Vegan baking has not been my strong suit, but I continue to try. Cookies are usually the easiest baked good to be successful at, so that’s where I’ve concentrated recently.

Mixing a few different fall flavors just seems appealing to me, so I tried pumpkin banana chocolate chip cookies.

This is basically an old chocolate chip cookie recipe with pumpkin and banana in place of egg and then the addition of the typical pumpkin pie spices.

Start off by combining the pumpkin, banana (mashed), sugars, vanilla and vegetable oil. Mix them well until the lumps are mostly gone.

In a separate bowl, mix the flour, spices and baking powder.

Mix the baking soda with the almond milk and stir into the wet mixture.

Mix the flour and spices into the wet mixture and stir until completely combined.

Stir in the chocolate chips until distributed evenly.

Scoop large spoonfuls onto a lightly greased cookie sheet and bake at 350 for 10 to 13 minutes.

These make a very cakey cookie that could be called muffin-tops, but I set out trying to make cookies, so I’m calling these cookies anyway.

To make sure these are totally vegan-friendly, check the chocolate chips. Many brands of semi-sweet chips are made without dairy, but some have milk. Most dark chocolate chips will be vegan and then there are vegan specific brands out there that can be found in places like Whole Foods.

Ingredients:

1 cup canned pumpkin puree

1 very ripe banana

1 cup sugar

1/4 cup brown sugar

1/2 cup vegetable oil

2 cups flour

2 tsp baking powder

1 tsp baking soda

1 tsp almond milk

2 tsp cinnamon

1 tsp nutmeg

1 tsp ground cloves

1 tsp ground ginger

1 tbsp vanilla extract

1 tsp salt

1 bag (12-16 oz) of chocolate chips