Pumpkin Chocolate Chip Cookies
These Pumpkin Chocolate Chip Cookies are super soft, chewy, and filled with chocolate chips. Perfect for pumpkin lovers or fall!
Do you love pumpkin cookies? While I love cakey pumpkin cookies, there’s something that I also really adore about pumpkin spice cookies that are soft and chewy just like a chocolate chip cookie.
These pumpkin cookies are super soft, perfectly chewy, and filled with pumpkin spice flavor. I added chocolate chips to these cookies, but you can leave them out or replace them with something else like white chocolate chips, cinnamon chips, or even chopped nuts.
An added bonus? This cookie dough doesn’t require any chilling! All you have to do is mix up the dough, scoop it into balls, and bake it. It doesn’t get much easier or more delicious than this cookie recipe!
Ingredients for This Recipe
To make these easy pumpkin chocolate chip cookies, you’ll use a lot of staple cookie ingredients along with some pumpkin puree. Let’s break them down:
- Unsalted Butter: As always, I stick with unsalted butter in my cookies so I can control the amount of salt. If you’re using salted butter, you can just reduce the salt to a tiny pinch.
- Sugar: Like most of my other cookie recipes I use a mix of granulated sugar and brown sugar. However, in these cookies, I found that too much brown sugar created a cakier cookie. There’s only 1/4 cup of brown sugar and the rest is granulated sugar.
- Pumpkin Puree: The star ingredient of these cookies! Just make sure to use pumpkin puree and not pumpkin pie filling.
- Egg Yolk: I typically use whole eggs in cookie recipes, but I found that one whole egg along with the pumpkin puree was too much moisture which resulted in a cakier cookie. To combat this, you’ll be using just an egg yolk. You can use the egg white for these candied pecans or even freeze it for later!
- Vanilla Extract: For a little flavor.
- Flour: As with all of my recipes, you’ll want to make sure to spoon your flour into the measuring cup and level it off with the back of a knife. Too much flour = a cakier cookie.
- Baking Soda & Salt: To help the cookies rise a little bit.
- Spices: I use a mix of pumpkin pie spice and some extra ground cinnamon. If you don’t have any pumpkin pie spice, I have a homemade recipe for it here.
- Chocolate Chips: Obviously! You can feel free to leave out the chocolate chips for regular pumpkin cookies or replace them with something else if you like.
How to Make Pumpkin Chocolate Chip Cookies
To make this pumpkin chocolate chip cookie recipe, you’ll start out by creaming together your butter, granulated sugar, and brown sugar until well combined. Then, mix in some pumpkin puree, one egg yolk, and a little vanilla extract.
Once the wet ingredients are mixed together, you’ll whisk together your flour, baking soda, salt, and spices. Then just mix in the dry ingredients until just combined and gently mix or stir in the chocolate chips.
One important thing with these cookies: Once you’ve mixed up the batter and you scoop the cookie dough, you’ll want to slightly flatten the dough before you bake them in the oven. I find that if you leave them round they tend to bake up rounder. So, just slightly press each ball of cookie dough down with your hand before you pop them into the oven.
Once the cookies are baked, just let them cool, and enjoy!
FAQ’s
Can you use pumpkin pie filling in this recipe?
I wouldn’t recommend it for these cookies. Pumpkin pie filling is already sweetened and has spices added to it.
Can you freeze these cookies?
Yes! You can freeze the baked cookies in a freezer bag/container for up to 3 months and thaw to room temperature before serving. You may also freeze the balls of cookie dough for up to 3 months and thaw them overnight in the refrigerator.
My cookies didn’t spread very well, do you know why?
There are a couple of reasons that can cause these cookies not to spread. First, you’ll want to make sure to measure the correct amount of flour. Secondly, make sure to slightly flatten each ball of cookie dough before you bake them.
How long will these pumpkin cookies last?
These cookies will keep well at room temperature for up to 5 days. After that, I recommend freezing them.
Baking Tips
- When measuring your flour, make sure to spoon it into your measuring cup and level it off with the back of a knife.
- Be sure to use pumpkin puree in these soft pumpkin cookies and not pumpkin pie filling. You’ll only need 1/4 cup of puree, but you can use the rest in these baked pumpkin donuts or these pumpkin oatmeal cookies.
- Make sure to slightly flatten each ball of dough before you bake the cookies in the oven. This will help them spread a little as they bake!
More Pumpkin Desserts to Try!
- Pumpkin Bread Pudding
- Pumpkin Bundt Cake
- Soft & Chewy Pumpkin Snickerdoodle Cookies
- Pumpkin Cupcakes with Cream Cheese Frosting
- Pumpkin Roll
Pumpkin Chocolate Chip Cookies
Ingredients
- 1/2 cup (115 grams) unsalted butter , softened
- 1/2 cup (100 grams) granulated sugar
- 1/4 cup (50 grams) light brown sugar , lightly packed
- 1/4 cup (60 grams) pumpkin puree
- 1 large egg yolk , room temperature
- 1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
- 1 and 1/2 cups (190 grams) all-purpose flour (spooned & leveled)
- 1 teaspoon pumpkin pie spice
- 1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
- 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
- 1/4 teaspoon salt
- 3/4 cup (130 grams) semi-sweet chocolate chips
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 350°F (177°C). Line two large baking sheets with parchment paper or silicone baking mats and set aside.
- In the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, or in a large mixing bowl using a handheld mixer, mix the butter, granulated sugar, and brown sugar together until fully combined. Mix in the pumpkin puree, egg yolk, and vanilla extract until well combined, stopping to scrape down the sides of the bowl as needed.
- In a separate bowl, whisk together the flour, pumpkin pie spice, ground cinnamon, baking soda, and salt. Add the dry ingredients to the wet ingredients and mix until just combined. Mix in the chocolate chips on low speed (or fold them into the cookie dough) until fully combined.
- Using a 1.5 tablespoon cookie scoop, scoop balls of the cookie dough onto the prepared baking sheets, making sure to leave a little room between each one. Slightly flatten each ball of cookie dough.
- Bake at 350°F (177°C) for 11-13 minutes or until the tops of the cookies are set. Remove from the oven and cool on the baking sheet for 10 minutes, then transfer to a wire rack to cool completely.
Can I substitute margarine or oil for the butter?
Hi, Rosette! I would suggest sticking with butter if you can. Margarine would probably be okay, but I wouldn’t recommend using oil.
Can you use pumpkin pie filling in these cookies?
I wouldn’t recommend it for these cookies. Pumpkin pie filling is already sweetened and has spices added to it.
My cookie dough turned out very sticky. What can I do to rescue it before baking?
I was trying to make just chocolate chip cookies and all I found in your recipes was pumpkin chocolate chip cookies. So I followed your recipe for those but left out the pumpkin puree and the dough was dry so I added a little pumpkin puree and one egg yolks which made it too sticky. I did refrigerate the dough but it didn’t help. I added some more flour to help with the stickiness and refrigerated it. I need some help I guess. Thanks.
Hi, Pat! I would recommend baking 1-2 cookies and see how they look. If they’re too flat, you can add a little more flour and chill the cookie dough and that should help. If you’re looking for a regular chocolate chip cookie recipe, I have one here. I hope that helps!
Made these today and I can’t stop eating them! They turned out soft, fluffy and delicious ?