Or crack cookies as everyone I know has dubbed them.

A few years ago, this recipe popped up in my Facebook feed.  It was posted by Laura’s Best Recipes (BTW, this woman is AMAZING.  Check out her blog.  She has never let me down with a recipe).  Being the pumpkin spice crazed white girl that I am, I immediately decided to make them.  Well THAT was a mistake…  Ok, not really, but now I HAVE to make them every fall.  Not only do they taste fantastic, but they also make the house smell delicious (along with my Bath and Bodyworks scent plugs).

I think this was the first year that I managed to not eat half the batter while making them.  Really, they’re that good.  Even in an unbaked state.  As the original recipe states, you can mix and match add-ins but I’ve personally found that my favorite combo is cranberries, pecans, and white chocolate chips.  They just all really go together.  Oh, and I don’t always toast my pecans.  Depends on how much time I have and how lazy I’m feeling.  The toast does heighten the flavor a little but they’re still pretty dang delectable without it.  And if you don’t have allspice and cloves handy (I’m still unpacking my house and finding spices), you CAN use pumpkin spice.  But the original recipe is better, I ain’t gonna lie.

Oh, and I make my cookies a little bigger.  Just because I’m lazy and don’t like standing there and dropping cookies on a baking sheet.  So sue me.

Ingredients

• 3/4 cup pecan halves
• 1 stick, unsalted butter
• 1 cup firmly packed light brown sugar
• 1 large egg
  2/3 cup pumpkin puree, canned or homemade (but not flavored pie filling)
• 1 tsp pure vanilla extract
• 1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
• 1 tsp baking soda
• 1 tsp baking powder
• 1.5 tsp ground cinnamon
• 1/2 tsp ground allspice
• 1/2 tsp ground cloves
• pinch of salt
• 1 cup dried cranberries

Method

1. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees.
2. Line two baking sheets with parchment paper
3. Spread pecans over a small baking pan and toast for about 8 minutes. Chop.
4. In a mixer, beat butter until creamy then slowly add brown sugar, continuing to beat until fluffy. Add the egg, pumpkin and vanilla and beat until smooth.
5. In a separate medium bowl, stir together flour, baking soda, baking powder, cinnamon, allspice, cloves and salt. Slowly add the flour mixture to the pumpkin mixture and fold until just incorporated. Stir in the cranberries and pecans.
6. Scoop batter into drops using a teaspoon on the baking sheets. Make sure they are at least 2 inches apart from each other. Bake until golden brown, about 13 minutes. Transfer to wire racks and allow to cool.
7. Enjoy!

Substitution Ideas:

Replace cranberries with white or semi-sweet chocolate chips or consider macadamia nuts or walnuts in place of pecans.