Chewier! Pumpkin Chocolate Chip Cookies. [2 Ways]
This is like one sixteenth of the mess I’ve had multiple days in the last two weeks.
And you all know how much I love to clean…
Ugh. The bad news is that my total count of pumpkin cookie batches totaled 14, and I am so disgustingly pumpkin-ed out that I could cry.
The good news is that I got a pretty good recipe and an even better GREAT recipe. I’m giving you both because not everyone has access to pumpkin butter… though friends? You should. You really, really should. It’s like eating everything loveable off of a spoon… like puppies and babies and cuddly blankets. Except you don’t eat that stuff because then you would be a freak.
Good thing I like freaks!
When I mentioned I was working on these chewy cookies, some of you suggested cooking down the pumpkin puree. So I did that for about an hour, stirring until my wrist fell off. Three times. And then I got these. Every single time.
#fail
Cakiest (?) cookies ever. I have a feeling that cooking the pumpkin down may work in some instances, but I don’t find it to be a guarantee. I need a guarantee. Every time. I’m impatient, immature and whiny.
Run away. Save yourselves!
This pumpkin batter is super delicious, though the thought of it right now makes me want to hurl. It was like quick sand… I nearly sank down in there and drowned.
But!
Eventually I came out with a cookie like this.
Thank you baby Jesus.
The next three pictures are three different batches of the same recipe. This cookie is made with just a bit of pumpkin puree, lots of pumpkin pie spice, brown sugar and a bit of cornstarch. Judging from the first two pictures you can see I was a little underzealous with my baking time and left these soft and gooey. If you are ill or with child or just wiser than me in general (which would probably include, uh… all of you), bake them a little longer.
Chewy Pumpkin Chocolate Chip Cookies made with Pumpkin Puree
[adapted from the giant rainbow cookies]
makes about 24 cookies
1 stick (1/2 cup) of butter, melted and cooled
1 1/4 cups packed light brown sugar
1/4 cup pumpkin puree
1 large egg + 1 egg yolk
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
1 2/3 cups of all-purpose flour
1/4 cup cornstarch
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/4 teaspoon salt
2 teaspoons pumpkin pie spice
1 cup chocolate chunks + 3/4 cup chocolate chips + 1/2 cup mini chocolate chips
Preheat oven to 325 degrees F.
Mix the flour, salt, cornstarch, pumpkin pie spice and baking soda in a bowl and set aside. In another bowl, mix the melted butter and sugars until they are combined. Add the egg, egg yolk, and vanilla and stir until mixed. Stir in pumpkin puree until smooth. Gradually add flour mixture and mix until a dough forms – it will look crumbly at first, but it will come together. I even used my hands to help at one point. Fold chocolate chips and chunks.
Refrigerate dough for 30 minutes, then roll into golfball-sized balls. Bake for 8-11 minutes, then let cool completely. If you keep these in the fridge for even longer, you may get a more cakier cookie.
You’re still going to get a teeeeeny tiny bit of cakiness, but it is barely detectable. Is that even a word? Is it now.
I also used three different kinds of chocolate (chips, chunks and mini chips) here which basically made my life.
Now these… these cookies below are the ones I want to sleep with at night.
They are thin, crisp, chewy and even a little crunchy on the ends. They are a result of using pumpkin butter (I love both Trader Joe’s and American Spoon) and for those of you who suggested trying pumpkin butter? Marry me. Now.
I know many of you may not find the pumpkin butter cookie to be ideal for the simple fact that not only can it be difficult to find, but it can also be fairly expensive. However… totally worth it! You could also make your own pumpkin butter but really!? I wasn’t even going to attempt that. I’d rather make six consecutive dishes full of broccoli than make one more thing containing pumpkin.
Chewy Pumpkin Chocolate Chip Cookies made with Pumpkin Butter
[adapted from the giant rainbow cookies]
makes about 24-30 cookies
1 1/2 sticks (12 tablespoons) unsalted butter, melted and cooled
1 cup packed brown sugar
1/2 cup granulated sugar
1 large egg + 1 egg yolk
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
1/2 cup pumpkin butter
2 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
3 tablespoons cornstarch
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/4 teaspoon salt
1 tablespoon pumpkin pie spice
1 1/4 cups chocolate chips
Preheat oven to 325 degrees F.
Mix the flour, salt, cornstarch, pumpkin pie spice and baking soda in a bowl and set aside. In another bowl, mix the melted butter and sugars until they are combined. Add the egg, egg yolk, and vanilla and stir until mixed. Stir in pumpkin butter until smooth. Gradually add flour mixture and mix until a dough forms – it will look crumbly at first, but it will come together. I even used my hands to help at one point. Fold chocolate chips and chunks.
Refrigerate dough for 30 minutes, then roll into golfball-sized balls. Bake for 12-15 minutes, or until cookies are crisp and slightly golden on the edges, then let cool completely.
But now that I’m staring at this picture… I sort of want to eat that cookie up there. Crud.
281 Comments on “Chewier! Pumpkin Chocolate Chip Cookies. [2 Ways]”
Dear Jessica,
I made these chewier pumpkin chocolate chip cookies last night using the pumpkin butter recipe. AMAZINGGG!! Thanks for being so awesome!
Yay! So glad you liked them.
OMG Jessica! You have made my day! Last year I made a super ginormous batch of pumpkin butter (way too much for me alone but I thought I’d use it as gifts – you know ‘Hello Fall’ kinda thing……….until I found out that most of my friends/family are not fond of pumpkin butter. OY!). Anywho, I am always looking for a reason to get rid of it (oops, I mean USE it) and these cookies look fantastic. I can’t wait to make them.
Thanks for another great recipe!! =)
Any chance you want to ship some homemade pumpkin butter to Chicago?
As I was laying in bed last night (yup, that’s right…I think about your blog even when I’m about to fall asleep), I came up with a yummy twist that can be added to these already fab cookies. It is a really simple addition of a couple of ingredients but I’m thinking they would be perfect for a Halloween party, for your family, or heck…all for yourself :) I thought of making ice cream sandwiches with these delicious cookies!! Grab a small carton of ice cream (vanilla, pumpkin, choco chip, whichever you want!), slice the carton up into about 3-4 discs, peel the carton paper off of the ice cream, and place one disc of ice cream in between two pumpkin/choco chip cookies. THEN if you want to be real fancy, roll the outside of our ice cream disc in decorative sprinkles :)
wow, love the pictures. All of the batches look so good to me. Very cool combination to add pumpkin with the chocolate chips.
you solved it! i’ve been trying to make non-cakey pumpkin cookies for FOREVER but never thought to use pumpkin butter.
Yep, they are amazing. Somehow they are chewing and crispy and soft. I don’t get it, but I love it! Thank you for helping with my continuing pumpkin obsession this season. Southern Tier Pumpking is my all time favorite beer and I highly recommend it if you have never tried it. Also, they had pumpkin butter at Whole Foods which is really good and only $5.
you found TJ pumpkin butter! I LOVE THAT STUFF. seriously, spoon to jar action there. I havent found it in forever! So now im excited to shop for it :)
oh….and try these cookies :P
Seriously how can you be more awesome! i JUST made this one batch of pumpkin cookie yesterday that are SUPER cakey (HATE) and was about to give up on pumpkin cookies….then i see your recipe! i’ve already went to trader joe’s and bought pumpkin butter. will make this TONIGHT. thanks a lot for sharing!!!!!
I am currently making these cookies (the first recipe with pumpkin puree) and noticed the instructions say “mix the melted butter and sugars until they are combined” but the recipe only has one sugar listed – just wanting to make sure they turn out as they are supposed to!
Oops sorry, just a typo – yep they should be fine!
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I can’t wait to try these!
Fourteen Batches of pumpkin cookies? This is over a long period of time right? What on earth do you do with all those cookies? Love the blog. Would you ever consider a “behind the scenes” photo on your photo shoots? I’m trying to improve my food photographer and greatly enjoy yours. Thanks!
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Made em with white chocolate chips and dried cranberries. Super yummy!! Thanks for the great recipe!
i just made it with homemade pumpkin butter. the result cookie is still kind of cakey. i’m sad. maybe my pumpkin butter is more moist? i don’t know what else could be wrong. i’m making another batch with TJ’s pumpkin butter tomorrow hopefully it’ll be right.
I ran into the same problem (though they were still awesome) — they definitely didn’t settle the way I thought they would. I varied ‘golf ball’ size, but just ended up with smaller, puffed cookies.
I think I might use less flour? Was also wondering if it had anything to do with me using bleached (I used this) vs. unbleached all-purpose flour.
i made the same recipe again with trader joe’s pumpkin butter and it worked! my flour isn’t unbleached either, so i guess it’s not that. maybe try trader joe’s pumpkin butter?? their pumpkin butter is to die for anyway :D
I think it has something to do with the pumpkin butter two. Both versions I tried worked and crisped up. It seems that “homemade” pumpkin butter – whether you make it yourself or it is bought from a farmers market – seems to be yielding a still cakey result. I guess the more processed the pumpkin butter, the better Unfortunately.
Mmmm, looks delicious.Can’t wait to try these.
saw this recipe and couldn’t wait to try them! bought the TJ pumpkin butter but my result came out cakey and lumpy, not thin, crisp on the outside and chewy on the inside… I followed the pumpkin butter recipe, but any suggestions? I’m absolutely going to try again…I do have the other half of my pumpkin butter to use up after all!
I made the pumpkin butter version and they were phenomenal! Mine didn’t crisp up, but that was okay by me. Thanks!
Whole Foods didn’t have pumpkin butter so I made my own. They did come out cakey, but the flavor was so SO good (as I told you on Twitter this morning haha). My new life goal is to make the perfect pumpkin butter…..I feel like it’s going to take me more than 14 batches. But that’s a lot of pumpkin butter + marshmallow fluff sandwiches (which is what I had for lunch today) – and I’m completely okay with that.
yummy! thanks for making so many batches so I don’t have to :)
Yep! You’re amazing! I made a similar recipe to this last year but I got too fed up with making my own pumpkin butter and I can see now why it failed. I cheated on the actual pumpkin butter part. Noted! I will go buy some. Right away.
Hi
Can this dough be chilled overnight.
Sorry I missed this Jackie – yes, I think it will be fine chilled overnight!
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i can’t wait to try both ways! when i made mine the other week, i used pumpkin butter. they turned out really chewy! thanks for all your hard work and dedication–all in the name of cookies. xoxo
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Made these yesterday and my 3 year old daughter helped me so you can imagine what my kitchen looked like! :) These are yummy and I am currently pregnant and I crave pumpkin everything! Thanks for the amazing recipes!
I also made these this past weekend (the ones with the TJ’s pumpkin butter). I could not have eaten more if I tried! Seriously had to give them away or I would have gained 10 lbs in one day! Love your recipes. Have made several!
Oooh, I would go for a ooooey gooey chewy one!!!
I want the cake-like recipe! What did you do differently?
Hello! I made these cookies Saturday and had the willpower to not bake them till Sunday. When I was making the dough the leftover cinnamon sugar (from another recipe) was staring at me… so were the butterscotch chips.. So I threw butterscotch chips in with the dough and topped the cookies with cinnamon sugar! It was like a hybrid of 2 cookies.. I don’t even know what 2 cookies but it was awesome! Thank you!
Best. Cookie. Ever.
I just ate 5 of them.
And… I made them even more terrible.
a.) In the recipe for the first, it says to combine the melted butter with the “sugars”… But the recipe only lists brown sugar. So I read through the 2nd recipe & saw you had both brown and granulated sugar in it… Improvised and added about a 1/4 cup of granulated sugar along with the light brown.
b.) I’m pretty sure I included waaay more chocolate than you did.
c.) I put cream cheese frosting on them.
d.) Also, mine are huge. Like… The recipe only made 10 of them. (After the 4 I polished off… But we’re not telling anyone.)
Again… Sooo good.
How did you make the big, fluffy cookies? (the fourth picture) Is that the first recipe? You mentioned cooking down the pumpkin puree in the post, but not in the recipe. Should I try this or not?
Thanks for the recipes, I am sooo in love with pumpkin right now!
:( I made the second version, and made a special trip to buy pumpkin butter but sadly, they turned out quite cakey. Still yummy, but definitely not a chewy cookie. Oh well…
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Best idea ever for a chocolate chip cookie, absolutely perfect with the fall weather. I’m trolling this site for more tasty ideas.
Was inspired to make these solely because of how many attempts you gave them! I used the pumpkin butter recipe and they are awesome! thank you for a yummy addition to my fall recipe vault:-)
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I have made these 2 nights in a row now and am planning to make another batch over the weekend…that’s how fast they get devoured! SO delish. Forget regular chocolate chip cookies, these are my year round go to now. Pumkpin cookies in July are fine right?!
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i dragged my father to trader joe’s today JUST to get my hands on this so called everything-good-in-a-jar of pumpkin butter so i could make these cookies.
i haven’t made them yet, but i smeared the orange goo on a piece of bread and topped it with chocolate chips and nearly DIED.
it is so good. and these cookies are gonna be fantastique. similar to fantastic, but french and better.
ICAN’TWAITAGH
I made these with a girlfriend yesterday. She’s not a chocolate fan so we substituted raisins. it was delicious. I’d also like to try adding some oatmeal to make it like a pumpkin oatmeal raisin cookie! Love it! Keep the good stuff coming!
Thanks for posting your recipe…made the first one listed..also had a question about the “sugars” but just went with the brown sugar you had listed..they are cakey and gooey on the inside..they smelled sooo good while baking..will make them again…Now will try the 2nd recipe if i can find the pumpkin butter…might flatten them a little…great fall cookies:)
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The dough is chilling in my fridge! I cant wait to try them cooked. The dough itself was amazing. Thanks so much for figuring this out!!
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Made these this weekend…yum! Quick question…I followed your recipe but noticed the directions say to cream the sugars, yet the list only calls for brown sugar. Not supossed to add any white sugar, correct? My batter was more batter-y than dough-y so just thought I’d check. SO good…might not mess with a good thing!
Made the “pumpkin butter cookies” using Trader Joe’s product and they came out very cakey, and didn’t look at all like the pictures. They still tasted good – but it seems like a lot of folks are having the same results. After chilling them and scooping them, they just didn’t flatten out in the oven. Eh? I love the pumpkin butter idea, so maybe I’ll try a different recipe.
I made the pumpkin butter cookies today with the TJ pumpkin butter and used mini chocolate chips- 1 c. They are delicious and have the perfect hint of pumpkin flavor with all of the spice. Like everyone else, they didn’t flatten at all like yours but they are still not a cakey cookie. Very tasty! I made half after fridge for 15 minutes and will make the rest after a few hours in there. Not at all disappointed but I do wish they looked like yours..