These soft, cakey Pumpkin Chocolate Chip Cookies are my favorite fall treat, packed with real pumpkin, warm pumpkin spice, melty chocolate chips, and toasty pecans in every bite. They come together in one bowl plus a quick whisk of dry ingredients, and each batch bakes in about 10 minutes.
In this Article:
This is my go-to easy pumpkin dessert, and I make it every single year as soon as the first cans of pumpkin show up at the store. The pumpkin keeps the cookies moist and fluffy, almost like little pumpkin cakes, while the chocolate and pecans add richness and crunch. One batch makes about 2 ½ dozen big cookies, so there's plenty for sharing, lunchboxes, and the cookie jar.
Key Ingredients & Substitutions
- Pumpkin puree. Use a 15-ounce can of plain pumpkin puree, like Libby's 100% Pure Pumpkin, where pumpkin is the only ingredient on the label. Don't swap in pumpkin pie filling; it's runnier and already sweetened and spiced, so the cookies will spread and taste too sweet. Homemade puree works too, but drain it in a fine-mesh strainer first if it looks watery so it matches the thickness of canned.
- Butter. Unsalted butter, softened to room temperature, lets you control the salt. If you only have salted butter, cut the added salt down to a pinch.
- Granulated and brown sugar. The mix of white and brown sugar gives the cookies sweetness plus a little caramel depth. Light or dark brown sugar both work; dark brown adds a slightly deeper molasses flavor.
- Eggs. Two large eggs bind the dough. Let them sit out with the butter so everything blends smoothly.
- All-purpose flour. Spoon the flour into your measuring cup and level it off rather than scooping straight from the bag, which packs in extra flour and makes dry cookies. A 1:1 gluten-free baking flour blend can be swapped in cup for cup.
- Cinnamon and pumpkin pie spice. Together they give that classic fall flavor. No pumpkin pie spice on hand? Use 1 teaspoon cinnamon, ¼ teaspoon ground ginger, ⅛ teaspoon nutmeg, and a pinch of cloves or allspice in its place.
- Baking powder and baking soda. Both leaveners work together to give these cookies their soft, puffy, cake-like texture. Make sure they're fresh, since old leaveners lead to flat, dense cookies.
- Chocolate chips. Semisweet chips balance the sweet pumpkin dough best, and mini chips spread the chocolate more evenly through each cookie. Milk chocolate, dark chocolate, or white chocolate chips all work.
- Pecans. Chopped pecans add crunch and a buttery, nutty flavor. They're optional, so leave them out for a nut-free batch or swap in chopped walnuts.
Helpful Tips
Don't overmix the dough. Once the flour goes in, mix on low speed just until you no longer see dry streaks. Overmixing develops the gluten in the flour and turns these soft, tender cookies tough and bready.
Decide between puffy or flat cookies. Pumpkin cookie dough doesn't spread much in the oven, so the shape you put on the baking sheet is pretty much the shape you'll get. Leave the dough balls round for thick, cakey cookies, or press each one down with your palm or the bottom of a glass if you'd like flatter, stackable cookies. Because they don't spread, you can fit more on a baking sheet than you'd expect; about 2 inches apart is plenty.
Use a cookie scoop for even baking. A spring-loaded cookie scoop portions the sticky dough quickly and keeps every cookie the same size, so they all finish baking at the same time. Heap the scoop slightly to get roughly 3 tablespoons of dough per cookie.
Watch the cookies closely at the end. They're done when the edges are set and the bottoms are just lightly golden, even if the tops still look soft. Pumpkin cookies go from soft to dry quickly if they stay in too long, and they'll keep setting up as they cool on the pan.
Line your pans and let them cool between batches. Parchment paper keeps the bottoms from over-browning and makes cleanup easy. If you're baking in rounds, let the baking sheet cool before adding the next batch of dough, or the cookies will start melting before they reach the oven.
Variations
- Change up the mix-ins. Swap some or all of the chocolate chips for cinnamon chips, white chocolate chips, butterscotch chips, raisins, or dried cranberries, and trade the pecans for walnuts. Keep the total amount of mix-ins about the same.
- Pumpkin oatmeal chocolate chip cookies. Replace 1 cup of the flour with 1 ½ cups of old-fashioned rolled oats for a heartier, chewier cookie.
- Frosted pumpkin cookies. Spread the cooled cookies with a simple cream cheese frosting or a drizzle of maple glaze made from powdered sugar, maple syrup, and a splash of milk.
- Sandwich cookies. Flatten the dough balls before baking, then sandwich two cooled cookies around a spoonful of pumpkin cream cheese filling for a treat that tastes like a whoopie pie.
- Cookie bars. Spread the dough into a greased 9x13-inch pan and bake at 350°F for about 25 to 30 minutes, until a toothpick in the center comes out clean. Cool completely and cut into squares.
Serving Ideas
These cookies are perfect with a cold glass of milk, a hot cup of coffee, or a mug of mulled crockpot apple cider on a chilly afternoon. They're sturdy enough to pack in lunchboxes and travel well to bake sales, school parties, and fall potlucks.
For an easy dessert, warm a cookie for a few seconds in the microwave and top it with a scoop of no-churn vanilla bean ice cream, or sandwich the ice cream between two cookies. They also make a nice addition to a Thanksgiving or Halloween dessert table alongside a pumpkin pie or a batch of pecan and chocolate chip brownies.
Storing & Freezing
Let the cookies cool completely, then store them in an airtight container at room temperature for 3 to 4 days. Because pumpkin cookies are so moist, they can get a little sticky as they sit, so layer them between sheets of parchment or wax paper. After about 4 days they start to dry out, so move any leftovers to the refrigerator, where they'll keep for up to a week.
To freeze baked cookies, arrange the cooled cookies in a single layer on a baking sheet until firm, then transfer them to a freezer bag or airtight container for up to 3 months. Thaw them on the counter for about 30 minutes, or warm them briefly in the microwave. You can also freeze the scooped dough balls the same way and bake them straight from frozen, adding 1 to 2 minutes to the baking time.
More Pumpkin Desserts
If you loved these pumpkin chocolate chip cookies, here are a few more pumpkin treats you might enjoy:
Recipe
Pumpkin Chocolate Chip Cookies
Ingredients
- 1 cup unsalted butter softened to room temperature
- 1 cup granulated sugar
- 1 cup brown sugar firmly packed
- 2 eggs large, room temperature
- 15 ounce pumpkin puree 1 can, not pumpkin pie filling
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- 5 cups all-purpose flour spooned and leveled
- 2 teaspoon cinnamon
- 1 ½ teaspoon pumpkin pie spice
- 1 teaspoon baking powder
- 1 teaspoon baking soda
- ½ teaspoon salt
- 2 cups chocolate chips semisweet, mini or regular
- 1 cup chopped pecans optional
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 375°F (190°C) and line two baking sheets with parchment paper.
- In a large bowl, beat the softened butter with a hand or stand mixer on medium speed until creamy, about 1 minute. Add the granulated sugar and brown sugar and beat until light and fluffy, 2 to 3 minutes.
- Beat in the eggs one at a time, then add the pumpkin puree and vanilla and mix until combined. The mixture may look slightly curdled at this point; that's normal.
- In a separate bowl, whisk together the flour, cinnamon, pumpkin pie spice, baking powder, baking soda, and salt.
- With the mixer on low speed, add the dry ingredients to the pumpkin mixture a little at a time, mixing just until no dry streaks of flour remain. Don't overmix.
- Fold in the chocolate chips and pecans with a spatula.
- Scoop the dough into 2-inch balls (about 3 tablespoons each) and place them about 2 inches apart on the prepared baking sheets. For flatter cookies, press each ball down slightly with your palm or the bottom of a glass; leave them round for thick, cakey cookies.
- Bake for 10 to 12 minutes, until the edges are set and the bottoms are lightly golden. Let the cookies cool on the baking sheet for 5 minutes, then transfer them to a wire rack to cool completely. Repeat with the remaining dough, letting the baking sheets cool between batches.
Video
Nutrition
Nutrition details are an estimate, per serving.
Karen says
I like that there is no butter or shortening in this - if one used an egg substitute it would be almost cholesterol free I would imagine which makes it a plus in my recipe file!
Dani says
There is a whole cup of butter in this