Opening a can of pumpkin puree for the dog’s upset stomach and accidentally eating a spoonful, which immediately triggered an aggressive craving for autumn, is exactly what led to these pumpkin chocolate chip cookies at nine on a Tuesday morning.
Most fall baking makes pumpkin taste like a damp sponge, and choking down muffin-textured lumps masquerading as cookies has happened one too many times out of pure stubbornness. These cookies turn out completely different, staying dense, chewy, and entirely free of that cakey nonsense that ruins so many other pumpkin treats. Here is exactly how I do it.
Why You’ll Love This Recipe
- No eggs required. Forgetting to buy eggs never has to stand between anyone and dessert.
- Melted butter magic. Remembering to soften butter never becomes an issue, saving anyone from the dreaded microwave explosion.
- Actually chewy texture. This solves the eternal problem of a soft pumpkin cookies recipe turning out like tiny wet cakes.
- Quick chill time. Thirty minutes in the fridge is the only real waiting involved.
Tools You’ll Need
Nothing fancy, I promise.
- medium cookie scoop Because trying to roll sticky dough with your bare hands is a sticky nightmare I do not recommend.
- Paper towels. These squeeze the water out of the pumpkin, which sounds strange but stays absolutely mandatory.
- Baking sheets. Heavy-duty ones prevent warping and the dramatic gunshot sound in the oven.
Ingredients
- 1/2 cup unsalted butter – Melted and slightly cooled so you don’t scramble the dough.
- 1/4 cup brown sugar – Packed tight.
- 1/2 cup granulated sugar – Standard white sugar.
- 1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract – Measure with your heart, but a teaspoon is safe.
- 6 Tablespoons pumpkin puree – Blot this with a paper towel first!
- 1 and 1/2 cups all-purpose flour – Spooned and leveled so you don’t end up with hockey pucks.
- 1/4 teaspoon salt – To balance the sweet.
- 1/4 teaspoon baking powder – Check the expiration date, seriously.
- 1/4 teaspoon baking soda – Not the box you keep in the back of the fridge.
- 1 and 1/2 teaspoons ground cinnamon – The backbone of any good autumn bake.
- 1 teaspoon pumpkin pie spice – You can use store-bought or a homemade blend.
- 1/2 cup semi-sweet chocolate chips – Plus a few extra for the tops to make them look pretty.
How To Make Pumpkin Chocolate Chip Cookies
Do not let the paper towel step scare you away, I promise wringing out a vegetable is worth it for these chewy pumpkin cookies with chocolate chips.
- Whisk the wet ingredients: Mix the melted butter, brown sugar, and granulated sugar together until no lumps remain, then whisk in the vanilla and blotted pumpkin. If you forgot to blot the pumpkin, your cookies will be cakey, and I cannot save you from that.
- Combine dry ingredients: Whisk the flour, salt, baking powder, baking soda, cinnamon, and pumpkin pie spice together, then pour the wet into the dry. The dough will be very soft, so do not panic and add more flour.
- Add chocolate: Fold in the semi-sweet chocolate chips, doing your best to combine even if they try to slide out of the buttery dough.
- Chill out: Cover the dough and chill for at least 30 minutes. I once tried to skip this because I was impatient, and they spread into one giant, sad baking sheet puddle.
- Prep and roll: Preheat oven to 350°F (177°C), line two baking sheets, and scoop 1.5 Tablespoons of dough per cookie. Slightly flatten the tops with a spoon, or they will stay as weird little domes.
- Bake: Bake for 11-12 minutes until the edges appear set but the centers look very soft. Press a few extra chocolate chips into the warm tops if you want to impress people.
- Cool completely: Let them cool on the baking sheets for 10 minutes before moving to a wire rack. They actually taste better and chewier on day two, if you have the self-control to wait.
♥ The Misfit Tips!
- Blotting is non-negotiable. I once skipped squeezing the water out of the pumpkin puree because I was lazy. The result was a batch of sad, spongy muffin tops. Use paper towels to soak up that excess moisture until it looks like thick paste.
- Flatten before baking. Because this easy pumpkin chocolate chip cookie recipe uses melted butter and no eggs, the dough balls will barely spread on their own. Give them a gentle squash with a spoon or a measuring cup.
- Patience pays off. I know eating warm cookies is the goal, but these genuinely get chewier and more intensely spiced if you let them sit overnight.
Troubleshooting Guide
Something went sideways? Been there. Here is how to fix it.
- Problem: My cookies are puffy and cakey.
Why it happened: You didn’t blot the pumpkin puree enough, leaving too much water in the dough.
Fix it: You can’t un-cake a baked cookie, but you can call them “cookie-muffins” and try again tomorrow. Squeeze that pumpkin dry next time!
- Problem: The chocolate chips won’t stay in the dough.
Why it happened: Melted butter makes the dough slick, so the chips slide around.
Fix it: Just squish them in with your hands when rolling the balls. It is messy but it works.
- Problem: The cookies didn’t spread at all.
Why it happened: You forgot to flatten the dough balls before they went into the oven.
Fix it: If they are fresh out of the oven and still hot, gently press them flat with the back of a spoon right on the baking sheet.
Perfect Pairings
This fall cookie recipe suits two specific pairings particularly well.
- An oversized sweater on a chilly weeknight pairs perfectly with a warm batch fresh from the oven.
- A terrible reality TV show that requires zero brain power rounds out the whole cozy evening.
How to Store
❤
- Fridge: Up to a week in an airtight container, though they will firm up quite a bit. Bring them back to room temp before eating.
- Freezer: Yes! Baked cookies freeze beautifully for up to 3 months. Thaw on the counter. You can also freeze unbaked dough balls and bake them straight from frozen (just add 1-2 minutes).
- Reheat: A quick 5-10 seconds in the microwave makes the chocolate gooey again, but don’t overdo it or they turn to mush.
- Note: Keep them away from anything strongly flavored in the fridge, because butter absorbs odors and nobody wants an onion-flavored pumpkin cookie.
Pumpkin Chocolate Chip Cookies
These pumpkin chocolate chip cookies prove that a genuinely impressive fall treat can skip both eggs and a stand mixer while still turning out dense and chewy. This easy pumpkin chocolate chip cookie recipe relies on blotted pumpkin and melted butter to avoid the cakey texture that ruins so many other pumpkin cookie attempts. Whether enjoyed warm from the oven or saved overnight for even better flavor, this chewy pumpkin cookies with chocolate chips recipe earns a permanent spot in the fall baking rotation.
Ingredients
Equipment
Method
- 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.