Don't compost those carvings- make cookies!
October 28, 2016

Don't compost those carvings- make cookies!

Halloween is just around the corner, and in our house that means one thing: it's Jack-O-Lantern time!

Jack-O-Lanterns

Now personally, I'm a bit of a food waste nut. I am the queen of "I can do something with that!" Your mustard greens have gone to seed? I'll make mustard. Carrots for dinner? Don't toss those greens; I'll make pesto! Kabocha squash rind chips? Ok, this is where I usually lose people, but really- they're good.

So pumpkin carving kind of kills me just a little bit. All that potential food used as home decor! But at least I can salvage the cast offs- roast the seeds and use the carved out hunks to make pumpkin goodies.

After this week's pumpkin carving night, I cranked out some delicious, Halloweeny chocolate chip pumpkin cookies.

Pumpkin Spider Chip Cookies

Ingredients

  • 2 cups pumpkin puree
  • 1.5 cups sugar
  • 1/4 cup vanilla almond milk (or whatever type of milk you prefer)
  • 1/4 cup molasses 
  • 1 tsp vanilla extract
  • 2 tsp cinnamon
  • 1 tsp ground cloves
  • 1 tsp ground ginger
  • 1/2 tsp salt
  • 1/2 tsp baking soda
  • 2.5 cups flour
  • A whole lotta chocolate chips (I prefer semi-sweet)

Pumpkin Spider Chip Cookies Ingredients


Pumpkin Prep

The first thing you'll need to do it prepare your pumpkin. Gather all the big chunks you cut out of your Jack-O-Lantern and pile them in a pan. Use a pan with a lid to prevent the chunks from drying out in the oven. Bake at 425f until the pieces are very soft. This will vary a bit depending on what sort of face you gave your Jack-O-Lantern and if it resulted in big chunks of pumpkin or small ones. But expect somewhere between 25 and 45 minutes.

Once it's cooked squishy, scrape the pumpkin meat off the skin and into a food processor. Puree it until it's smooth.

Pumpkin Puree

Cookie Creation

Combine the pumpkin puree, sugar, molasses, almond milk, and vanilla extract until well mixed. Stir in the cinnamon, gloves, and ginger.

Making pumpkin cookies

Add the flour, salt, and baking soda and stir until smooth. Because of the pumpkin base, this dough will be softer than other cookie doughs. Fold in as many chocolate chips as you like.

Making pumpkin cookies

Drop by spoonful onto cookie sheets and bake at 375f for 8-10 minutes. These are soft and chewy cookies so they'll look puffy and feel slightly firm when they're done.

Pumpkin Cookies

For an extra Halloween touch, while the cookies are still warm, use your pointed tip Sugar Shaper to draw out the warm chocolate of any exposed chocolate chips to make them into little chocolate spiders.

Making chocolate chips into spiders with Sugar Shapers

That's it! You've saved some good, edible food from the compost bin and made some delicious cookies in the process! Trick or Treat!

Pumpkin Chocolate Chip Cookies