Pumpkin Cookies (and a GIVEAWAY!)

This past month has been killer. I was sick for almost a month, had my sister's wedding festivities, and I had classes ending this week which means I had giant final projects due. Miraculously, I finished one of my projects and all my regular homework for the week super early! I have two days to finish the other (not due until Sunday but I would prefer a free weekend) and I think I can do it. I've had monster drive this week for my schoolwork. Plus, I started exercising again! With all of the sickness, it had been quite a while. Luckily, I didn't gain any weight because I still ate right...most of the time. ;)

Yikes. Too bad I can't say the same about household chores. It's been about a month since I've really cleaned the apartment. Last week was the first free weekend I've had since August and I spent in laying on the couch. Call me lazy...but I needed it! I've been constantly behind on dishes, laundry, and everything needs a good clean down, especially those floors. I'm hoping if I tackle all my homework that I'll be able to do an excellent cleaning job on Sunday. I also hadn't been cooking much since it was such a mess everywhere. But this past week, I decided I wanted good food and have been cooking anyways...just negating each load of clean dishes with another dirty one. It's amazing how many dishes I do each week! But, I rarely eat out and most meals are made from scratch...so that must equal tons of dishes! ;)

I hinted at a giveaway a week or two ago and it's time to get excited!! But first, I'm going to treat you to an easy fall dessert :) I tried creating my own recipe using the giveaway stuff as an ingredient but it was a flop. I was still suffering from a sweet tooth though, so last night, I made these babies! :) It's slightly modified from the linked recipe because I accidently grabbed a can of pumpkin pie mix instead of pure pumpkin. Rookie mistake. So I eliminated the spices and took out some of the sugar.

Old Fashioned Soft Pumpkin Cookies
slightly modified from VeryBestBaking.com
Makes 36 cookies

• 2 1/2 cups AP flour
• 1 tsp baking soda
• 1 tsp baking powder
• 1/2 tsp salt
• 1 1/3 cups sugar
• 1/2 cup butter, softened
• 1 cup pumpkin pie filling (Libby's is actually really good!)
• 1 large egg (I actually used Egg Beaters egg whites)
• 1 tsp vanilla extract

For the glaze

• 2 cups powdered sugar, sifted
• 3 Tb. milk
• 1 Tb. butter, melted
• 1 tsp vanilla

Preheat oven to 350°F. Prepare baking sheets.

Combine flour, baking powder, baking soda, and salt in a medium bowl. I sifted the ingredients to make a fluffier cookie.

Beat sugar and softened butter in a large bowl until well blended. Beat in pumpkin, egg, and vanilla extract.

Gradually beat in flour mixture.

Drop by rounded tablespoon onto prepared baking sheets. (I used a medium cookie scoop.)

Bake for 15-18 minutes, or until the edges are firm. Cool on baking sheets 2 minutes; transfer to wire racks to cool completely.

Prepare glaze. Drizzle on cookies.

Nutritional Information (per cookie): 116 calories, 3 g fat (1.8 g sat), 0.6 g fiber, 1.5 g protein

These cookies are the BOMB! I think they need more pumpkin. This could be my fault because of the whole pumpkin pie mix thing. The pumpkin flavor was more of an afterthought than a main feature. I'll be trying these again very soon with regular pure pumpkin.

I do have one thing to say about cookie scoops...they have solved my proportion problems! Remember how I always get less cookies than alloted...by alot? Well thanks to my fabulous cookie scoop, I now get within 1 or 2 cookies from the estimate. It's a miracle. ;)

I know, I know...shut up and tell us about this giveaway! Well...you're in for a treat! A couple weeks ago, Ghirardelli contacted me and asked if I would like to try their new All Natural Luxe Milk line and give away some on here. I was so excited I almost peed myself. From their website:

Ghirardelli Luxe Milk chocolate is the only milk chocolate created with 100% all natural ingredients. We hand pick the finest cocoa beans and blend them with whole milk, real cocoa butter, and natural vanilla to create a rich and creamy milk chocolate experience like no other.

Flavors include: Milk, Almond, Hazelnut, and Toffee. Available in 3 oz bars and individually wrapped singles in a bag.

I was able to try Milk, Almond and Hazelnut. I was a little sad since Toffee was the one I was most excited about. But that's Athens for ya. They don't carry anything. My favorite was the Milk variety. I liked the nut varieties but felt that the simpleness of the chocolate really shined when it was by itself. The chocolate was creamy and decadent.

I loved how simple the ingredient list was! I firmly believe treats are a part of a healthy diet :) but that doesn't mean your treats need to be loaded with preservatives or by-products. I got the bags of individually wrapped squares; each square is only 80 calories with around 5.5 g of fat!

**THIS GIVEAWAY HAS ENDED**

Giveaway??? Yes, please! I have 2 FREE product coupons and 2 $1 off coupons to giveaway to one of YOU! Wahoo!

• Just leave a comment on this post with your favorite fall baked good. 
• Get an extra entry if you follow this blog - be sure to leave a separate comment for each!

Be sure to leave an e-mail address if your Google profile doesn't have contact enabled! Giveaway ends Thursday, October 21st. I will pull a winner via random.org.

***I was contacted by M80, Ghirardelli's marketing firm, to do this product trial and giveaway. I received free product coupons as well as $1 off coupons. The opinions above are my own honest opinions of this product.