These are not your average pumpkin chocolate chip cookies… they’re chewy, soft, and packed with rich chocolate and warm spices. My secret: using nutty brown butter and blotting the pumpkin, which keeps the dough dense and the texture perfectly chewy (never cakey). If you’ve tried my viral chewy pumpkin snickerdoodle cookies, these pumpkin cookies have that same gooey center, just with pockets of melty chocolate!
Best of all, they come together in one bowl, no mixer needed. Bake them once, and I bet they’ll earn a permanent spot on your fall bake list.
Table of Contents
Why These Aren’t Cakey
To keep these pumpkin cookies thick, chewy, and rich, I made three key changes:
Using egg yolks instead of whole eggs. Egg whites are mostly water, while yolks provide fat and richness. Using only yolks helps create a denser, chewier cookie with fudgy centers.
Brown butter. Browning the butter cooks off some of its water while adding a deep, nutty flavor. Less water means less steam during baking, helping the cookies spread like a classic brown butter chocolate chip cookie instead of puffing up.
Blotted pumpkin puree. Before mixing the dough, the pumpkin puree is blotted with paper towels to remove excess moisture. This concentrates the pumpkin flavor without adding unnecessary water to the dough.
How to Make Them
Find the full ingredient measurements and instructions in the recipe card below!
1
Brown the butter. Cool the brown butter in the fridge, stirring occasionally. It will thicken but still be liquid, as shown above.
This recipe is a little more particular than most, so don’t rush this step. Recipes like my brown butter chocolate chip pumpkin loaf are much more forgiving when it comes to the temperature of the brown butter.
2
Blot the pumpkin. You’re aiming to remove enough moisture that the pumpkin is reduced by about half and can be rolled into a soft ball, just like you see above.
This simple step is what keeps the cookies thick and chewy instead of fluffy and cake-like.
3
Whisk together the wet ingredients. To completely emulsify the butter and sugar, whisk for exactly one minute. The mixture will resemble pale, wet sand.
4
Mix in the pumpkin. Whisk in the egg yolks, vanilla extract, and dried pumpkin puree until combined.
5
For the best chocolate pools, use chopped chocolate. Chocolate chips contain stabilizers that help them keep their shape during baking, while chopped chocolate melts into rich, gooey pockets in every bite.
6
Freeze the dough for later. Freeze the cookie dough balls on a baking tray until firm, then transfer them to a freezer bag or airtight container. Bake straight from frozen, adding 1–2 extra minutes to the bake time.
Want smaller cookies? Use a standard 2-tablespoon cookie scoop. They’ll bake a little faster, so start checking them 2–3 minutes earlier while the centers still look slightly underdone.
You won’t use the whole can of pumpkin puree here, so save any extras to bake another fall favorite, like my pumpkin spice cheesecake cookies or pumpkin cream cheese cupcakes.
Enjoy 🫶🏻
If you tried this or any other recipe on my website, please let me know how it went in the comments; I love hearing from you! Also, please leave a star rating while you’re there! You can also tag me on Instagram or Facebook so I can check it out!
Chewy Pumpkin Chocolate Chip Cookies
Equipment
Ingredients
- 1 cup cold unsalted butter
- 2/3 cup Libby's Pumpkin Puree, room temperature
- 1/2 cup granulated sugar
- 1/2 cup light brown sugar, packed
- 2 large egg yolks, room temperature
- 2 teaspoons vanilla extract
- 1 2/3 cup + 1 tablespoon all-purpose flour, *See notes below for measuring*
- 2 1/2 teaspoons pumpkin spice
- 1 teaspoon baking soda
- 1/2 teaspoon fine sea salt
- 1 cup chopped chocolate bar, *semi-sweet chocolate bar
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 350°F(180°C). Line two baking trays with parchment paper and set them aside.
- Brown the butter in a large stainless steel pan. While it cooks, it will foam, pop, and crackle—this is normal! Stand nearby, watch, and stir it occasionally so it doesn’t burn. When the bottom is covered in brown bits of butter, and it smells nutty, remove the pan from the heat. You should have just under 1 cup of browned butter (184 g). Scrape the butter into a glass measuring bowl and place it in the fridge for 50-60 minutes, stirring it every 10-15 minutes until a thermometer inserted reads between 70-75°F. The butter must be cool but still liquid!1 cup (226 g) cold unsalted butter
- Spread the pumpkin puree on a plate. Press a stack of paper towels into it and soak up the extra liquid. Then, scrape the pumpkin into a pile and re-spread it around the plate. Continue doing this, using a new stack of paper towels to absorb the extra liquid, until the pumpkin feels pretty dry, like soft playdough, and now measures roughly 1/3 cup (75 grams).2/3 cup (160 g) Libby's Pumpkin Puree
- When the butter is cool, whisk in the brown sugar and granulated sugar for exactly 1 minute.1/2 cup (100 g) granulated sugar, 1/2 cup (100 g) light brown sugar
- Whisk in the egg yolks, vanilla, and dried pumpkin puree until combined.2 (36 g) large egg yolks, 2 teaspoons vanilla extract
- Fold in the flour, pumpkin spice, baking soda, salt, and chocolate chips until just combined.1 2/3 cup + 1 tablespoon (220 g) all-purpose flour, 2 1/2 teaspoons pumpkin spice, 1 teaspoon baking soda, 1/2 teaspoon fine sea salt, 1 cup (125 g) chopped chocolate bar
- Scoop the cookie dough with a 3-tablespoon cookie scoop, roll them between your palms, then place them on the prepared baking trays spaced 2-3 inches apart. For pools of melted chocolate, chop the chocolate into larger pieces and press more on top before baking.
- Bake one tray at a time for 9-13 minutes or until the edges are golden brown but the middle is slightly underbaked. Straight out of the oven, use a large round cookie cutter to scoot the edges in to make them thicker and perfectly round. Let the pan cool on a wire cooling rack completely, then remove the cookies and enjoy!
Can you use salted butter instead of unsalted butter?
Yes! I would slightly decrease the added salt to keep them from being too salty.
These are good! However, I followed the recipe to a T and it doesn’t have a very pumpkiny flavor to me..
Sorry to hear that Shannon, you can always add more pumpkin spice if you want!
Cookies are great however as a B&P person myself I followed to a tee and still lightly cakey. Honestly I don’t mind it they are delicious so light and chocolatey but I also use fresh pumpkin puree instead of Libby’s. Wonder if that has something to do with it!
Made these with gluten free flour and they turned out great! Love this recipe, perfect for fall.
Hi! Will using dark brown sugar instead of light mess with the baking chemistry too much?
It shouldn’t be a problem!
I just made these and they are one of the best things I’ve ever made.
YAY! I am so happy to hear that, thank you so much for coming back to leave a review! 🙂
These cookies turned out so good! I was so impressed because to be honest I haven’t had the greatest luck with pumpkin cookies. I also really appreciate the way you wrote out the recipe. Not having to scroll back up to the ingredients list every time I was on a different step really was nice. Thank you for this wonderful recipe, I will be trying out more of them!
Some of the best cookies I’ve ever made. Will be adding this to my favorites
I made these cookies for our annual apple cider making day! They are delicious and festive for this event!
Absolutely delightful! Will be adding this to the fall baking rotation!
I baked these cookies as a housewarming present to my best friend and as a way to comfort my mother while she was sick. The reviews I got were so great that I ended up writing a report for my technical writing class on this recipe! Your love for what you do is so clear in the way that you write about it, and the way that you demonstrate the process in the pictures and video that you include allows even the novice baker to share in that joy. I will definitely be using this recipe again and I am hoping to try the Espresso Chocolate Chip Cookies and the Chewy Pumpkin Snickerdoodle Cookies as we approach the colder months. Thank you so much for sharing your gift and passion with the world!
Wow! Thank you so much for this super kind review, Lindsey. I’m so happy to hear they were enjoyed, I truly love my job and am so grateful for readers like you!
This recipe is delicious. I saved it and plan on making them again. The texture was so perfect, makes me believe i love these over regular chocolate chip cookies. I always have a tendency to botch a batch of cookies somehow, either they are too soft and fall apart or too crispy overbaked cookies but these were perfect. Thanks for all the helpful tips! I used cheesecloth to help strain the liquid from the pumpkin puree. Worked perfect. Definitely checking out more of your recipes!! Cookies are my favorite dessert, my go to comfort food!
I’m so happy to hear that, Melanie! Thanks so much for coming back to leave a review!
These are the most amazing pumpkin chocolate chip cookies my family has ever had! We all agree that the texture is out of this world. It’s our go-to cookie from now on.
I’m so happy to hear that! Thank you so much for coming back to leave such a kind review 🙂
So delicious! I shared the cookies with friends and everyone loved them. Also, I added chopped walnuts because why not. And thank you so much for providing metric measurements!
Best,
Debbie xx
Sooooo what happens if you “over mix the browned butter-sugar part” for more than 1 minute and it gets all creamed up and white?
Hi Paula! It shouldn’t make a huge difference, the texture of your cookies just may be slightly different! 🙂