For all my pumpkin fans on the blog, I had to make this decadent Pumpkin Chocolate Chip Cookies recipe. They are soft and cakey, made with pumpkin puree, plenty of brown sugar, and 2 kinds of chocolate. I finish each cookie with a sprinkle of flaky salt for the ultimate treat to enjoy this fall season.
I will be honest, I am not a fan of the pumpkin trend. I did not mind it when a little of it showed up in early October, but now it takes over the shelves at the end of August, and shoot, I am not even done with summer yet. Give me more time, ha! That said, if I am going to make one pumpkin thing, I am going to make it the best I can, and these are dang good. If you want my other side of the coin, my browned-butter chocolate chip cookies are still the ones I love eating the rest of the year.
Pumpkin Chocolate Chip Cookies
Pumpkin chocolate chip cookies are a soft, cake-like drop cookie made with pumpkin puree and warm baking spices. They’re studded with chocolate throughout. The pumpkin acts as a wet ingredient, which is what gives these their tender, cakier texture instead of the chewy, crisp edges you get on a classic chocolate chip cookie.
Here is my honest take on it. With a chocolate chip or sugar cookie, I want chewy with crisp edges, but with pumpkin I go the other way. I do not love the taste of raw pumpkin, and an overly chewy pumpkin cookie plays right into that, so I keep these cakier on purpose. For these cookies, I squeeze as much water as possible from the pumpkin using cheesecloth to concentrate the flavor. I also use mostly brown sugar, which keeps the cookies tender and adds a rich molasses flavor. I also cut my own bittersweet chocolate into chunks, and any little shavings leftover go on top of the cookies before they bake. Simple touch, and it makes them look the part.
The method itself is easy, and below I’ll show you in detail how to make the most decadent pumpkin chocolate chip cookies. First, mix your wet ingredients. Whisk your dry ingredients in a separate bowl, then combine the two, fold in the chocolate, and that is it! I highly recommend you give these a shot the first cool weekend you get, before the pumpkin stuff takes over every shelf in the store. They might be the one pumpkin recipe that wins over the skeptics at your table, myself included. Ha!
Ingredients and Substitutions
Making these Pumpkin Chocolate Chip Cookies couldn’t be easier. And, if you’re a baker like I am, you probably already have most of the ingredients in your pantry. Here is everything I use to make them:
Wet ingredients
- Pumpkin puree – The main flavor and the hydration in this dough, so treat it like a wet ingredient. Canned works great, or make your own with my homemade pumpkin puree.
- Unsalted butter – Melted butter adds fat, flavor, and moisture. I always use unsalted, so I control the salt myself instead of leaving it up to a butter company.
- Brown sugar – The workhorse here. Light brown sugar gives most of the sweetness, and the molasses in it is what makes these cookies so tender.
- Granulated sugar adds some good old-fashioned sweetness in this recipe.
- Egg and egg yolk – The whole egg adds structure and fat. The extra yolk brings a bit more fat and flavor for a richer and softer cookie.
- Vanilla goes so well with pumpkin and, of course, all those sugars and butter. You can even go a little bit heavier than I did if you’d like.
Dry ingredients
- All-purpose flour – The main dry ingredient and the structure of the cookie. Bread flour works too if that is what you have.
- Salt – I use Diamond Crystal kosher salt in the dough to season everything and balance the sweetness. The cookies get finished with a little Maldon after baking.
- Baking powder and baking soda – The two leaveners that lift these into a cakier cookie. If you want a denser, flatter cookie, drop the baking powder and use only the soda.
- Cinnamon is warm and earthy, and an easy match for both the sugar and the pumpkin.
- Pumpkin pie spice – Ginger, allspice, and nutmeg in one jar to round out the spice. Use my homemade pumpkin pie spice if you keep it on hand.
Chocolate
- Semisweet and bittersweet chocolate – I use both because the combination pairs well with pumpkin. Semisweet chips melt into the dough. I cut the bittersweet from a chunk so I get shards and shavings for the tops. Sub milk chocolate for the semisweet if you like it sweeter.
How to Make Pumpkin Chocolate Chip Cookies
Drain the pumpkin: Add the pumpkin puree to a piece of cheesecloth and wring out as much liquid as possible. You should end up right around 1 1/4cups of concentrated puree. No cheesecloth? Blot the puree constantly with paper towels until it stops giving up water.
Mix the wet ingredients: Add the drained pumpkin to a large bowl with the melted butter, brown sugar, granulated sugar, egg, egg yolk, and vanilla. Whisk until fully combined.
Whisk the dry ingredients: In a separate bowl, whisk together the flour, salt, baking powder, baking soda, cinnamon, and pumpkin pie spice until blended.
Combine: Add the wet ingredients to the dry and whisk just until combined. Stop as soon as you no longer see dry flour. Overmixing works the flour into a tougher cookie, and you want these tender.
Fold in the chocolate: Fold in the semisweet chips and the chopped bittersweet chocolate. Set aside any shavings left over from cutting the bittersweet, since those go on top later.
Chill the dough: Cover and chill the dough for 30 minutes. While it rests, preheat the oven to 350°F.
Scoop: Using a 2-ounce scoop, portion the dough onto parchment-lined sheet trays, keeping each scoop loose instead of packing it. Fit 6 to a tray so they have space between them as they bake.
Top and bake: Sprinkle the reserved bittersweet shavings over the tops, then bake at 350°F for 15 to 17 minutes. They are done when the edges are just lightly browned.
Cool and finish: Cool the cookies to room temperature. As they cool, finish the tops with a few grains of Maldon sea salt, which is the perfect hit against all that sweetness.
Chef Tip + Notes
The key technique I use to make the best Pumpkin Chocolate Chip Cookies is getting the excess water out of the pumpkin before anything else. A 15-ounce can holds a surprising amount of liquid, and if it goes into the dough as is, that water steams in the oven, leaving you with pale, gummy, flat cookies that only taste faintly of pumpkin. Squeeze the puree through cheesecloth until you are down to about 1 1/4 cups. This concentrates the pumpkin flavor and helps the dough set up properly.
- Do not overmix once the flour goes in: Whisk only until the dry flour disappears. Extra mixing develops the flour and gives you a tough cookie instead of a tender one.
- Use two chocolates and save the shavings: Semisweet chips melt into the crumb while chopped bittersweet gives you darker pockets, and the shards you sprinkle on top before baking are what make them look bakery-made.
- Adjust the leavening to your texture: Baking powder and baking soda together give you a lifted cakey cookie. For a denser cookie, drop the powder and use the soda alone.
- Finish with flaky salt: A few grains of Maldon over the warm cookies plays the salt against the sweet. Diamond Crystal seasons the dough on the inside; the Maldon is only for the top.
Serving Suggestions
These are a cold-weekend cookie for me, the kind I bake on a Saturday afternoon with a pot of coffee going and football on in the other room. Warm off the tray with a cold glass of milk is hard to beat, and my daughter loves the ones with the most bittersweet shards melting on top. If you want to make an event of it, sandwich 2 around a scoop of my homemade vanilla ice cream and let it soften for a minute before you eat it. They are delicious!
This fall, I am definitely making a batch when I have friends over. Trust me, I have plenty of pumpkin fans who always request my homemade pumpkin bread and my irresistible pumpkin pie, so now these cookies are joining the club too.
Make-Ahead and Storage
Make-Ahead: I make these up to one day ahead for the best freshness, and the flavor is even better once it has had a night to settle.
How to Store: I keep them covered at room temperature for up to 3 days, or covered in the refrigerator for up to 5 days.
How to Reheat: I do not really reheat these, but a cold one gets a 10 second warm up in the microwave if I want that soft, just-baked texture back.
How to Freeze: I freeze them covered for up to 3 months. Thaw them in the refrigerator for a day, or until fully thawed, before serving.
More Cookie and Dessert Recipes
- Peanut butter chocolate chip cookies
- Blondies
- Skillet Brownies
- Homemade Sicilian S Cookies
- Pumpkin Roll Cake
Pumpkin Chocolate Chip Cookies
Ingredients
- 15 ounce can pumpkin puree
- 3/4 cup melted unsalted butter
- 1 cup light brown sugar, packed
- 1/3 cup granulated sugar
- 1 large egg
- 1 egg yolk
- 1 tablespoon vanilla extract
- 2 3/4 cup all-purpose flour
- 1/2 teaspoon salt
- 1 teaspoon baking powder
- 1 teaspoon baking soda
- 2 teaspoons ground cinnamon
- 1 teaspoon pumpkin pie spice mix
- 1 cup semi-sweet chocolate chips
- 2 ounces roughly chopped bittersweet chocolate
Instructions
- Add the pumpkin puree to cheese cloth and ring out as much liquid as possible. You’ll get right around 1 ¼ cup of pumpkin puree after all the liquid is drained off. The other option would be to pat it down with paper towels.
- Next add the pumpkin puree to a large bowl along with the melted butter, brown sugar, sugar, egg, egg yolk, and vanilla extract and whisk everything until combined.
- In a separate bowl whisk together the flour, salt, baking powder, baking soda, cinnamon, and pumpkin pie spice mix, and whisk to combine.
- Next add the wet ingredients to the dry ingredients bowl and whisk together just until combined.
- Fold in the semi sweet chocolate chips and roughly chopped bittersweet chocolate. Be sure to set aside any chocolate shavings when cutting the bittersweet chocolate.
- Cover and chill the dough for 30 minutes. In the meantime, preheat the oven to 350°.
- Next, using a 2 ounce scoop, scoop out the dough and keep it loose, to not pack it in and place them on a sheet tray lined with parchment paper. You’ll be able to fit 6 to a tray.
- Then evenly sprinkle on any of the remaining bitter sweet chocolate shavings and bake in the oven at 350° for 15 to 17 minutes. They should be very lightly browned around the edges.
- Cool to room temperature. I personally like to sprinkle a few grains of maldon seasoning salt over top as they cool.
Pumpkin Chocolate Chip Cookies