursting into flames.
Second, be aware that these are extremely moist cookies. Eat them quickly (oh the pain, the pain!) and share generously because they mold easily.

I have nearly seven quarts of baked pumpkin to put in the freezer and several more pumpkins to bake. I’d be thrilled if someone had a pumpkin soup recipe to share. Or if someone wanted to just come by and confiscate some of the baked pumpkin that I’ve already got.