Pumpkin Chocolate Chip Cookies that are soft, thick, chewy (not cakey!), and loaded with Fall flavor! These are simple to make (no mixer required) and a must-try this season!
Pumpkin Chocolate Chip Cookies
These cookies are like a pumpkin-spiced version of my “Worst” Chocolate Chip Cookies. They’re soft, chewy, full of flavor, infused with just the right amount of pumpkin and pumpkin spice.
They’re also Zach’s current obsession. He probably won’t be thrilled I’m sharing this, but he loves pumpkin spice and pumpkin-flavored desserts maybe even more than he loves bacon. Seriously. Since he doesn’t typically have much of a sweet tooth, I do love having him as my designated taste-tester of all things pumpkin during the Fall baking season.
He helped me perfect my pumpkin cheesecake last year and he gave two major thumbs-up to these pumpkin chocolate chip cookies. There’s a lot to love about them. Soft, chewy, buttery, perfectly spiced, I definitely get the attraction. It took a lot of testing to get us here, though.
How to Make the PERFECT Pumpkin Chocolate Chip Cookies
Baking with pumpkin can be a bit of a science. There’s a lot of water in pumpkin, and water in baked goods often results in baked goods that are cakey. This isn’t necessarily a problem if we’re making something like… Pumpkin Cake, but if you’re trying to make a nice, chewy cookie it’s definitely not what you’re looking for.
To help combat this, I highly recommend blotting your pumpkin before using. If you’ve made my Pumpkin Scones before, you’re already familiar with blotting pumpkin puree before baking with it.
This simply means we measure out our pumpkin and then use a paper towel to, well, blot it until most of the water has been absorbed and is removed from the pumpkin. Check out my video below the recipe for a more visual guide to how to do this, but it’s really as simple as folding up several paper towels and then blotting until they no longer come away wet.
Blotting our pumpkin puree is a great first step, but we’re not going to be able to get all of that water out of our pumpkin, nor do you want to spend the time trying. Another way to cut the overall amount of water in the recipe is to use a single egg yolk and leave out the egg white. Egg whites contain a lot of water, so removing the white in this instance helps to yield a more chewy, tender, and less cakey cookie.
Another thing that helps is using melted butter. I am a huge fan of using melted butter in my cookie recipes as it usually yields chewier, buttery-er cookies.
By melting our butter, we skip the step of having to cream together our butter and sugar. Creaming together butter and sugar creates little air pockets that also tend to puff up our cookies and make them more cake-y. Melting our butter avoids this step and keeps the cookies softer and chewier.
Two important things when making a cookie dough that uses melted butter:
- Let the butter cool after melting it, at least until it’s no longer warm to the touch. If your butter is too hot when you add the sugars it can actually melt the sugars. If this happens, your cookie dough is likely to be a runny mess and your cookies will be a mess, too. Unfortunately no amount of chilling will help salvage this.
- Cookie doughs made with melted butter often require chilling. This Pumpkin Chocolate Chip Cookie recipe is no exception. The dough will need to sit in the refrigerator for at least 60 minutes before baking. It’s worth the wait, though, and also gives all of your ingredients time to meld together and helps develop the flavor of these cookies.
Enjoy!
More Pumpkin Recipes You Might Like:
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Pumpkin Chocolate Chip Cookies
Ingredients
- 1 cup unsalted butter melted and cooled
- 1 cup granulated sugar 200g
- 1 cup light or dark brown sugar firmly packed (I like to use a blend of light and dark brown sugar, but either will work) 200g
- 1 large egg yolk room temperature
- 2 teaspoons vanilla extract
- ⅔ cup pumpkin puree 165g, blotted (¹see notes in recipe for instructions on blotting) (weigh before blotting, I find this usually weighs 127g after blotting)
- 3 cups all purpose flour 375g
- ½ teaspoon baking powder
- ½ teaspoon baking soda
- ¾ teaspoon salt
- 1 ½ teaspoon pumpkin pie spice (click the link for instructions to make homemade pumpkin pie spice)
- 1 ½ cups chocolate chips Use your preferred type, I like to use a blend of milk and semisweet chocolate chips (255g)
Recommended Equipment
Instructions
- In a large bowl, combine melted, cooled butter and sugars.
- Add pumpkin, egg yolk, and vanilla extract and stir well.
- In a separate, medium-sized bowl, whisk together flour, baking powder, baking soda, salt, and pumpkin pie spice until well-combined.
- Gradually add dry ingredients to wet, stirring until completely combined.
- Stir in chocolate chips.
- Cover bowl with plastic wrap and chill dough in refrigerator for at least 60 minutes.
- Once cookie dough has chilled, preheat oven to 350F (175C), leave cookie dough in the fridge until oven has fully preheated.
- Scoop dough by 1 ½ Tablespoon-sized scoops and, if desired, roll between your palms to form a smooth round ball. Drop onto parchment paper lined cookie sheet or an ungreased cookie sheet and bake on 350F (175C) for 12-14 minutes.
- Allow cookies to cool on baking sheet before enjoying.
Notes
Nutrition
Lucy says
Another trick is to reduce the pumpkin by cooking it down. it is a pain but it really makes pumpkin cookies less mushy cakey and I love making things with pumpkin. This is an excellent recipe. I reduce an entire can of pumpkin which leaves 3/4 to one cup. the leftover I use in another recipe or for my dogs, as they get pumpkin once or twice a day with meals.
Sam says
I am so glad you enjoyed them so much, Lucy! 🙂
Tracy says
So moist and delicious. I will definitely make again!
Sugar Spun Run says
I am so glad that you loved them, Tracy! Thank you so much for commenting. Enjoy! 🙂
Chloe says
Easily my favorite pumpkin recipe!! I loooove chocolate in everything but my husband doesn’t. I made him a batch and instead of chocolate chips, put 1/2 cup of chopped up craisins and 1/2 cup pumpkin seeds!
Sam says
I am so glad you enjoyed them so much, Chloe! 🙂
Christina says
Would you use the same amount of pumpkin purée if using fresh pumpkin instead of canned?
Sam says
Hi Christina! You would still use the same amount of puree. As you are probably already aware, you need to use the right type of pumpkin and cook it before using it. 🙂
Mesha says
Sam, best soft and moist pumpkin chocolate chip cookies! Thanks for the recipes!
Sam says
I am so glad you enjoyed them so much! 🙂
Aaron says
Made these over the weekend.Not as much of pumpkin flavor as I thought it would have.It has already become a household favorite.
Sophie says
Yum yum yum! I love your pumpkin snickerdoodle recipe so much but my husband is much more of a chewy cookie guy so these were perfect and a big hit with everyone! I personally love both!! And sure will be making them both lots in the future. Thanks for always delivering delicious fool proof recipes Sam! You’re my favourite baking blog!
Sugar Spun Run says
What a sweet comment, thank you so much, Sophie! I am so glad that the Pumpkin Chocolate Chip Cookies were a hit. I hope that you try more of my recipes soon. Thanks for commenting. 🙂
Tom Kirkwood says
Sam: watched your video (great job!) and then tackled these cookies. They were delicious, easy to make and I have had requests for more so I will be making another batch this weekend! Trying the pumpkin cupcakes next week. Thank you! Tom K.
Larry Darnell Akins says
These cookies are so delicious I am going to make them again
Sugar Spun Run says
Thank you so much, Larry! I am so happy that you enjoyed the Pumpkin Chocolate Chip Cookies! 🙂
Annette says
I just made some pumpkin chocolate chip cookies last night that are supposed to be chewy, not cakey. Nope. No pumpkin blotting and the recipe called for 1 egg. Can’t wait to give these a try and see if that is the secret. They look delicious!
Sugar Spun Run says
Thanks, Annette! I hope that the Pumpkin Chocolate Chip Cookies turn out the way you had hoped the others would. I think you’re really going to like these! 🙂