Squashlet Chip Cookies

((Picture soon, I promise!))

Holiday baking. Le sigh.

Now, I thrive on it, I really do, but for the first time I really get to make as much as I want for whoever I want, and believe me, I am. I'm baking A LOT. I do like to attempt to be frugal, though, so I scanned the fridge for leftovers and tried to puzzle out what I could do with them. Spaghetti cake didn't seem too delicious, and neither did Tupperware Surprise Tart. Lo and behold, what do I find? A poor neglected butternut squash and some baked acorn squash that had only had the delicious buttery brown sugar part eaten.

This injustice must be avenged.

So I tweaked these from a pumpkin cookie recipe that I had kicking around my 'to try' box, and so the most amazing, cake-y, cinnamon and sugary, faux snickerdoodles WITH CHOCOLATE totally happened.

So, without further ado:

Squashlet Chip Cookies

1 cup mashed* squash (I used butternut/acorn, but any winter squash will do, even pumpkin.)

2 cups turbinado sugar (you can substitute white, but you're cheating yourself. Trust me.)

1 beaten egg

1 cup oil

2 teaspoons vanilla extract

4 teaspoons baking powder

2 teaspoons ground cinnamon

2 teaspoons baking soda

2 teaspoons milk

4 cups of flour

1 bag of chocolate chips (I made both a white and semi-sweet chip batch, and both are lovely.)

OVEN PREHEAT TEMP: 375 degrees farenheit

1) Mix your squash, sugar, egg, oil, vanilla, baking powder, and cinnamon together to make a kind of oozy, slimy, delicious smelling muck.

2) In a smaller bowl, mix the baking soda and milk, then add this concoction to the bowl of muck and mix.

3) Add your flour ONE CUP AT A TIME! This is really important, as this turns out to be a super thick batter that will make your life miserable if you try to mix in too much dry stuff too fast.

4) Add the chocolate chips. Yes, the whole bag. Well, except for the two or three you need to check for poison. (If you find yourself eating more than a small handful, you should just buy a spare bag for eats. It's okay. I do it.)

5) Line a standard cookie sheet with parchment paper. (You can skip this step, but it just makes life easier if you like simple clean up and more moist cookies. I know I do.)

6) Drop the cookies onto the sheet in whatever configuration you'd like. They tend to not melt, as they have no butter in them, so just account for a bit of gravity, and you'll be fine.

7) Bake for 10-15 minutes, but you want to err on the side of over-baked. This are a cake-style cookie, so gooey insides just tend to be gross instead of brownie-awesome.

8) Let the cookies rest for 5 minutes on the sheet, then move to a cooling rack. Or, you know, eat them.

*If you need to prepare the squash ahead of time because you don't have any leftovers (and I certainly won't judge you for buying squash for these cookies.) then here's your how to:

Bonus Baked Squash Recipe:

-If you're making your life easier and buying pre-cubed squash, then one pound of cubed butternut squash makes one cup of mashed squash goo.

-If you've decided to go whole hog and buy a whole squash, then cut it in half (be careful!) and scoop out the stringy, seedy ick in the middle (though you can save the seeds and roast and eat them!).

1) Cube your squash (or open the container), and put it in a casserole style baking dish. 2)Brush/spray/drizzle olive oil over the pieces, and sprinkle with approx 4 tablespoons of either brown or maple sugar.

3) Put the dish in a 375 degree farenheit oven until all your pieces are baked-potato squishy when you stick a fork into them. Start checking after an hour. It feels like it takes forever.

4) While your mess is still hot and squishy, put in a bowl and mash, like potatoes. It will be a stringy, awkward looking mess when you're done, but that's what it's supposed to look like, I promise.

5) LET THIS COOL TO AT LEAST ROOM TEMPERATURE BEFORE USING IN THE ABOVE RECIPE! Otherwise you'll end up cooking your egg before you cook everything else, and that's no good.