Whipping up some delicious pumpkin chocolate chip cookies Saturday night.

I indulged myself this weekend. The urge to bake was strong and I came across a cookie recipe in my Livestrong newsletter that I just had to try — Pumpkin Chocolate Chip!

The timing was perfect. I normally bake cookies and treats as Christmas presents for family and friends.

I started looking for recipes about a week ago.  The plan is to bake a few test batches, taste a cookie or two and see how it holds up for shipping (Does the cookie get too dry/stale? Crumbly?). The remaining I’ll send with my husband to his office for his teammates to devour.

A little indulgence now and then prevents the gorging! These cookies are awesome and hit the spot!

How awesomely amazing are these cookies? I think I ate about 5 cookies the last couple of days – always right after a workout!  They are amazing, but I need them out of the house.

In this recipe I substituted the cup of granular sugar with Xyla. It’s a tree sugar that tastes, cooks and bakes just like sugar but has 40% fewer calories and 70% fewer carbs.

I’m also on the hunt for a gluten-free version of this recipe for a particular friend. If I find something equally tasty, I’ll post it.  My guess is the gluten-free recipe will have fewer carbs!

Pumpkin Chocolate Chip Cookies
Net Carbs: 17
Weight Watchers PointsPlus: 4
Serving Size: 3 Cookies
Makes 40-45 Cookies

Ingredients

• 1 cup canned pumpkin
• 1 cup Xyla (Xylitol)
• 1 cup dark chocolate chips
• 1 cup whole wheat flour
• 1 cup all-purpose flour
• ½ cup unsweetened applesauce
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 1 teaspoon baking soda
• 1 teaspoon baking powder
• 2 teaspoons sea salt
• 2 teaspoons pumpkin pie spice
• cooking spray

Directions

• Preheat oven to 350F. Grease a cookie sheet with cooking spray.
• Cream the Xyla, applesauce, pumpkin and vanilla extract together. Make sure Xyla is completely mixed in with the other wet ingredients. Set aside.
• In another bowl, mix flours, baking soda, baking powder, salt and pumpkin pie spice. Once mixed, add the dry ingredients into the wet and mix to combine.
• Add in chocolate chips and mix well.
• Use a spoon and drop cookies onto the prepared sheet and bake for 15 – 18 minutes, or until browned.