The First of Fall

  I am absolutely loving this weather and would be totally fine if it was like this year round. Well, maybe a couple of months where it was a little warmer so I could break out the bather and lay by the pool, but other than that I would be a happy camper. This is the time of year that I definitely miss walking to class on a college campus. This time last year I was walking EVERYWHERE at Baylor. I would walk to class, walk to Common Grounds (the most amazing coffee shop), walk to meetings at the panhellenic building, walk to intramural games and walk back home. I LOVED IT!! Not to mention this is the perfect weather to train for my half marathon. I could run outside in this all day long! 

Along with the weather, I love fall because of all the amazing things you can cook and bake. I cannot wait to make soup and all sorts of things with my crockpot. I might even have to splurge one day and make some Frito Pie!! That was one of my absolute favorites growing up! In fact, one of the things Ben asked me to get at the grocery store the other day was Fritos....I know he wants them for his peanut butter though, but that's another story. 

Anywho....I've been dying to bake a fall sweet treat and finally found some time tonight while Ben was at a meeting. I found this recipe over at Annie's Eats and knew it was the one. The combination of butterscotch and pumpkin pulled me right in. One of my co-workers has been asking me to make her pumpkin cheesecake ever since I met my parents after work at Grand Lux (apparently their's is amazing). This is no cheesecake, but hopefully this will satisfy her craving til I find a good pumpkin cheesecake recipe and a longer block of time. I substituted a few healthy alternatives for a couple of the ingredients, and was a little nervous that these might ruin the recipe, but I was soo happy with the finished product. These cookies are absolutely delicious!! I will definitely have to take most to the office or I might eat them all in one sitting. The substitutions I made were: Splenda for sugar, unsweetened applesauce for veggie oil and instead of just a cup of butterscotch chips I just emptied the whole bag. :) The applesauce substitution made the cookies so fluffy. The additional butterscotch chips overpowered the pumpkin a little, but I love butterscotch so I did NOT mind at all! 

I got a little anxious and had to peek! 

Fresh out of the oven...look at that gooeyness!!!

yum yum yum...even Ben liked these!

Pumpkin Butterscotch Cookies

  Adapted from Annie's Eats

Yield: 2 dozen cookies

Ingredients:

2 cups all-purpose flour
1½ tsp. baking powder
1 tsp. baking soda
½ tsp. salt
1 tsp. ground cinnamon
2 large eggs
1 cup Splenda
½ cup applesauce
1 cup pumpkin puree
1 tsp. vanilla extract
11 oz bag butterscotch chips

Directions:

Preheat oven to 325 F. Line baking sheets with parchment paper. I didn't have parchment, so I used foil and it worked just fine. Combine flour, baking powder, baking soda salt and cinnamon in a small bowl and set aside. Beat eggs and Splenda on medium-high until smooth and light in color. Blend in applesauce, pumpkin and vanilla until well combined. Switch the mixer to low speed and add in the dry ingredients just until combined. Gently fold in the butterscotch chips. 

Drop good-sized mounds of dough onto the prepared sheets. The dough will seem a little runny, but don't worry, it will be fine. I used a medium ice-cream scoop to scoop the dough. Bake cookies for about 14 minutes, rotating halfway through. Let the cookies cook for a few minutes before transferring to plate. 

ENJOY!!