One-Skillet Gooey Pumpkin Cookie Cake

Note: The first time I made this cookie cake, I mixed in 1/2 cup of chopped pecans that I’d toasted (on a sheet pan at 350 degrees F for about 6 minutes or until fragrant, stirring a couple of times). The second time I made it, I mixed in a toasted pecan streusel — heavenly! You can find the streusel recipe by clicking on the related blog link. These extra mix-ins will add a bowl and a sheet pan to your clean-up, but I highly recommend them.

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F. In a 10- or 12-inch cast iron skillet over medium heat, melt the butter. Stir in the vegetable oil, sugars, and vanilla and remove from heat. Let this mixture cool until the pan is no longer hot (about 5 minutes) so you won’t scramble your eggs.

Add both eggs to the cooled butter mixture, whisking them well to combine. Whisk in the pumpkin. Set aside.

In a separate bowl, whisk together the flour, salt, baking soda, baking powder, cinnamon, nutmeg, ginger, and allspice. (Note: it’s kind of lame to use another bowl for this, and you should be able to just dump all your dry ingredients on top of the creamed ingredients and whisk them in well, but I was too chicken to try. So I guess this is technically “One-Skillet, One-Bowl” cake if you do it my way. If you just dump them in, please let me know how it goes!) Either way, add the dry ingredients into the wet and stir to combine.

Stir in the toasted pecans or streusel if you’re using them. Place dollops of dulce de leche or caramel candies around the surface of the batter.

Bake your skillet cookie in the preheated oven for 15-25* minutes, or until the edges are getting golden and the center is still soft (a toothpick inserted into the center should come out with some moist crumbs, but no liquid batter).

Eat immediately (preferably straight out of the skillet!) with heaps of vanilla ice cream (or a fun caramel flavor ice cream).

*Depending on your skillet, this cooking time can really vary. I’d start checking at 15 minutes and then check every couple of minutes after that with toothpicks. Make sure to look for moist crumbs, not a clean toothpick. If you overbake, it might be dry!