How would you market pumpkin chocolate chip cookies? Fifth and Sixth graders had a chance to team up and show off their advertising skills when we made chocolate chip pumpkin cookies in December. Students in this class had chosen cooking as a pre-vacation activity. We did plenty of cooking and while the oven baked our fries and cookies, we cooked up some enticing ads for our edible products.

The pumpkin cookies featured the last of our garden pumpkins. They weren’t doing very well in cold storage by the end of December, so I cooked them down in a 350 degree oven. First I cut them in half and removed the seeds. Then I lined a cookie sheet with foil and added 1/2 cup of water. The pumpkin halves, placed upside down, steam in their skins. After about 40 minutes or when tender to the touch, remove pumpkins from the oven. Let them cool a bit and scrape out the pulp. It can easily be mashed and stored in plastic bags in the freezer for future use in any recipe calling for mashed/canned pumpkin. Recipe: Pumpkin Chocolate Chip Cookies