Tessa's Recipe Rundown
Taste: The warm autumn aromatic spices balance just perfectly with the slightly sweet pumpkin. Toss some chocolate in the mix and you have a totally craveable treat!
Texture: Thanks to all my endless cookie experimenting, I’ve discovered *exactly* how to manipulate a cookie’s texture. These pumpkin cookies are soft yet chewy, with no cakey texture you typically find in pumpkin cookies.
Ease: Super easy, but they do require a 30-minute chill, so it’s a practice in patience.
Pros: Easy, fun, and festive twist on cookies.
Cons: Absolutely none.
Would I make this again? Oh yes, again and again and again.
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Pumpkin Chocolate Chip Cookies are the quintessential fall cookie!
I love baking with pumpkin and fall spices. It always fills me with warm, cozy feelings, as it fills the house with the most delicious aromas.
I also absolutely love chocolate, so it’s no surprise that adding chocolate chips to these delicious spiced cookies was something I simply could not resist.
These cookies are soft but chewy, with no cakiness in sight. No one will be able to stop at just one!
There are a few tricks to getting these cookies chewy without being cakey. Check out the pink tip box below, where I outline the important ingredients, arming you with everything you need to make the perfect fall cookie.
How to Make Pumpkin Chocolate Chip Cookies
Bread Flour
- Bread flour has more protein than all-purpose flour, which allows the dough to form more strands of gluten.
- The end result is a thicker, chewier cookie.
- If you don’t have bread flour, you can use all-purpose – but you won’t get the same chewy bite.
Egg Yolk
- Egg yolks also have protein, which adds a bit of chewiness to a cookie and helps increase spread.
- Since we’re adding pumpkin puree to the dough, we’re already adding a significant amount of moisture.
- In fact, pumpkin puree can be used as an egg replacer in baking.
- Because of this, I only added 1 egg yolk in this recipe, without any whole eggs.
- Too much moisture would make these cakey.
Sugar
More granulated sugar promotes spread, chewiness, and crunch. More brown sugar promotes thicker, softer cookies. So, I decided to use mostly granulated sugar in these Pumpkin Chocolate Chip Cookies with just a touch of light brown sugar for that rich butterscotch flavor. Don’t reduce the sugar – learn why here.
Melted Butter
Instead of creaming the butter and sugar together, this recipe simply calls for stirring melted butter and sugar together. Using melted butter helps the cookies spread more and develop slightly crisp edges. Perfect for when you want a more chewy and crisp cookie, which is what we want here.
The Pumpkin
Make sure to use canned pumpkin puree, NOT pumpkin pie filling in these Pumpkin Chocolate Chip 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
- Since we’re using melted butter, the dough ends up being quite wet and warm.
- It needs to go in the fridge for 30 minutes, or until slightly firmed, before being shaped into balls and baking.
- You can alternatively scoop the dough, and store the dough balls in the fridge, covered, for up to 2 days.
- This will help develop the flavor and yield a thicker, chewier, more flavorful cookie.
Shaping the Cookies
Once the dough is chilled, use a stainless steel spring-loaded cookie scoop to portion the dough into 1.5 to 2 tablespoon-sized balls, and flatten the balls with the palm of your hand. DO NOT SKIP THIS. This will help the cookies spread as they bake, which will make them look and feel more chewy. If you forget, your cookies will be tall and thick and slightly more cakey.
Storage
These Pumpkin Chocolate Chip Cookies keep for quite a while in an airtight container at room temperature – up to 5 days. You’ll notice that the pumpkin and spice flavor intensifies the longer they sit, so you may want to keep that in mind if you plan on serving these to your friends and family.
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Ingredients
- 1 1/2 cups (195 grams) bread flour
- 1/4 teaspoon fine sea salt
- 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
- 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
- 1/4 teaspoon ground ginger
- 1/4 teaspoon nutmeg
- 1/8 teaspoon cloves
- 1 stick (113 grams) unsalted butter, melted and cooled
- 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
- 1 cup (170 grams) semisweet chocolate chips
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Line baking sheets with parchment paper.
- In a small bowl, whisk together flour, salt, baking soda, cinnamon, ginger, nutmeg, and cloves.
- In a large bowl, combine melted butter, granulated sugar, and brown sugar with a rubber spatula. 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 chocolate chips.
- Cover and chill the dough in the fridge for 30 minutes, or until firm enough to scoop. Using a spring-loaded cookie scoop or a spoon, roll the dough into 1.5 to 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.
This post was originally published in 2014 and updated with new photos and metric measurements. Photos by Lauren J. Photography
These look AMAZING! I don’t like cakey pumpkin cookies very much so have been wanting to try these. However, I don’t want to go to the store and was hoping to use pumpkin pie spice instead of all the individual spies. Any suggestion on how much? Thanks!
I would say maybe around 1 1/2 teaspoons of pumpkin pie spice? I’m not 100% sure – I don’t use the stuff unfortunately.
What about altitude adj. Also I am lactose intolerant and just can’t use butter,:( what if I used marj and just didn’t melt it?
I’ve never lived at high altitude but this should be a handy guide: http://www.kingarthurflour.com/recipe/high-altitude-baking.html
I don’t know about the margarine, I’m thinking the cookies would likely not spread as much. I would definitely still melt it to try to replicate the recipe as much as possible.
I don’t usually comment on recipes, but I had to after my coworker told me these cookies are so good I should sell them. Thanks so much for the recipe!
Not sure where I went wrong. I made exactly as you posted, but mine are still more cakey than chewy. They are still SUPER delicious, but for some reason the texture didn’t work out quite right for me.
Pumpkin is BACK!! And your cookies are PERFECT!
What will happen if you substitute margarine for the butter?
I’d avoid that, I haven’t had very good experiences with using melted margarine in cookies. Plus butter always tastes better!
These look so good, I’m going to have to make these, like right now. Pinned!
When you refer to “butter” you mean butter, right? not margarine?
I only use butter!
Can the dough be stored in the fridge between batches and if so for how long? (air tight container)
Please refer to the post, “You can store the dough in the fridge, covered, for up to 2 days.”
new reader here. Just stumbling on your site – your cookies look beautiful. You may have mentioned this in a previous post but wanted to check what brand of chocolate chips you recommend. Also will you get the same consistency if you use fruit, like raisins or cranberries instead of choc. chips?
Welcome! I usually buy Nestle or Ghiradelli – whatever is available/on sale. As for other add-ins, you should be fine to add in whatever you’d like as long as it’s not much bigger than the size of a chocolate chip.
Thank you. These look great. Even though there won’t be a break in the heat in sunny Arizona until October I’ve been craving pumpkin. I can’t wait to try this recipes.
These cookies look so perfect. Perfect shape, chip ratio, and I’m sure taste!!