Today’s cookie is from the NPR segment where a commenter posted her version of a local grocery store’s pumpkin chocolate chip cookies. I assumed the local grocery store was Kroger because the cookie sounded similar to one my sister tasted at a Kroger – very spicy, soft and not very sweet. Based on all the rave reviews the Kroger cookies were getting, I decided to try the version posted on NPR.
Here’s a link to the commenter’s recipe which is what I used. I’m trying to get it to link directly, but if you see other comments, just scroll up to the pumpkin chocolate chip cookie recipe. It has a 44 on the top and was posted by “Mannar”.
The cookies were great. At first I thought they were too salty, but after I waited a while and went back, the flavors had settled and the salt level seemed fine. So if you are sensitive to salt, you might want to reduce that a bit. However, the cookies were good with the full 1 tsp salt. The cookies aren’t very sweet, so I increased the chocolate chips too….but that’s just because I’m a chocolate monster. All in all, they’re very good. Different from the Pumpkin Harvest Cookies people love, but very good in their own right.
As for whether or not they are like Kroger’s cookies, my friend Maureen lives in Scottsdale and shops at Kroger. Maybe I can convince her to take a picture of a Kroger cookie and send it to me.
Here’s what mine looked like.
I made 1/2 the recipe and got about 2 dozen cookies.
If you have trouble finding the link to the original, here’s how I made them.
Pumpkin Chocolate Chip Cookies
2 1/2 cups all purpose flour (11 1/4 on scale)
1 tsp baking soda
1 tsp salt (scant)
1 Tbsp cinnamon
1/2 tsp ground cloves (reduced slightly from original)
1/2 tsp nutmeg
1/2 tsp ginger
8 ounces (2 sticks) unsalted butter, room temperature
1/2 cup packed brown sugar
1/2 cup granulated sugar
2 large eggs
2 tsp vanilla extract
1 cup canned pumpkin
1 cup sour cream
1 1/2 cups semisweet chocolate chips
Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.
In a medium bowl, whisk together flour, baking soda, salt, cinnamon, clove and nutmeg; set aside.
Cream butter and both sugars until light and fluffy. Add eggs and vanilla; beat until combined. Add pumpkin, then sour cream and beat until combined. Add flour mixture; beat until just combined. Fold in chocolate chips.
Drop dough in mounds using a well rounded tablespoon (equals about 2 level) at least 2 inches apart onto baking sheets. Chill remaining dough while other cookies bake.
Bake, rotate sheets halfway through, until cookies are golden brown but still soft to the touch, 12-18 minutes (I baked mine for 15 minutes).
Makes about 3 1/2 to 4 dozen
I’ll have to look! We don’t have Kroger here in Austin, so it makes it kind of hard to really compare.
Hi Anna, I have found a recipe for the Pumpkin Choc Chip, how about the Cranberry Orange Soft Tops that they make? Yummmo! I am searching but still have not found one. Any ideas?
You can make these eggless, you can use egg replacer they sell it at most health food stores or any vegetarian/ vegan stores. It is egg free but you can use it in any recipe as egg. it turns out really good you just have to make sure you measure it properly.
Hi Laura,
Thanks for the tip! I can see how yellow cake mix might play into it since some bakeries use mixes.
Hi Anna
I just wanted to let uou know..i found a recipe too that called for a yellow cake mix to mimic the recipe from Fred Meyer (in the Pacific Northwest)/Kroger supermarket. I finally made my own recipe but added Raisinets to them..they are unbelievable! I will post it at another time.
Anna,
I am allergic to eggs and the Kroger cookies are eggless, do you think i could make the cookies from your recipe and just not add the eggs. I really love the Kroger Pumpkin Chocolate Chip Cookies.
Just made half a batch of theses as it is starting to feel like fall around here. They are good – not too sweet – so I added more chocolate chips after I took the first batch out of the oven. I also used pumpkin pie spice instead of the cloves and ginger. They will go great with a chai tea… or a pumpkin latte from Starbucks!! Yummy.
And mine were done in 12 mins.
Anna,
Over the holidays I recieved a gift of some lemon cloud cookies – they were to die for. I have never tasted anything like them. The cookie was incredibly light and the frosting was tangy and sweet. My whole office went crazy over them. With Spring around the corner, I thought you might enjoy the recipe!
LEMON CLOUDS
By Kay Batchelder
Yield 4-6 dozen
2 c. margarine
2/3 c. powdered sugar
2 c. unsifted flour
1-1/3 c. unsifted cornstarch
Lemon Icing
6 tbl. margarine
1 box powdered sugar
Lemon juice for consistency
Lemon rind (optional)
Cream margarine and sugar. Sift in flour and cornstarch. Mix well. Drop by small teaspoonful on un-greased cookie sheet about one inch apart. Bake for 15 minutes at 350. Do not brown. Cool and ice.
To prepare icing, cream margarine and powdered sugar, adding lemon juice for consistency. Lemon rind may be added if desired. This recipe may be baked ahead
and frozen. Best if eaten within a day or so.
Enjoy,
Kay
Anna – My grandma makes amazing whoopie pies – I’ll have to ask her about converting a pumpkin cookie (a soft cookie) into a whoopie pie. Can you tell I love whoopie pies? But I could just eat the cookie as is and be happy as a clam. Just made a dbl batch of choc peanut butter fudge. The cookies will definately have to wait til next week. THX!
Christine, I just eat small portions of everything. I’ve gotten use to it over the years and it doesn’t bother me. Some days I do eat to many cookies….some weeks actually. When that happens, I drink Pu-ehr tea. I think it helps metabolize the extra cookie calories and settles my stomach. But mostly, I just try to balance it. Like a lot of people who cook, the more the more I do it the less I want to eat and eat. Again, that’s most days. Sometimes I eat as I sit there and eat chocolate chips and nuts while I’m baking.
I just have to ask you how you maintain such a svelte figure with all this baking. I gain weight just looking at your website. Is it incredible self control or an over active thyroid?
Sorry to be nosy about it. I was frankly quite surprised to see photos of you.
Maureen, the day I ask you to Fed-Ex me grocery store cookies is the day I’ve truly gone off the deep end. So no. If you don’t care for pumpkin, don’t bother. Maybe just carry your camera into Kroger and secretly photograph the cookies. You might get kicked out, of course. Grocery stores hate that.
If the cookies are sold at Kroger year round, I’ll just try one next time I’m in a city where there’s a Kroger.
Stacy, you could try it. The thing with these cookies is they are rich and dense. They’re soft, but they’re so rich and dense they might not make the perfect foil to Whoopie Pie filling. They might be more like Little Debbie Oatmeal Pies. Gosh, I can feel myself teetering closer towards madness as I type this.
Hi Anna,
I do shop at Kroeger all the time – and I’ve seen the pumpkin chocolate chip cookies, but have never tried them. I will pick some up tomorrow and take a photo. I’m not a big fan of pumpkin. Do you think I could take them out to photograph, and then drop them off at a Dr’s office? (just kidding) Or should I just fed-ex them to you so you can see and taste the original?
Ohhh…you know what make this cookie even more amazing? Make them into a whoopie pie with cream cheese frosting. Ohhhh….have to make these next week!
Laura, thanks for letting me know. Maybe the person who posted it on NPR is on track. At least it *looks* like a Kroger cookie. Heh.
Therese, you have to scroll a little after you click the link. I’m having problems making a direct link to the exact comment.
at Kroger I mean.
I saw a Pumpkin Chocolate Chip Cookie that looked just like those the other day, so your probably right.
Hi Anna!
Help…I tried to get the recipe that you had a link to and it gave me a bunch of recipes. Am I doing something wrong?
I love pumpkin and chocolate chips together!!
Can’t wait to try it!