Fall baking favourites

It's no secret that I'm obsessed with baking. I have a favourite recipe for every season, holiday, and special event. Fall is one of my absolute favourite times to bake though. It's not too hot to have my oven on for hours, and there's just something so cozy and homey about having fresh baked chocolate chip cookies or banana bread on the counter. Which is why today I'm giving you guys two of my favourite fall recipes, golden Crisco walnut chocolate chip cookies, and triple chocolate pumpkin seed banana bread!

First, the cookies! The recipe for these can be found on the back of any package of golden Criso, but I need to make sure that EVERYONE knows about this amazing chewy, soft, chocolatey marvel. Just make sure to not add 1 cup of baking soda like I did the first time I made it! I was making them for my siblings lunches and I ruined a triple batch because I wasn't paying attention. Oh well, lessons learned, even if I cringe every time I think about it!

Golden Crisco walnut chocolate chip cookies

3/4 cup golden Crisco all-vegetable shortening

1 1/4 cups lightly-packed brown sugar

2 tbsp. milk

1 tbsp. vanilla extract

1 3/4 cups all purpose flour

1 tsp. salt

3/4 tsp. baking soda

1 cup semi-sweet chocolate chips

1 cup coarsely chopped walnuts

Heat oven to 375ºF.

Beat shortening, brown sugar, milk and vanilla in large bowl with mixer on medium speed until well blended. Beat in egg. Combine flour, salt and baking soda. Mix into shortening mixture until just blended. Stir in chocolate chips and nuts.

Drop by rounded measuring tablespoonfuls 3 inches apart onto baking sheet.

Bake 8 to 10 minutes for chewy cookies, or 11 to 13 minutes for crisp cookies. Cool 2 minutes. Remove to wire rack to cool completely.

Next, the banana bread. I happened upon this one on www.twopeasandtheirpod.com while looking for a chocolate banana bread recipe earlier this year. I'd never made chocolate banana bread before, but I'm so happy that I did! I am in love! It's so soft and moist and full of chocolately goodness!

Triple chocolate pumpkin seed banana bread

1 cup all-purpose flour

1/2 cup Dutch process cocoa

1 teaspoon baking soda

1/2 teaspoon salt

3 large brown bananas  (1 1/2 cups mashed)

1/4 cup unsalted butter, melted and slightly cooled

1/4 cup canola, vegetable oil, or melted coconut oil

3/4 cup packed light brown sugar

1 large egg, at room temperature

1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract

3/4 cup semisweet chocolate chips

1/4 cup dark chocolate pumpkin seed Bark Thins, chopped

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1. Heat your oven to 350°F. Grease a 9-by-5-inch loaf pan with nonstick cooking spray and set aside.
2. In a medium bowl, whisk together the flour, cocoa powder, baking soda, and salt. Set aside.
3. In a large bowl, mash the ripe bananas with a fork. Add the melted butter and oil and stir until combined. Stir in the brown sugar, egg, and vanilla extract. Stir until smooth.
4. Stir the dry ingredients into the wet ingredients, don’t overmix.
5. Mix together chocolate chips and chopped Bark Thins. Stir in 3/4 cup of the chocolate chip and Bark Thin mixture.
6. Pour batter into prepared pan. Sprinkle the remaining 1/4 cup of chocolate mix over the top of the bread. Bake for 50-65 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted into the center of the bread comes out mostly clean, you might have some melted chocolate chips on the toothpick and that is fine. You just don’t want a lot of gooey batter. Check at 50 minutes, just to be safe. Oven times vary.
7. Remove the pan from the oven and set on a wire cooling rack. Let the bread cool in the pan for 15 minutes. Run a knife around the edges of the bread and carefully remove from the pan. Let the bread cool on the wire cooling rack until slightly warm. Cut into slices and serve.

You can also use a bundt pan, as I clearly did in the above picture. I find this makes for a prettier finished product.

Note-the bread will keep on the counter, wrapped in plastic wrap, for up to 4 days. This bread also freezes well. To freeze, cool the bread completely and wrap in plastic wrap and aluminum foil. Freeze for up to 1 month. Defrost before slicing.

Also, a personal note - I got this recipe from www.twopeasandtheirpod.com, and they used just a cup of chocolate chips. I'm sure this would be delicious as is, but I find the dark chocolate and chunks of pumpkin seed add a whole new depth of flavour, and the seeds a new texture. Also, if you don't have dark chocolate pumpkin seed Bark Thins, as I don't always, since they only seem to be available in the fall at Costco, you can just use 1/4 cup chopped dark chocolate with a couple tbsp. of chopped pumpkin seeds.

I really hope that you enjoy these recipes as much as I and anyone I force to have some has! Let me know in the comments below if you try either of them, or what your fall favourite is!