My Pumpkin Chocolate Chip Cookies are carefully crafted to be soft, thick, and chewy (not cakey!). This is a simple and easy recipe made without a mixer! Recipe includes a how-to video.
A Fall-Flavored Chocolate Chip Cookie
These pumpkin chocolate chip cookies are like a pumpkin-spiced version of my worst chocolate chip cookies. Theyโre soft, chewy, full of flavor, and infused with just the right amount of pumpkin and pumpkin spiceโthereโs a lot to love about them! It took a lot of testing to achieve these results though.
Baking with pumpkin can be a bit of a science; pumpkin contains a lot of water, and incorporating water in your baked goods produces cakey results. This isnโt necessarily a problem if weโre making something like pumpkin cake, but if youโre trying to make a chewy cookie, itโs definitely not what youโre looking for.
To compensate, Iโve made a few careful selections with my ingredients, which youโll see below. The end result is perfectly chewy and NOT cakeyโjust how cookies (especially pumpkin cookies!) should be!
What You Need
Several key ingredients come together to make these pumpkin cookies soft and chewy instead of cakey:
- Melted butter. I am a huge fan of using melted butter for chewier, buttery-er cookies. Melted butter also means we avoid the creaming process, which creates air pockets that puff up cookies and make them more cakey. Just make sure to let your butter cool until itโs no longer warm to the touch before adding your sugars!
- Brown sugar. I use a blend of light and dark, but all light brown sugar would work too! I donโt recommend using all dark brown sugar.
- Pumpkin. To reduce the amount of water in our pumpkin, weโre going to blot it. If youโve made my pumpkin scones before, youโre already familiar with this process. To do this, youโll simply measure out your pumpkin and use a paper towel to blot it until most of the water has been removed.
- Egg yolk. Another way to cut the water in this 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.
- Chocolate chips. I like to use a blend of milk and semisweet chips, but you can use whatever you prefer.
SAMโS TIP: If you donโt have enough pumpkin pie spice, make your own! My recipe for homemade pumpkin spice is simple and uses spices you already have on hand.
Remember, this is just an overview of the ingredients I used and why. For the full recipe please scroll down to the bottom of the post!
How to Make Pumpkin Chocolate Chip Cookies
- Combine cooled butter and sugars, then stir in the pumpkin, egg yolk, and vanilla.
- Whisk together the dry ingredients in a separate bowl, then gradually add them to the wet ingredients.
- Stir in the chocolate chips before wrapping the bowl in plastic and chilling for at least an hour.
- Scoop dough onto a lined baking sheet and bake for 14 minutes.
SAMโS TIP: For a pretty finished look, I like to press a few chocolate chips in the tops of my cookies just after removing them from the oven. This is optional, but it does make a difference appearance-wise!
Frequently Asked Questions
Yes! This will obviously make the cookies a bit sweeter, but if thatโs what you like, go for it!
If your butter was too hot when you added the sugars, it may have actually melted 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.
Yes! This dough can be prepared, covered tightly, and chilled up to 3 days in advance. You may also chill and scoop the dough, individually wrap the scoops, and freeze it for up to several months โ just note that the cookies typically take a bit longer to bake from frozen and donโt spread as much this way.
Most of you know that pumpkin isnโt really my thing, but I can assure you the pumpkin lovers in my house love this recipe!
Enjoy!
Letโs bake together! Iโll be walking you through all the steps in my written recipe and video below! If you try this recipe, be sure to tag me on Instagram, and you can also find me on YouTube and Facebook
Pumpkin Chocolate Chip Cookies
Ingredients
- 1 cup unsalted butter melted and cooled
- 1 cup (200 g) granulated sugar
- 1 cup (200 g) light or dark brown sugar firmly packed (I like to use a blend of light and dark brown sugar, but either will work)
- 1 large egg yolk room temperature
- 2 teaspoons vanilla extract
- โ cup (165 g) pumpkin puree blotted (ยนsee notes in recipe for instructions on blotting) (weigh before blotting, I find this usually weighs 127g after blotting)
- 3 cups (375 g) all purpose flour
- ยฝ teaspoon baking powder
- ยฝ teaspoon baking soda
- ยพ teaspoon salt
- 1 ยฝ teaspoon pumpkin pie spice (click the link for instructions to make homemade pumpkin pie spice)
- 1 ยฝ cups (255 g) chocolate chips Use your preferred type, I like to use a blend of milk and semisweet chocolate chips
Recommended Equipment
Instructions
- In a large bowl, combine melted, cooled butter and sugars.1 cup unsalted butter, 1 cup (200 g) granulated sugar, 1 cup (200 g) light or dark brown sugar
- Add pumpkin, egg yolk, and vanilla extract and stir well.1 large egg yolk, โ cup (165 g) pumpkin puree, 2 teaspoons vanilla extract
- In a separate, medium-sized bowl, whisk together flour, baking powder, baking soda, salt, and pumpkin pie spice until well-combined.3 cups (375 g) all purpose flour, ยฝ teaspoon baking powder, ยฝ teaspoon baking soda, ยพ teaspoon salt, 1 ยฝ teaspoon pumpkin pie spice
- Gradually add dry ingredients to wet, stirring until completely combined.
- Stir in chocolate chips.1 ยฝ cups (255 g) 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 ยฝ 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
ยนBlotting Pumpkin
Blotting the pumpkin is an important step that keeps these pumpkin cookies nice and chewy and not cake-y. To blot, simply measure out the pumpkin puree and place in a bowl. Press a folded up paper towel into the pumpkin repeatedly to extract as much moisture as you can. Repeat with more paper towels until they are no longer picking up substantial amounts of liquid. You can see this technique demonstrated in my video.Nutrition
Nutritional information is based on third-party calculations and should be considered an estimate only. Actual nutritional content will vary based upon brands used, measuring methods, cooking method, portion sizes, and more.
Monica
I love all of your recipeโs I make them often , this is one of the best pumpkin cookies Iโve ever had theyโre so soft and tender, I used semi sweet , milk chocolate and white chocolate chips and yummโฆyour cookie recipes will always be a number one go to for me. especially the worst chocolate chip, I stuff them with whole oreos
Sam
Iโm so glad you enjoyed everything so much, Monica! I love the idea of stuffing those chocolate chip cookies with oreos. ๐
Pat Ellis
The combination of pumpkin and chocolate seemed strange at first, but this recipe kept tugging at me. Iโm so glad I gave it a try. The flavors and spices blend beautifully, and the cookies turned out just as advertised. Soft, chewy, and addictive! Another winner from Sam!
Sam
Iโm so glad you enjoyed them so much, Pat! ๐
Jennifer Pope
These came out beautiful and with so much taste. Yum from Sweden! ๐ When I bake, I always check sugar spun ๐
Sam
Thank you so much, Jennifer! Iโm so glad you enjoyed them so much! ๐
Allie
Perfect ๐ Delicious and satisfying. Thank you, Sam!
Sam
Iโm so glad you enjoyed them so much, Allie! ๐
Kirsty
Best cookies Iโve ever eaten ! Here in England you donโt really get pumpkin in baked goods itโs not really a thing but I saw this recipe and thought why not your recipes have never failed me before, so I gave it a try.
They taste SO GOOD.theyโre chewy chocolatey goodness. Iโm now making a bunch more to give out . Iโve got the pumpkin snickdoodles and pumpkin cookies in the fridge at the moment waiting to cook.
Thankyou so much โค๏ธ
Sam
Iโm so glad you enjoyed them so much, Kirsty! ๐
Sarah
Made these for Thanksgiving and they were a total success! I substituted the chocolate chips for white chocolate chips and they tasted amazing! Perfect soft, chewy, and flavourful cookies!
Sam
Iโm so glad everyone enjoyed them so much, Sarah! ๐
Esther
These were so delicious, thick and chewy cookies! I loved them! Thank you for including the weight of the pumpkin puree after blotting because I ended up blotting out too much water and had to add some back in. Lol!
Emily @ Sugar Spun Run
Weโre so happy they were a hit for you, Esther! Enjoy ๐