One of the best trends to take hold in the baking world has been the addition of good quality salt to sweet treats. Here we use Halen Mon, an artisinal sea salt from Salt & Olive, a Harvard Square specialty food shop. The finishing sprinkle brings dimension to these comforting fall cookies, which are moist with pumpkin and studded with chocolate chips. If you can't get your hands on Halen Mon, any good-quality, flaky sea salt makes a fine substitute.

Ingredients

  • 1 cup canned pumpkin
  • 1 1/2 cups brown sugar
  • 1/2 cup vegetable oil
  • 1 egg
  • 2 cups all-purpose flour
  • 2 teaspoons baking powder
  • 1 tablespoon ground cinnamon
  • 1/2 teaspoon ground cloves
  • 1/2 teaspoon ground allspice
  • 1/2 teaspoon ground nutmeg
  • 1/2 teaspoon table salt
  • 1 teaspoon baking soda
  • 1 teaspoon milk
  • 1 tablespoon vanilla
  • 2 cups dark/bittersweet chocolate chips
  • 2 tablespoons Halen Mon White Sea Salt (to finish the cookies)

Directions

  1. Combine pumpkin, sugar, vegetable oil, egg and vanilla. In a separate bowl, stir together flour, baking powder, ground cinnamon, ground cloves, ground allspice, ground nutmeg and ground salt.
  2. In a small bowl, dissolve the baking soda with the milk and stir in the wet ingredients.
  3. Add the flour mixture to the pumpkin mixture and stir well with a wooden spoon or an electric mixer.
  4. Stir in chocolate chips to incorporate.
  5. Drop rounded tablespoons of dough onto a baking sheet lined with parchment paper.
  6. Lightly sprinkle cookies with Halen Mon. Insert into oven and bake at 350 degrees F for 12-15 minutes or until a toothpick inserted into the center of the cookie comes out clean.
adding chocolate chips
Adding chocolate chips last helps prevent overworking the gluten in your mixture.
Sean Davis