Pumpkin Spice Fudge Cookies

Alice Medrich’s recipe for cocoa fudge cookies is one of my favorite chocolate cookie recipes. Not only are they delicious, but the cookies are also quite low in fat. The secret ingredient in these cookies is yogurt, which adds moisture and tenderness to the cookies without adding in a lot of extra butter or oil. These pumpkin spice fudge cookies are little more than a riff off of the original recipe, only they use pumpkin puree instead of the yogurt originally called for.

The substitution is an easy one-to-one using canned pumpkin because it actually has a similar consistency to the Greek yogurt that I normally use in baking. It should be the same for most brands, although if you find that your pumpkin is unusually thick or dry (or if you’re using leftover roasted pumpkin and pureeing it yourself), you can whisk a tablespoon or so of water into the pumpkin to juice it up.

You can’t taste any of the pumpkin itself in the finished cookies because it is just too mild compared to the strong chocolate flavor of the cocoa powder. This isn’t a bad thing, but to give a little hint of the pumpkin’s presence in the dough I also decided to mix in some of my homemade pumpkin pie spice. The spiciness works very well with the chocolate and adds a little something extra to push these chewy, fudgy cookies over the top.

Pumpkin Spice Fudge Cookies
1 cup all purpose flour
1/4 tsp baking soda
1/4 tsp salt
1 tsp pumpkin pie spice
1/4 cup butter, room temperature
7 tbsp cocoa powder
2/3 cup sugar
1/3 cup brown sugar
1/3 cup pumpkin puree
2 tsp vanilla extract
1/2 cup mini chocolate chips (optional)

Preheat oven to 350F. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper.
In a small bowl, whisk together flour, baking soda, salt and spices.
In a large, microwave-safe bowl, melt the butter in the microwave. Whisk in cocoa powder and sugars. Stir in pumpkin puree and and vanilla extract, mixing until batter is smooth. Add in the flour mixture and stir until just combined and no streaks of flour remain. Stir in mini chocolate chips, if using.
Drop tablespoonfuls of batter onto a parchment lined baking sheet. Press down slightly to flatten; cookies will not spread too much
Bake at 350F for 9-12 minutes or until set and slightly firm at the edges. Cool on baking sheet for 3-4 minutes, then transfer to a wire rack to cool completely.

Makes about 2 dozen.