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These Brown Butter Pumpkin Chocolate Chip Cookies will become a staple part of your fall baking repertoire.
These cookies are simple to make often – which is great because once you have a taste, you’ll be craving these cookies till Christmas!
Taking the time to brown the butter (instead of simply melting it) adds a whole new complexity of flavor. It creates this super crave-worthy kind of caramelized nutty quality that really complements the warm spices in this recipe.
This Brown Butter Pumpkin Chocolate Chip Cookie recipe actually doesn’t even require an electric mixer to make! The hardest part is probably waiting for the butter to brown and cool, and then waiting for the dough to chill for 30 minutes before baking.
In general, the colder any cookie dough is when it enters the oven, the thicker your cookies will be.
The waiting will be SO worth it once you sink your teeth into a thick, chewy, and slightly gooey cookie that tastes like fall heaven.
I’m so thrilled to be teaming up with Bob’s Red Mill to bring you this tasty cookie recipe. Not only does the brand produce high-quality flours, grains, and tons of other go-to baking ingredients, but they’re also employee-owned.
I just love working with brand partners who have a strong spirit of generosity and a sense of family woven into the company culture. Learn more about Bob’s Red Mill here.
This recipe makes about 25 cookies, but you could very easily double it to serve a crowd for a holiday gathering or potluck. I can promise you these cookies won’t last long!
How to Make Brown Butter Pumpkin Chocolate Chip Cookies
Browning the Butter
Follow the recipe directions closely for browning the butter. It’s super simple, just be sure not to walk away from it while it’s cooking on the stove. It quickly goes from browned to burnt. For best results, avoid using a nonstick pan.
Egg Yolk
- Egg yolks have protein and fat, which adds a bit of chewiness and richness to any cookie, cake, or brownie.
- On the other hand, egg whites tend to create a lighter airier, and more cakey texture.
- Since this cookie recipe has pumpkin puree, we’re already adding a significant amount of moisture. In fact, pumpkin puree can sometimes be used as an egg replacer in baking.
- Because of this, I only added 1 egg yolk in this recipe with no whole eggs.
- Too much moisture would make these cakey, and I wanted the texture to be chewy.
Sugar
- I decided to use mostly granulated sugar in these Brown Butter Pumpkin Chocolate Chip Cookies with just a touch of light brown sugar for that butterscotch flavor.
- The granulated sugar promotes spread and gives the cookies a slightly crisp edge.
- Again, this was done to prevent these cookies from becoming too cakey in texture.
- Don’t reduce the sugar in these cookies. Learn about the role sugar plays in baking here (spoiler alert: it’s MUCH more than just sweetening!)
Flour
For this recipe, I love to use Bob’s Red Mill Organic Unbleached White All Purpose Flour, which is a premium baking flour freshly milled from certified organic, hard red wheat. Whenever baking relatively simple recipes (like cookies) it’s really important to me to use high-quality ingredients so the flavor is as amazing as possible. These little details add up to make the difference between good cookies and GREAT cookies!
The Pumpkin
Make sure to use canned pumpkin puree, NOT pumpkin pie filling in these cookies. Check out my Fresh vs. Canned Pumpkin article for side-by-side comparisons between using fresh pumpkin puree, regular canned pumpkin, and organic canned pumpkin.
The Spices
Be sure to use fresh spices, as fresh spices will always impart a lot more flavor! If your spices have been sitting in your pantry for years and no longer have a nice, strong smell, they won’t give your baked goods any flavor.
Chilling the Dough & Storage
- These pumpkin cookies keep for quite a while in an airtight container at room temperature – up to 5 days.
- You’ll notice that the pumpkin spice flavor actually intensifies over time!
- You can also “marinate” the cookie dough by storing it in an airtight container in the fridge for up to 2 days.
- This will also intensify the pumpkin spice flavor and make the cookies thicker and chewier. Give it a try!
- Learn how to freeze cookie dough and bake from frozen in this post here.
More Pumpkin Recipes:
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10
tablespoons
(142 grams) unsalted butter
-
1 1/2
cups
(204 grams) Bob’s Red Mill Organic All Purpose White Flour*
-
1/4
teaspoon
salt
-
1/2
teaspoon
baking soda
-
1
teaspoon
ground cinnamon
-
1/4
teaspoon
ground ginger
-
1/4
teaspoon
nutmeg
-
1/8
teaspoon
cloves
-
3/4
cup
(150 grams) granulated sugar
-
1/4
cup
(50 grams) light brown sugar
-
1
egg yolk
-
1
teaspoon
vanilla extract
-
1/3
cup
(75 grams) pumpkin puree
-
3/4
cup
(128 grams) semisweet chocolate chips
-
Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Line baking sheets with parchment paper.
Brown the butter:
-
In a small saucepan set over medium heat, melt the butter. Swirling the pan occasionally, continue to cook the butter. It should become foamy with audible cracking and popping noises.
-
Once the crackling stops, continue to swirl the pan until the butter develops a nutty aroma and brown bits start to form at the bottom. Once the bits are amber in color, about 2 to 3 minutes after the popping stops, remove from heat and pour into a medium mixing bowl, being sure to scrape all the brown bits into the bowl too. Add the granulated sugar and brown sugar to the hot butter and stir to combine. Let cool.
-
Add the granulated sugar and brown sugar to the hot butter and stir to combine. Let cool.
Make the cookies:
-
In a small bowl, whisk together flour, salt, baking soda, cinnamon, ginger, nutmeg, and cloves.
-
To the butter mixture, add the egg yolk and vanilla, stirring to combine. Stir in pumpkin puree until smooth. Add the flour mixture in 3 batches, mixing well after each addition, until a soft dough forms. Fold in the chocolate chips.
-
Cover and chill the dough in the fridge for 30 minutes, or until firm enough to scoop. You can also portion the dough and refrigerate the dough balls, well covered, for up to 48 hours, which will intensify the flavors.
-
Using a spring-loaded cookie scoop or a spoon, roll the dough into 1 1/2-tablespoon sized balls and place on the prepared baking sheets. Flatten slightly with the palm of your hand. Bake for 10-12 minutes, or until set and edges are lightly browned.
-
Let cool completely. Store at room temperature in an airtight container for up to 5 days. Pumpkin flavor will intensify after a day.
*If using a different brand of all-purpose flour, such as Gold Medal or King Arthur, use 190 grams.
This recipe was originally published in 2018 and updated with additional recipe tips. Photos by Ashley McLaughlin.
Gee, I thought I wrote a review for these cookies, but have had such a crazy day, I may have forgot. Anyway, these are awesome cookies! They turned out so good and as they sit on the counter longer, the pumpkin flavor becomes more noticeable compared to when they were warm out of the oven. Just like you said they would:) I doubled the batch and got 46 cookies and they ranged from 30g to 36g balls of dough prior to cooking them. I found they took 15 min to cook at that size. The only change I made to the recipe was I used all purpose flour because I didn’t have bread flour. Tasted great anyway. Thanks again!
Just made a double batch of these little gems! So amazing! I can’t wait to see how they taste after one day, but so far, once they cooled a bit they were delicious! Great recipe, easy to follow and great detail! Thank so much! I literally just found this recipe and will have to check out what else you have for recipes! Loving this one so far:)
OMG, these were amazing! I followed the recipe exactly and these came out perfectly. I used the King Arthur’s 1:1 gluten-free flour and did the 204 grams. They were perfect. I will be making these again soon. Thank you for a great recipe.
Wow yes! Only thing I would do differently next time is more salt
Really delicious! They were a little too cakey for my preference but the flavors were great. Followed the recipe exactly! 🙂
Well written recipe, easy to follow, results are great! Also I love that the measures for the dry goods is also listed by weight in grams, which is what I used, and the cookies came out perfect.
So happy you enjoyed this recipe, thanks for the comment!
The flaver is good but they came out so thin. Not at all like the picture or chewy as described. I weighed my ingredients so I’m sure why it came out thin. I was very disappointed. But the browned butter and spices do make good flavor, but otherwise I wouldn’t recommend it.
Hi Britt! So sorry to hear your cookies turned out thin! I wonder if your brown butter was still a bit too warm when it was added to the other ingredients. Even with chilling the dough, too warm of butter to start with can unfortunately affect the outcome of your cookies. How long did you chill your dough for?
Thanks I’ll keep that in mind. I’m not sure how long I let the butter cool, it did have some time. I chilled the dough for about an hour. Thank you for the response, I appreciate the level of detail and care in every recipe on this site!
Wow these are good…unusual b/c of their buttery pumpkin spice flavor & they do have a crunchy shell w/a chewy center. Did not add choc chips b/c I find they overpower the other flavors, but I may try adding some small chunks of bittersweet chocolate next time, these are definitely worth making!
So happy you enjoyed this recipe, Kim!
Just baked a batch of these! So delicious and my whole family loved them. Thank you, Tessa, for the amazing recipe, you never disappoint! Definitely making them again!
These cookies were very good and chewy but were spicy with 1 tsp cinnamon in the recipe. Next time I would reduce the cinnamon to 1/2 tsp. I used bread flour instead of AP flour to ensure chewiness and I blotted out some of the water in my pumpkin puree because it had puddles of water in it. This was due to the freezer burn. I had frozen my leftover pumpkin puree.
I made these subbing chocolate chips for white chocolate chips. They were really good; not excessively sweet; texture was nice. I’ve just been asked to bring them to an office party, so I think they went over well. 🙂 Also, I should say I played with the spices a little bit (to taste) and subbed white chocolate, but otherwise I followed the instructions TO THE T and they turned out great.
This is a super delicious cookie. I followed the recipe the first time I made them, and they were very flat. The second time around, I added a quarter cup more flour and half teaspoon more baking soda. Much better. 🙂
Tessa, I just love your cookie recipes and these certainly did not disappoint! The brown butter really turns these into something special. Now I’m just wishing I’d made a double batch because 25 is not enough!
Oh. My. Gosh. TESSA. These are the best pumpkin chocolate chip cookies I’ve ever had!! Absolutely amazing!!!
Made these tonight! Didnt have any clove so left that out! My roommates loved them and cant wait to hear what my co-workers think tomorrow
Response to Mary and Rebecca: I freeze leftover pumpkin in usable sizes, so I can have recipe size amounts available, and not waste anything. Canadian flour: You could replace some of the flour with cake flour or cornstarch. I would try a maybe 1 or 2 Tablespoons per cup for the first go around and experiment til it seemed right.
I want to try this recipe. Will try reducing the fat, but am aware that the cookie will not be quite the same with less fat.
I am new to baking and I have heard (like you said) the colder the cookie dough the thicker the cookies, and obviously you can freeze dough. But when you store dough in the freezer, do you need to let it thaw a little bit before putting in the oven, or is it okay to put the dough in frozen?
About how long does it take the brown butter mixture to cool?
I made these for a party last weekend and everyone loved them. I will definitely make again!
In the midst of making these! I’m sure they’ll be awesome as the other HTH recipes I’ve tried have been great! Lu..
For the cloves – do you grind whole cloves into a powder or is it sold in powder form?
It’s sold in powder form with the other spices!
I was so excited to make these! They looked so deliciously thin and chewy. However, mine turned out thick and cakey, which seems to be my eternal curse as a Canadian baker. I know part of the problem was that my dough was too cold, but I’ve had the same difficulty with many other American cookie recipes that don’t call for any chilling of the dough at all.
Could it the difference between American and Canadian all-purpose flour (9-12% protein and 12-15% protein respectively) be the reason for this? If so, should I reduce the amount of flour in the recipe (and if so, by how much)?
Thanks anyway for the very clear instructions on how to brown butter without scorching it — worked like a charm!
Hi, higher protein flour will in fact make your dough tougher, it’s very important not to overmix because the longer you mix the more you work out the gluten in the flour making it more elastic, this is great for bread as you want this gluten network so the yeast can make those nice bubles in the dough but not so good for cookies and cakes. Try looking for cake flour instead of AP, it normally has a lot less protein than AP or bread flour.
How I wish I could get Canadian flour here in Mexico for my sourdough 😛
Do I have to use Bob’s Red Mill Unbleached All Purpose Flour to enter the baking challenge to qualify for the contest or can I use any all purpose flour?
I am allergic to egg yolks so I only use egg whites in recipes but I love chewy cookies. What can I use instead of the egg yolk to make this cookie chewey?
Thank you!
Could you provide a companion recipe to use up the rest of the pumpkin purée. Kind of hate to open a can, only use part of it and dump the rest.
I’m so excited to try these. The response to my post for Sept challenge was amazing. I shared so many rolls with my family and friends and have a 100 year old friend who asked me to make them again for her church group. I wonder if she’ll change her mind to these cookies instead once I make them and share them. hahaha!
Hello Tessa,
And Happy October! I love the way you lay out your recipes…it’s almost like you’re there with me talking about it. Providing the chemistry as the how to get a chewy, crispy, cakey, thick or thick cookie, as well as all the other helpful information, has been wonderful. ( I was one of those kids that asked ‘why’;) )
I so enjoy your recipes and learning more ways without as much trial and error as in the past to get exactly what I meant for it to be! So, again, thank you….and keep handing the heat girlie;)
Dee
Hi! Is it the same if I use pumpkin spice? And how much should be used?
Thank you!
Hi
Recipes looks awesome. Would you be able to tell me what cloves are? Thanks in advance.