Pumpkin Chocolate Chip Cookies, an easy recipe for soft and chewy pumpkin cookies with chocolate chips and pumpkin spice. A delicious fall treat!
These Pumpkin Chocolate Chip Cookies are soft and chewy and the best pumpkin cookie for fall, or really any time of the year. I’m one of those crazy people who could eat pumpkin year round. If you’re craving pumpkin like me right now, be sure to also check out my copycat Panera Pumpkin Muffins, Pumpkin Sage Sausage Pasta, or Pumpkin Ale Cupcakes.
These Pumpkin Chocolate Chip Cookies do not have a super duper STRONG pumpkin flavor. The pumpkin flavor is definitely in there, but it’s more subtle.
I was going more for texture, so didn’t overload these cookies with pumpkin so that they wouldn’t have a really cakey mushy and overly fluffy texture like some pumpkin cookies.
These cookies are still a tad cakey, but also more soft and chewy. I also added some pumpkin spice for a more “pumpkin” and fall type flavor, but you could definitely substitute your favorite spices instead like cinnamon.
I based this Pumpkin Chocolate Chip Cookie recipe on my BEST Chocolate Chip Cookies with a few changes here and there so hopefully you like them.
How to Make Pumpkin Chocolate Chip Cookies
For best results, I do suggest refrigerating the cookie dough for a little while like 30-45 minutes. You don’t have to, but just keep that in mind before starting.
So to start, mix the dry ingredients together including the all-purpose flour, cornstarch, salt, baking powder, baking soda, and pumpkin pie spice.
Then mix together the wet ingredients in a different bowl, including the granulated sugar, brown sugar, and melted butter until well combined. Mix in the eggs, then vanilla and pumpkin.
Be sure you use canned pumpkin NOT canned pumpkin pie.
Mix the dry ingredients into the wet ingredients until combined. The dough should be fairly soft at this point.
Once you have your dough together, stir in the chocolate chips to the batter. I used mini chocolate chips but you could use your favorite “mix-ins”.
Regular chocolate chips or chopped chocolate would be great as would chopped nuts, toffee chips, or your favorite baking chips.
I personally like the mini chocolate chips so the chocolate is more spread out in the batter and cookies, but that’s just me. haha!
At this point, I like to scoop (trigger ice cream and cookie scoops work great) the cookie batter onto lined baking sheets (either parchment paper or silicone mats).
I used a medium size cookie scoop (about 1 1/2 tablespoons) but you can use any size scoop but be sure to adjust the baking time if needed.
If you want, you can flatten the cookie “balls” with your hand. I think they baked up better when flattened but if you like more cakey and taller cookies you don’t need to flatten the dough.
For best results, refrigerate the cookies for about 30 minutes or until chilled and cool to the touch. You could cover them and refrigerate overnight too if you’d like.
While you’re chilling your cookie dough, preheat your oven.
Be sure your cookies are spread out on a lined baking sheet. They don’t spread a HUGE amount but do spread so be sure you have about 1-2 inches in between.
Bake the cookies for about 14-18 minutes, but rotate the pans after the first 7-8 minutes of baking then continue baking until the cookies are lightly browned around the edges.
Again, if you made the cookies smaller or larger, be sure to adjust the baking time.
Cool the cookies a few minutes on the pan, then remove the cookies from the pan with a spatula and place the cookies on a cooling rack to cool completely.
Or eat the Pumpkin Chocolate Chip Cookies warm out of the oven like me… But don’t tell anyone!
If you LOVE or HATE pumpkin pie spice, you may want to adjust the amount of the spice OR you could substitute cinnamon or your favorite spice or spice mix.
You could also leave the spices out entirely.
This recipe makes about 4 dozen medium sized cookies using a medium size scoop. If you want to use a larger scoop you would probably get about 2 to 2 1/2 dozen pumpkin cookies.
If you want to make even more cookies, use a small scoop for a bite-size cookie. I’d guess you could get 5 to 6 dozen depending on the size of the scoop.
For a fun fall treat, you could make these cookies into ice cream sandwiches with pumpkin ice cream! How fun would that be?!
The best fall treat!
These cookies froze great! You could even freeze the cookie batter and bake the cookies at a later date.
I like to ball up my cookie dough with a scoop, place the dough on lined baking sheets, then flatten each cookie ball. Then place the baking sheet in the freezer and once the dough is frozen, place the cookie balls in a resealable bag.
Freezing the cookie dough in individual balls helps prevent them from sticking to each other.
You can either bake the dough from frozen balls or defrost them in the fridge for a few hours or overnight. You’ll have to adjust the baking time though if baking the dough from frozen.
Check out this quick video to see how easy these Pumpkin Chocolate Chip Cookies are to make…
Pumpkin Chocolate Chip Cookies
Ingredients
- 3 3/4 cups all purpose flour
- 1 Tablespoon cornstarch
- 2 teaspoons pumpkin pie spice
- 1 teaspoon baking powder
- 1 teaspoon baking soda
- 1 teaspoon salt
- 1 1/2 cups granulated sugar
- 1/2 cup brown sugar
- 1 cup unsalted butter (2 sticks) melted and slightly cooled
- 2 large eggs
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- 1/2 cup canned pumpkin (NOT canned pumpkin pie)
- 10 ounces mini chocolate chips
Instructions
- Mix together the flour, cornstarch, pumpkin pie spice, baking powder, baking soda, and salt in a large mixing bowl until well combined.
- In a separate large mixing bowl, beat together the granulated sugar, brown sugar, and melted butter with an electric mixer on medium speed until well combined. Beat in the eggs, vanilla, then pumpkin until well combined.
- Beat the flour mixture into the sugar and butter mixture until combined. Stir in the chocolate chips.
- Scoop the cookie dough out onto a parchment paper or silicone mat lined baking sheet. Flatten the dough slightly with your hand. Refrigerate the dough for about 30 minutes or until dough is chilled.
- Preheat your oven to 325 degrees F.
- Spread cookies out on lined baking sheets. Bake cookies for about 14-18 minutes, rotating pans halfway through baking. Cool cookies slightly on pan, then remove cookies from pan with a spatula and place cookies on wire racks to finish cooling.
Notes
Nutrition:
(Nutrition data is provided when available for informational purposes only and calculated using an online nutritional calculator. For the most accurate information please calculate based on specific ingredients and brands you use as well as any changes you made to the recipe. I am not a certified nutritionist or registered dietician and any nutritional information provided should only be used as a general guideline and estimate.)
Virginia Sadowski says
Do you have to chill them before baking them?
Lisa Huff says
I chilled the dough for about 30 minutes (step 4). You can try not chilling but cookies might come out a bit flatter and slightly different texture.
Karen says
Must try this as sounds and looks so good. Love trying new cooky recipes.
Lisa Huff says
Hope you like them!
Mickie Rodriguez says
Definitely will give this a try as pumpkin season is here????????????????
Taylor Kiser says
No better flavor combination than pumpkin and chocolate! These cookies are so going to be in my life! Yum!
Jamie Young says
YES! It’s pumpkin time and I could not be any more excited! I can’t wait to try this recipe with my kiddos!
Kelly Anthony says
I am so ready for fall baking! Bring on pumpkin EVERYTHING! Especially in chocolate chip cookie form :)
Chris Collins says
Oh yum! I’ve never tried pumpkin and chocolate chip before but after reading this I’ve got to give it a go! Thanks for sharing :)
Cindy Gordon says
I am all about pumpkin everything so this is right up my alley! So tasty!