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Pumpkin Chocolate Chip Cookies
Story and Photos by Brissa Renteria

Warm spices flowing through the kitchen. Conjoining smells of autumn and baking. A great season approaches us, and Tanya Compean shows us how to start the last months of the year off right by sharing a great family recipe.

Never having to worry about cooking in the dorms, Compean finds it easy to relax on an evening after school and work and find a kitchen through her friends who live off campus.

“I chose this recipe because the ingredients used together make a pastry that a lot of people have not heard of,” says Compean. “When one thinks of the ingredient pumpkin, what usually comes to mind is Thanksgiving and pumpkin pies. However, this recipe can be made year round and the pumpkin and chocolate chip mixture is very unique and delicious.”

With baking being one of her passions and hobbies, Tanya says she favors pastries, especially Mexican-styled pastries. Her favorites include sweet bread, flan, and pastel de tres leches.

Compean is a full-time senior at St. Mary’s University and will graduate with a bachelor’s degree in Marketing in December 2011. What she enjoys most about being a Marketing major is the opportunity for creativity. “I am a very creative person and there is a wide range of areas where I can apply myself to express this and much more.”

Originally from California, Compean says she chose St. Mary’s because she likes the professor to student ratio in the classroom. “When applying for colleges four years ago, my main focus was if I was going to get a better education from one university over another. Now that I am a senior, I have grown close to my professors where I can ask for help and guidance with ease and realize that St. Mary’s was one of the best decisions I have ever made.”

Presently, Compean works part-time at a marketing agency in which she will have an entry-level position when she graduates in December. Compean says this will allow her to “learn more about the world of marketing and advertising. I have never been too busy with work or school not to bake, so I know I will continue doing so in my free time!”

When out of the classroom, Compean says she likes to visit new and native restaurants. As a daughter of two Mexican nationals, she grew up eating a lot of Mexican and Spanish-styled foods. “A favorite entree of mine is green chile enchiladas and Spanish rice,” Compean says.

Compean offers this advice: “Stick to your passions! Mine is baking, and since I do live on campus with no kitchen available to me, I can always find a way to bake, that doesn’t stop me!”

Ingredients

• 1 c canned pumpkin
• 1 c white sugar
• 1/2 c vegetable oil
• 1 egg
• 2 c all-purpose flour
• 2 tsp baking powder
• 2 tsp ground cinnamon
• 1/2 tsp salt
• 1 tsp baking soda
• 1 tsp milk
• 1 T vanilla
• 2 c semisweet chocolate chips

Directions

Combine pumpkin, sugar, vegetable oil, and egg. In a separate bowl, stir together flour, baking powder, ground cinnamon, baking soda,milk, vanilla and salt. Add flour mixture to pumpkin mixture and mix well. Add chocolate chips. Scoop dough onto a greased cookie sheet and bake at 350° F for approximately 10 minutes. Makes 24 cookies.

Filed under: Class Projects, Desserts, Recipes | Tagged: autumn, baking, Brissa Renteria, chocolate, cookies, pumpkin, sweet, sweet tooth, Tanya Compean |