"It's smellin' really good in here!"

It just warmed my heart to hear those words from my almost 5 year old daughter this afternoon! I had some canned pumpkin left over from Thanksgiving, so today I decided to make a batch of chocolate chip pumpkin cookies. It's a good thing I only get into a baking mood around Christmas time or we'd all need to buy bigger pants! But there's just something about the lights of the Christmas tree and Christmas music playing over the radio that makes me want to bake. So here's one of our favorite cookie recipes.

Chocolate Chip Pumpkin Cookies

Cream together:
1 & 1/2 c. sugar
1/2 c. butter
1 egg

Sift:
2 & 1/2 c. flour
1 tsp. baking soda
1 tsp. cinnamon

Add alternately to sifted ingredients:
creamed mixture and 1 cup of canned pumpkin

Stir in:
1 tsp. vanilla
1 c. chocolate chips
1 cup chopped nuts, if desired (although I like the nuts, my kids don't so I leave these out)

Drop by teaspoons onto cookie sheet and bake at 325 13-17 minutes until firm, but not hard. Enjoy with a glass of cold milk!