I’m confident you’ll love these pumpkin chocolate chip cookies! I worked hard to create a chewy pumpkin cookie that’s not cakey like most pumpkin cookie recipes. Omitting the egg, using melted butter, and blotting the pumpkin guarantee these pumpkin cookies taste like my favorite chewy chocolate chip cookies with brilliant pumpkin spice flavor.
Sometimes you just need a chocolate chip cookie, especially when pumpkin spice season—I mean fall—takes over.
Out of all my pumpkin recipes, you’re looking at one of the best. Right up there with my great pumpkin pie recipe! Originally published in 2013, these pumpkin chocolate chip cookies are a constant hit with bakers around the world. I bake at least 3-4 batches each fall season and they ALWAYS put me in a fall state of mind. Sometimes I even replace the chocolate chips with chopped pecans or roll them in cinnamon sugar to yield pumpkin snickerdoodles!
These Pumpkin Chocolate Chip Cookies Are:
- Soft-baked, but not as soft as a piece of cake
- Chewy
- Egg-free
- Buttery
- Perfectly spiced and you can use homemade pumpkin pie spice!
- Relatively quick—only 30 minutes to chill the dough
Pumpkin Chocolate Chip Cookies Video
This is Not a Cakey Pumpkin Cookie
I have appreciation for all pumpkin cookies, but I definitely prefer chewy pumpkin cookies over cakey pumpkin cookies. My regular pumpkin cookies taste like soft & cakey muffin tops. They’re obviously good, but sometimes you crave a pumpkin cookie that has the same dense & chewy texture as a regular chocolate chip cookie.
I call this the “cakey pumpkin cookie problem.” When I began recipe testing today’s cookies, I was desperate to find a solution that would help guarantee a denser texture. And guess what? I finally solved it. You see, pumpkin is soft, mushy, and full of moisture. In fact, pumpkin puree is approximately 90% water by mass. (That’s what helps make pumpkin bread so moist!) But for cookies, excessive moisture = cakey texture. Think about cake batter or muffin batter—it’s a lot more wet than cookie dough, right? We actually want cookie dough to be sturdier and drier to produce denser, chewier cookies.
My 4 Tricks to Apply in this Recipe
- Blot the Pumpkin: This first trick is actually optional, but I find it remarkably useful when I make pumpkin oatmeal cookies. Using a paper towel, blot out some of the pumpkin’s moisture so all that’s left is the flavor. See photo below. Use the blotted pumpkin in the cookie dough.
- Melted Butter: As you know from chewy chocolate chip cookies, melted butter makes cookies ultra chewy. Instead of creaming butter and sugars together, start with melted butter and whisk in the sugars. You don’t need a mixer!
- Skip the Eggs: What is the purpose of eggs in a cookie recipe? They bind ingredients together, tenderize the texture, and leave behind moisture. After some experimenting, I cut out the egg completely. Pumpkin replaces the eggs. If you’re looking for other egg-free baking recipes, give my shortbread cookies a try.
- Give it Time: Let the cookies cool on a cooling rack for awhile. They’re delicious warm from the oven, but I find both their chewiness and flavor amplify over time. Sometimes I even leave them uncovered on the cooling rack overnight. The next day, they’re chewier and more flavorful. That being said, this is an awesome make-ahead dessert recipe!
Chill for Only 30 Minutes
This pumpkin chocolate chip cookie dough is a little sticky. Chill for at least 30 minutes before rolling into balls and baking. The cookies only spread slightly in the oven, so slightly flatten out the cookie dough balls with the back of a spoon before baking.
Chewy Pumpkin Chocolate Chip Cookies
- Prep Time: 45 minutes
- Cook Time: 10 minutes
- Total Time: 1 hour, 10 minutes
- Yield: 18 cookies
- Category: Cookies
- Method: Baking
- Cuisine: American
Description
I’m confident you’ll love these pumpkin chocolate chip cookies! Omitting the egg, using melted butter, and blotting the pumpkin guarantee a chewier texture.
Ingredients
- 1/2 cup (8 Tbsp; 113g) unsalted butter, melted & slightly cooled
- 1/4 cup (50g) packed light or dark brown sugar
- 1/2 cup (100g) granulated sugar
- 1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
- 6 Tablespoons (86g) pumpkin puree (see note)*
- 1 and 1/2 cups (188g) all-purpose flour (spooned & leveled)
- 1/4 teaspoon salt
- 1/4 teaspoon baking powder
- 1/4 teaspoon baking soda
- 1 and 1/2 teaspoons ground cinnamon
- 1 teaspoon store-bought or homemade pumpkin pie spice
- 1/2 cup (90g) semi-sweet chocolate chips, plus a few extra for the tops
Instructions
- Whisk the melted butter, brown sugar, and granulated sugar together in a medium bowl until no brown sugar lumps remain. Whisk in the vanilla and blotted pumpkin until smooth. Set aside.
- Whisk the flour, salt, baking powder, baking soda, cinnamon, and pumpkin pie spice together in a large bowl. Pour the wet ingredients into the dry ingredients and mix together with a large spoon or rubber spatula. The dough will be very soft. Fold in 1/2 cup semi-sweet chocolate chips. The chips may not stick to the dough because of the melted butter, but do your best to combine.
- Cover the dough and chill for 30 minutes or up to 3 days. Chilling the dough is imperative for this recipe.
- Remove dough from the refrigerator. Preheat oven to 350°F (177°C). Line two large baking sheets with parchment paper or silicone baking mats.
- Scoop the dough, about 1.5 Tablespoons of dough per cookie, and roll each into balls. Arrange cookie dough balls 3 inches apart on the prepared baking sheets. Using the back of a spoon or the bottom of a cup/measuring cup, slightly flatten the tops of the dough balls. (Without doing so, the cookies may not spread.)
- Bake for 11-12 minutes or until the edges appear set. The cookies will look very soft in the center. Remove from the oven. If you find that your cookies didn’t spread much at all, flatten them out with the back of a spoon when you take them out of the oven. If desired, press a few chocolate chips into the tops of the warm cookies. This is only for looks.
- Cool cookies on the baking sheets for at least 10 minutes before transferring to a wire rack to cool completely. The longer the cookies cool, the even better they taste! The flavor gets stronger and the texture becomes chewier. I usually let them sit, uncovered, for several hours before serving. Chewiness and pumpkin flavor are even stronger on day 2.
- Cookies stay fresh covered at room temperature for up to 1 week.
Notes
- Make Ahead & Freezing Instructions: You can make the cookie dough and chill it in the refrigerator for up to 3 days. Allow to come to room temperature, then continue with step 4. Baked cookies freeze well up to 3 months. Unbaked cookie dough balls freeze well up to 3 months. Bake frozen cookie dough balls for an extra minute, no need to thaw. Here are my tips for how to freeze cookie dough.
- Special Tools (affiliate links): Glass Mixing Bowls | Whisk | Rubber Spatula | Baking Sheets | Silicone Baking Mats or Parchment Paper | Medium Cookie Scoop | Cooling Rack
- Pumpkin: Squeeze as much of the moisture out of the pumpkin puree as you can before adding it to the cookie dough. I simply squeeze the puree with paper towels. See photo in the post for a visual. This will help produce a less cakey cookie. Less moisture is a good thing here! Measure 6 Tablespoons AFTER the pumpkin has been squeezed/blotted. Do not use pumpkin pie filling.
- Pumpkin Pie Spice: You can find pumpkin pie spice in the baking aisle of most grocery stores or make your own homemade pumpkin pie spice. If you don’t have either and want to use individual spices, use 1/4 teaspoon each: ground ginger, ground nutmeg, ground cloves, and ground allspice. This is in addition to the 1 and 1/2 teaspoons of cinnamon—you will still add that.
- Chilled Dough: If you are chilling the pumpkin cookie dough for longer than 30 minutes, the cookie dough will likely have to sit on the counter at room temperature for at least 15 minutes before scooping/rolling because it will be quite cold and solid. The amount of time it needs to sit at room temperature depends on how long the dough has chilled. If I chill my cookie dough for around 24 hours, I let it sit at room temperature for about 30 minutes.
- Bigger Batch: Cookie recipe can easily be doubled by doubling each ingredient. Chill the cookie dough for 45 minutes.
- Be sure to check out my top 5 cookie baking tips AND these are my 10 must-have cookie baking tools.
Amazing!!!!!!!!!!!!
Brought these cookies for a Halloween goodie day and it’s an understatement to say they were a HIT…so many compliments!! It’s true that the pumpkin flavor really intensifies over time. Thanks for another delicious cookie recipe to add to my cookie tool belt (that’s a real thing right? Lol)
Sally I loved these cookies!!! They were so soft & just the right amount of flavors, melted in your mouth. Definitely a keeper!!! Thanks for a another great recipe.
Have you ever tried almond or coconut flour to replace white flour in this recipe?
Hi Lisa! No, I haven’t. Let me know if you try anything.
Omg these are some of the best cookies I’ve ever made! My kids LOVED these too. They smell heavenly and are absolutely the perfect texture. Already planning the next batch!
These cookies were #thebomb.com!! I made these for a potluck at my daughters school and the parents were sizing me up as soon as I opened the container. I took 23 -I had to try 1 for myself -and I thought there would be so much food, no one would really eat them so 23 should be enough. Man was I wrong. We were only there for about a good half an hour and there were 2 left by the time I left. Needless to say we got the last 2 because I had to grab my container. I will be making another batch this weekend. These were some goooooood cookies!
Can you omit the brown sugar if you dont have it on hand and use extra granulated to make up the difference? Used the last of my brown sugar on a pumpkin pie
This recipe turned out amazing!! My roommates said they were the best cookies I’ve ever made, and I have to agree with them! The texture is fantastic—I struggled with bake time (due to the pumpkin and the spices it’s hard to tell when they’re done) but at about 13 minutes and then 30 min of cooling, they came out as soft, squishy, autumnal pillows 🙂 I personally added a little more pumpkin after blotting and more chocolate chips, and I chilled the dough for 18ish hours. Thanks for the amazing recipe, will definitively be making these again!!
This recipe is AMAZING!!! My daughter is an avid Sally follower, and recently shared this recipe with me. My daughter prefers using all the single spices (bottom of recipe); however, I prefer the pumpkin pie spice. We have both used milk/semisweet chocolate, white and butterscotch chips. My favorite are the white chips (so creamy) and butterscotch chips (adds such an Autumn twist); and my daughter likes semisweet chocolate chips and butterscotch chips. Thank you, Sally!!!
Love these cookies! Thanks for the great recipe!
How much water do I blow out of the pumpkin? I Trader Joe’s Cannes pumpkin and I just kept blotting until it was really concentrated. After mixing everything in, my dough seemed not wet and much like a regular chocolate chip cookie dough! Did I take out too much water? I guess time will tell as I’m waiting for them to finish chilling before baking.
Thanks!!
Hi Cindy, How did they turn out? If you think they are too dry try blotting your pumpkin a little less next time (It’s possible TJ’s brand isn’t as wet to begin with!).
My cookies turned out quite cakey despite getting a lot of moisture out of the pumpkin (set it in a paper towel lined colander to drain for a while and then squeezed more out) but they were still delicious and are beautiful cookies, too!
Just delicious. I just made these for the first time tonight and I’m debating making another batch tomorrow. My husband and I ate more than our share. This will be one in the books for us. Thank you for sharing!
Excellent! Exactly what I wanted … a pumpkin cookie that had the texture of cookie and not a flat muffin. Thanks for sharing.
Made these today and they are so good! I shared the first batch with my neighbor (who loved them) and made a second batch where I added in 1/2 cup of chopped pecans and both batches were so so yummy! I did prefer the pecan batch just because it cut the sweetness a little bit but either way this recipe is a winner!
I am 12 years old. I first baked two pie pumpkins and made two pies. With the leftover puree I made these cookies. I made 38 cookies by using a cookie dough scooper. They are eazy to make and delicious.
Can’t say enough good things about these cookies. I don’t usually love pumpkin cookies, but my daughter does and we both love these! Great texture. Thanks Sally!!
These were really great. I have made so many pumpkin cookies in the past, and while all were moist, they really were more like muffin tops than cookies. This does make a pretty small batch, so in the future, I would only double it. Thank you!!
These are perfect! I baked a dozen and froze the rest of the cookie dough for easy to bake future use. I’m obsessed with freezing the dough because of your tips. It’s great because you can bake a variety with not much effort. Because of the huge can of pumpkin, I also made the baked doughnuts- another tasty treat!
The Cinnamon flavor in them is really stealing my heart! All the flavors are so subtle but work so well together! I’m excited to try them again tonight to see how the pumpkin flavor evolved as you say!
This was the third pumpkin chocolate chip cookie recipe I tried, and it should have been my first. Sheer perfection and my coworkers loved them as well. Thank you, Sally!
I’ve been making these cookies for years and they’re one of my favorites. Super fast to make and delicious!
I’m planning on making these today. Can I use browned butter instead of plain melted butter?
Yes you can – YUM!
Helllo Sally, if chilling for more than 30 minutes would you recommend to let sit at room temp for 30 minutes like usually in your other recipes? It’s not written in your recipe. Thanks
Hi Eva, yes if it’s a long chill then you can let it sit out until it’s easier to scoop. See recipe note #1.
These are amazing! My husband said they’re as good as my MIL used to make which is great because I’ve tried every single recipe for pumpkin cookies that I could possibly find! Love these and so many of your other recipes too.
Made these this afternoon and they are delicious! I omitted the pumpkin pie spice but kept the cinnamon. And I love that the pumpkin makes me feel like I’m eating something semi-healthy! (Yup,I can rationalize pretty much any dessert, LOL) Thanks for another great recipe, Sally!
made these today! they turned out perfect! had a few fresh out of the oven, but its true the flavour was better hours later. (i skipped the pumpkin spice and just added more cinnamon)
That look AMAZING, here in Georgia it still feel like Sumer
But I mean we are still going swimming which is very fun.
I love everything that included PUMKIN. ❤️❤️
Hi Sally,
Could I press this dough into a 9×9 inch square pan and turn them into cookie bars? If so, what would you recommend for bake time?
Thanks!!
Lara
Absolutely! I’m unsure of the exact bake time, but it should be around 30 minutes at 350F. I would begin checking for doneness at 25 minutes.
I made these last night for Family Sunday Dinner tonight. I love that they are not super sweet. I used 50/50 milk and semi-sweet chocolate chips. The tip to drain the pumpkin was a game changer. Sooo good Sally, thank you!