Pumpkin Chocolate Chip Cookies
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.
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.
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.
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.
Nutrition
Calories: 411kcalCarbohydrates: 57gProtein: 5gFat: 18gSaturated Fat: 11gPolyunsaturated Fat: 1gMonounsaturated Fat: 5gTrans Fat: 0.5gCholesterol: 63mgSodium: 295mgPotassium: 261mgFiber: 3gSugar: 30gVitamin A: 5922IUVitamin C: 2mgCalcium: 64mgIron: 3mg