These pumpkin chocolate chip cookies are soft, moist, and warmly spiced. Made in 1 bowl and ready in 30 minutes, they're a delicious, easy fall treat!
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These pumpkin chocolate chip cookies are one of the first treats I bake every fall. They’re delicious, with a soft, cakey texture and perfectly spiced pumpkin flavor. And better yet, they’re easy to make. These pumpkin chocolate chip cookies come together in one bowl (without a mixer!) and are ready to eat in under 30 minutes. What’s not to love?
I originally published this recipe without an egg, but after making it again recently, I felt that an egg and some baking powder would actually improve it. Three tests later, and I couldn’t be happier with this updated version. These pumpkin chocolate chip cookies are moist and puffy, like little pumpkin muffin tops. They’re such a fun, bite-size treat to enjoy throughout the fall season. I hope you love them as much as I do!
Pumpkin Chocolate Chip Cookies Ingredients
Here’s what you’ll need to make this pumpkin chocolate chip cookies recipe:
- Pumpkin, of course! Canned pumpkin puree makes the cookies soft and moist and fills them with pumpkin flavor. I’ve tried just about every brand around, and my favorite is Libby’s. It has a smooth, creamy texture without too much excess moisture.
- Brown sugar – I LOVE the molasses flavor of brown sugar in fall baked goods. It also gives these cookies a moister, fudgier texture than white or cane sugar would. Light brown sugar and dark brown sugar both work well here.
- Melted coconut oil or melted butter – For richness.
- Baking powder, baking soda, and an egg – They help the cookies puff up and bake evenly in the oven. I originally published this recipe without the baking powder and egg, but found that readers were often underbaking the cookies, having them end up with dense, chewy centers. The egg and baking powder give them a little more lift and domed tops, perfecting their soft, moist texture.
- All-purpose flour – Spoon and level it to avoid packing too much into your measuring cup.
- Vanilla extract and pumpkin pie spice – For warm, cozy depth of flavor.
- Chocolate chips – Dark chocolate chips are my personal fave, but you do you. Milk chocolate or semi-sweet chocolate chips would work just fine too.
- And sea salt – To make all the flavors pop!
Find the complete recipe with measurements below.
How to Make Pumpkin Chocolate Chip Cookies
This pumpkin chocolate chip cookies recipe couldn’t be simpler! Here’s how it goes:
First, combine the wet ingredients. Place the brown sugar, butter or oil, egg, pumpkin, and vanilla in a large bowl and mix until thoroughly combined.
Next, add the dry ingredients. Sprinkle the pumpkin pie spice, baking powder, baking soda, and salt evenly over the wet mixture and stir to combine.
Add the flour and stir again. Mix until the cookie dough is just combined. Don’t overmix here, or the cookies will be dense.
Then, fold in the chocolate chips. The mixture will be soft, almost more like a batter than a dough.
Finally, bake. Use a 2-tablespoon cookie scoop to drop the dough onto parchment-lined baking sheets. Bake at 350°F until the cookies are puffed and lightly set, 11 to 13 minutes. They will still seem very delicate, but they will set up more as they cool.
Allow the cookies to cool for 10 minutes on the baking sheets before transferring them to wire racks to cool completely. Enjoy!
Recipe Tips
- Let them cool for 10 minutes on the baking sheet. These cookies will be very soft when you take them out of the oven, and they might seem a tad underdone. That’s ok! They’ll continue setting up as they cool. If you leave them on the baking sheet for 10 minutes, the residual heat from the pan will help them set.
- No pumpkin pie spice? No problem. Replace it with 3/4 teaspoon cinnamon, 1/4 teaspoon nutmeg, 1/4 teaspoon ground ginger, and a pinch of ground cloves.
- Change up the mix-ins. We love the chocolate chips in this recipe, but other mix-ins would be great here too! Try swapping out some or all of the chocolate for dried cranberries, chopped walnuts, or pecans.
How to Store and Freeze Pumpkin Chocolate Chip Cookies
Store these pumpkin chocolate chip cookies in an airtight container in the fridge for up to 3 days. (They become very soft and “sweat” at room temperature.)
They also freeze well. Allow them to cool to room temp, then seal them in an airtight container or bag. Store in the freezer for up to 3 months. Let frozen cookies sit at room temperature for around an hour to thaw, or quickly defrost one in the microwave in 20 to 30 seconds. A bonus of the microwave method is that the chocolate chips get amazingly melty and gooey. So good!!
More Favorite Pumpkin Recipes
If you love these pumpkin chocolate chip cookies, try one of these fall pumpkin recipes next:
- Soft Pumpkin Cookies
- Pumpkin Bread
- Pumpkin Chocolate Chip Muffins
- Healthy Pumpkin Muffins
- Easy Pumpkin Cake
Pumpkin Chocolate Chip Cookies
Ingredients
- ¾ cup packed brown sugar
- ½ cup pumpkin puree
- 1 large egg
- ¼ cup melted coconut oil or melted butter
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- 1¼ teaspoons pumpkin pie spice
- ½ teaspoon baking powder
- ½ teaspoon baking soda
- ½ teaspoon sea salt
- 1¼ cups all-purpose flour, spooned and leveled
- ¾ cup chocolate chips
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 350°F and line two large baking sheets with parchment paper.
- In a large bowl, whisk together the brown sugar, pumpkin puree, egg, coconut oil, and vanilla. Evenly sprinkle the pumpkin pie spice, baking powder, baking soda, and salt over the mixture and stir to combine.
- Sprinkle the flour on top and stir to combine. Fold in the chocolate chips. Use a 2-tablespoon cookie scoop to scoop the dough onto the prepared baking sheets.
- Bake for 11 to 13 minutes, or until the cookies are puffed and lightly set. Remove from the oven and let cool on the baking sheets for 10 minutes before transferring to a wire rack to cool completely.
I used a way better recipe a couple of weeks ago. I think they need more butter and likely more pumpkin spice or other spices. The only reason I’m not totally ditching them is the chocolate chips.
I read the reviews after my cookies were half baked in the oven. So I quickly pulled them out and used a fork to gently flatten, as they were not spreading at all. I did use less sugar, but feel like something is missing…not sure what. And, I baked for an additional 8 minutes as they were definitely not baked with recommended time.
They did taste food afterall.
Sorry, I meant that they tasted good afterall.
I doubled the recipe and was disappointed to see they did not spread but stayed exactly in the balls. However, when I tried them they were moist and delicious. I ran out of pumpkin spice so I just used the spices she listed and portioned them myself and wow did the spice pop, but in such a good way. It compliments the pumpkin well and made it feel like the holidays are beginning!
I had the same issues as some others. Cookies never settled/spread. Taste was okay. I could see them being really good with some tweaks.
Just made this recipe and my experience exactly mirrors Catherine’s review from September; the cookies look like mounds of bland, uncooked batter, even 15 minutes in. I used butter and made no alterations, apart from forgoing the pumpkin pie spice powder since I didn’t have any. It feels like there’s something critical missing in this recipe, as I’ve never had this experience before where the end result looks nothing like the photos.
I made them exactly following the recipe and they don’t look anything like the picture. They are thick and did not flatten. The picture looks like a soft chewy cookie which is why I picked it. Mine look like batter chunks out of the oven at 13 min. I watched them at 10 and 12 min and they didn’t look done so I left them in until 13. I think 2 tbsp size is too large, but there’s also something wrong with this recipe and I’m not sure what it is. Disappointed with how they look. They smell good but do not look appetizing.
These tasted good, but like someone else mentioned, mine didn’t spread out and didn’t seem like they were getting done. I took them out of the oven when the cooking time was over, shmooshed them down a little, and baked them a few minutes more. I used Bob’s Red Mill 1-to-1 GF baking flour, so I don’t know if that made a difference. They taste good, but they are a little dry. My batter was ver thick. I’m not sure what I did wrong.
Hi Jan, thanks for your comment! We haven’t tested these with GF flour—that could have been the difference here.
Made these with almond flour instead of regular and used 1/2 cup of brown sugar instead of 3/4, but somehow the predominant flavor of the cookies was baking soda, which was surprising and disappointing. Not sure if the almond flour or reducing the sugar caused that, but I’ll try again with regular flour and am optimistic. I’ll get the great results others did. Thanks for all your great recipes.!
Hi Hanne, I think it’s possible that the altered ingredients could change the flavor – let me know if you give the original version a go! I’d also check that your baking power is aluminum free and fresh, both of those factors could affect it’s taste.
Just made these today and they are so yummy! I was a little leery of using the two tablespoon scoop but since they don’t spread much at all, it worked out great! I was able to get 18 out of my batch. I followed the recipe and was concerned the dough seemed a little dry, but they were great. Definitely making these again, and maybe adding chopped pecans next time, possibly for Thanksgiving dinner! Would you suggest cutting back or eliminating the chocolate chips if I add nuts, or so you think they would be fine? I love how soft they are.❤️.
Hi Vicki, I’m so glad you loved them!
Yum! I needed a vegan, gluten-free dessert to take to a book club meeting and made these with some 1-to-1 GF flour. They were so good and you’d never have guessed they were vegan and GF. My family certainly didn’t when they ate the leftovers. 🙂
Hi Laura, I’m so glad they worked with the 1:1 – what brand did you use?
Easy recipe that can accommodate people with food allergies and sensitivities. Made the coconut oil version. Absolutely delicious!
Delicious!!
Subbed GF flour and they turned out perfectly. Will absolutely make again!
thank you for letting us know the GF flour worked!
Thank you for this recipe. I enjoyed making it with my kids. However, I realized once I promised my kids cookies that I only had all-purpose flour. I used cake flour instead and noticed my cookies were smaller flatter and denser. I wonder if this could have been from overmixing or because I used cake flour. Next time I can try with all-purpose flour but I’m wondering if you have any thoughts?
Thank you for the recipe, definitely going to try this soon.
Hope you enjoy!
Hello Jeanine, thank you for the recipe. 1 1/4 cup of flour does not seem enough, I have got quite a liquid batter. Havn’t I probably had it packed enough?
thanks:)
Hmmm, if it’s liquid, you could try sprinkling in more flour.
So these were okay for me. I’m glad I tried them but probably won’t make them again. I did not get flat cookies like the picture though, they were very cake-like and I think this is why I liked them less… Not sure what went wrong?
Hi Malia, did you change anything about the recipe, and did you use the spoon and level technique to measure your flour? It’s possible your flour could have been too packed if they didn’t spread. They are a cake-like cookie with all of the pumpkin.
LOVED this! I doubled the recipe but kept the brown sugar measurements the same. Perfect sweetness with the chips. Keeping this on rotation. Thanks for another hit!
I’m so glad you loved them!
Wondering how to make this gluten-free?? Can I exchange the regular flour for gluten free flour and almond flour?? Half of each flour??
Hi Linda, I think a GF flour would work – I think half almond flour could be delicious, but it’s hard to say without trying. Almond flour sometimes requires other adjustments.
Hi! I love your recipes and this one is my favorite one yet. Can’t wait for my friends and me to make this delicious treat this weekend.
I’m so glad you enjoyed them!
Hi, I love your recipes and really would like to try the pumpkin delights, however I have seen pumpkin puree and wondered how I could this myself? Have you got a recipe that would incorporate the pumpkin spices,
Many thanks
Martina
Hi Martina, canned pumpkin puree isn’t spiced, it’s just plain. So this recipe for basic puree would work: https://slim-balance.today/how-to-make-pumpkin-puree/%3C/a%3E%3C/p%3E%3Cp%3EHope that helps!