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My dear readers, I’d like to introduce you to the Great Pumpkin Experiment of 2007. This all started a few weeks ago when Aaron found a cookbook at the store. Little did I know, Aaron is quite the fan of pumpkin confections, and this book was certainly full of recipes for them. With the help of Todd , we selected the appropriately named recipe for Great Pumpkin Cookies to launch the experiment. With our (mostly organic) ingredients purchased, and Aaron manning the camera, we set took the plunge.

Of course, a project of this magnitude can’t go anywhere without coffee. Or tea, if that’s your choice.

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Way to look excited there, Todd. We’re all properly beveraged, so it’s time to start measuring ingredients. And we start with the most important of all–that which forms the base of so many a tasty treat:

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Now that we have that out of the way, it’s time to add some texture. This recipe calls for oatmeal but our lovely model this evening insisted on purchasing some industrial-grade roughage instead. Let’s hope it works.

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I can already feel my colon preparing for the fibrous onslaught. (And Todd looks pretty darned happy about it, too.) Top that off with the rest of the dry ingredients, namely the baking soda, cinnamon, and salt.

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Moving on to more important matters: sugar, sugar, and sugar. And yes, that’s a $3 bag of sugar. Whatever.

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Of course, with all that sugar, we’re also going to need some buttery goodness…

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And all together. And mix.

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And gay mix.

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Great. Well, that’s looking to be about mixed, I think. On to the star of our series.

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Um, yeah, Todd. I don’t think that’s how you measure out a cup of pumpkin. But it made it in somehow, so we’ll also have to add the rest of the wet ingredients, especially the eggy goodness. And, of course, we mix.

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You’re not bored yet? Great! Let’s add those dry ingredients into the wet! Concentrate, Todd. Mix, Mike. Go team!

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Kids, don’t try this at home.

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There’s always room for nuts (that doesn’t sound right). And raisins. And raisins. And MORE mixing.

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Aren’t we done yet? Better take a tea break, this is hard work!

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200BEATER LICKERS!!!

You can scoop it up, but can you dish it out?

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So the end result of all that?

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Chewy. Moist. Moist and chewy. Not unlike eating the batter, in fact. I think my oven may have been running cold, or the humidity high or both. But they just seem to be a little under-done. Still delicious, mind you, and definitely repeatable.

Recipe (PDF|MacGourmet)