Years ago, in the midst of the Autumn holiday season, my mom used to always buy a box of puffy, cake-like pumpkin chocolate chip cookies from the supermarket bakery close to our house. I still remember the first time I tried one. I hated it. I thought it was weird. I didn’t even finish it! But our tastebuds are strange things, as the next day I found myself wanting to try this innovative fusion of pumpkin pie and chocolate chip cookie again. The second experience was a much better one, as I embraced the interesting texture that the pumpkin creates and the dark chocolate chips dotted throughout that gave a great richness and childhood familiarity. Nowadays, we eat pumpkin everything, so pumpkin cookies are far from the wacky idea I once thought they were.
These bars are everything great about a pumpkin chocolate chip cookie and improved by being baked into squidgy, moist bars rather than puffy, cake-like cookies. They’re also great because they’re not too sweet, which means you can eat more than one without getting a toothache! I always love a recipe that improves with age, like these Pumpkin Chocolate Chip Bars, because the next day they are even better than they are are freshly baked. Just be sure to keep in an airtight container! I think I might go grab one now…
