Name: Pumpkin Chocolate Chip Cookies
Prep time: 5 min
Cook time: 12 min
Total time: PT-466475H5M55S
Ingredients: 110 grams / 3.8 ounces brown butter, room temperature; 175 grams / 3/4 cup light brown sugar; 1 egg, room temperature; 75 grams / 1/3 cup pumpkin puree; 1 teaspoon pumpkin spice (see note); 200 grams / 1 1/4 cups plain flour; 5 grams / 1 teaspoon baking soda; 1/4 teaspoon sea or kosher salt; 80 grams / 2.8 ounces chocolate, roughly chopped

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The cooling days of fall call for hot coffees over iced, thoughts of pumpkins over plums and Pumpkin Chocolate Chip Cookies is found to have no better time than now to be made! Do you prefer your pumpkin sweet or savory friends? I'd love to know in the comments below!

Around the start of October comes giant pumpkins in stores ready for carving, but really it’s the little ones that people put on mantels for decoration that appear a sometime in September and begin to suggest to your subconscious to your that Pumpkin spic lattes are now available and plain old chocolate chip cookies should include a little pumpkin and spice.

A key to less cakey pumpkin cookies really comes to less flour and super sticky cookie dough that must be refrigerated, but trust me, these are worth it. They’re exactly what you want in a pumpkin spiced cookie.

Why you’ll love these

They’re not cakey

Pumpkin chocolate chip cookies are often cakey and the key here is to not add much flour or bake straight out of the fridge, they’ll need 10 minutes at room temperature.

Brown butter and pumpkin spice

Okay so brown butter is in these cookies (plain old works well too) and the addition of spices adds a perfect warm fall flavor to these.

Chocolate puddles

Puddles of chocolate, whether with chocolate chips or chunks makes makes these cookies everything you want in a fall cookie.

Ingredients and substitutions for Pumpkin Chocolate Chip Cookies

Butter: Unsalted butter is used for the cookie, but if all you have on hand is salted, that works as a fine substitute, just leave out any salt suggested in the recipe. 136 grams / 4.8 ounces of plain unsalted butter will give you 110 grams / 3.9 ounces of browned butter.
Sugars: The use of light brown sugar compliments the pumpkin and adds a depth of flavor. You could substitute with a mix of light and dark brown sugar. Completely substituting with superfine or caster sugar would only add sweetness so it’s not recommended to do this.
Eggs: The egg binds and adds structure to our cookies resulting in that soft interior that compliments the sugar and butter. The size of eggs differs greatly and most in my house are large and we don’t want an egg in these cookies to add too much moisture, but rather bind our ingredients together, still in it’s shell weight 60 grams / 2.11 ounces.
Flour: Plain or all purpose flour is best for a nice light cookie crumb.
Baking powder: This helps our cookies rise so they are not stodgy.
Pumpkin spice mix: The layers of spices in our mix helps to compliment the pumpkin in our cookies. To create pumpkin spice mix to your cookies, combine ½ teaspoon ground cinnamon, ¼ teaspoon ground nutmeg, ⅛ teaspoon ground ginger and ⅛ teaspoon ground cloves.
Chocolate: 56% dark chocolate block was used here because it is less sweet and higher quality than baking chocolate and controls the level of sweetness in the cookies better.

How to prepare Pumpkin Chocolate Chip Cookies

Cream it: Cream the butter and sugar until pale and fluffy.
Add an egg: Add the egg and combine until smooth.
Pumpkin time: Add the pumpkin and pumpkin spice and beat until just combined.
Dry time: Add in the dry ingredients and beat until just combined.
Choc chunks: Toss those in and fold through until combined.
Scoop scoop: Take ice cream scoopfuls of the dough and place on a tray, continuing with the remaining dough and leaving ½ inch between each.
Fridge it: Place in the fridge for at least 1 hour or overnight.
Roll and flatten: Roll one into a ball from the scoopfuls and flatten.
Bake: Bake until golden on the edges.
Cool: Allow to cool on the tray before transferring to a cooling tray.
Serve: Serve a soft pumpkin chocolate chip cookie with your favorite hot beverage. Enjoy!

Tips for the best Pumpkin Chocolate Chip Cookies

Scoop used here: The scoop used in the video is 1.97 inches / 5 centimeters.

Cookie dough at room temperature: The cookies need a little time outside the fridge to warm ever so slightly so as not to become cakey in the center so the optimal room temperature is between 15C-20C or 59F-68F for approximately 10 minutes. If room temperature is warmer where you are, it’s recommended to simply shorten the length of time at room temperature to avoid complete puddles of cookies at baking time.

Chocolate puddles on your cookies: An option to ensure you have chocolate puddles on the top of your cookies is to set aside 20 grams / 0.70 ounces or a quarter of the chocolate chunks and pressing into your cookie dough prior to rolling. Once baked, simply stir the chocolate with a butter knife to break the topping so the melty filling is exposed.

More chocolate chip cookies you’ll enjoy

White Chocolate Mocha Cookies

Chocolate Chip Coconut Cookies

Tahini Caramel Chunk Cookies

How to make:

Place the brown butter and sugar into a bowl and beat until pale and fluffy, approximately 3 minutes with a hand beater.

Add in the egg and beat until well combined and smooth, approximately 1 minute.

Add in the pumpkin puree and pumpkin spice (spice is optional) and beat until just combined and the color is the faintest orange hue.

Toss in the flour, baking soda and pinch of salt and beat on the lowest setting until just combined and no dry portions remain in your bowl.

Toss in the ⅔'s of the chocolate chunks and fold through until well combined.

With an ice cream scoop, take portions of the dough (you’ll want to handle this as little as possible due to how sticky this dough will be) and place onto a lined baking tray.

Scoop all the cookie dough onto the tray with ½ inch space between each and refrigerate for at least 1 hour or preferably overnight.

Preheat the oven to 200C/400F and line a baking tray with greaseproof paper and remove the cookies from the fridge to sit at room temperature for 10 minutes (see note).

Press one ball into the remaining ⅓ of the chocolate chunks and roll and flatten, placing each on the greaseproof paper, approximately 1 ½ inches apart.

Bake until golden on the edges approximately 12 minutes.

Remove and allow to cool on the tray before placing on a cooling rack.

Serve alongside your favorite hot beverage.

Enjoy!