Pumpkin Chocolate Chip Cookies Recipe

Growing up, my favorite part of fall was my mom's pumpkin chocolate chip muffins. Richly spiced and perfectly pumpkin-flavored, the soft, gooey muffins welcomed the season in the best way. Each chilly morning started with a warm muffin and a cold glass of milk — later replaced by a hot cup of coffee (or two). The combination of pumpkin and chocolate chip will always be nostalgic for me, even when those familiar flavors take a different form.

These pumpkin chocolate chip cookies are modeled after my mom's muffins, with a warming pumpkin flavor (and of course, the pumpkin spice mix that goes with it!) and bursts of rich chocolate chips in every bite. Like a cookie you'd find at a bakery, these are thick and soft with chewy centers and lightly crisped outer edges. The softness is due to the pumpkin, which naturally lends moisture to the dough without making it overly cakey. One of my favorite ways to eat pumpkin in the fall, this recipe captures everything I loved about those pumpkin muffins in the form of a warm and crumbly cookie — which still pairs perfectly with a cold glass of milk or a hot cup of coffee.

The dry ingredients you'll need are flour, pumpkin pie spice, baking powder, baking soda, salt, and light brown sugar. The wet ingredients you'll need are butter, egg yolks, vanilla, and pumpkin purée, which will need to be strained to remove moisture before you add it to the recipe. From there, you'll just need chocolate chips: I recommend dark chocolate chunks for the best taste and texture, but you can also use semi-sweet chocolate chips or even white chocolate for a less rich chocolate flavor.

Preheat the oven to 350 F.

Place a cheesecloth or paper towel into a fine mesh sieve and add the pumpkin. Firmly blot the pumpkin with a paper towel to remove excess moisture. Repeat as needed until very dry.

In a medium-sized bowl, whisk together the flour, pumpkin pie spice, baking powder, baking soda, and salt.

In a large bowl or stand mixer, cream the butter and sugar together until fluffy, about 3-4 minutes.

Add the egg yolks and vanilla and continue beating until smooth.

Add the dried pumpkin and beat until just combined.

Add the flour mixture slowly and mix with a spatula until just combined.

Stir in the chocolate chunks.

Roll the dough into 2-inch balls and place them onto a cookie sheet about 3 inches apart.

Press the balls into flat discs.

Bake for 14-15 minutes, until puffy but matte and set. Cool on the baking sheet for 8-10 minutes.

Remove and let the cookies cool completely on a wire rack before serving.

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There are a few reasons why it is crucial to wring moisture out of pumpkin puree when baking. In many recipes, such as silky pumpkin pie, moist pumpkin cakes, or decadent pumpkin tiramisu, the added moisture from pumpkin is advantageous to the texture of the dessert. For cookies, however, the added moisture produces steam that, when combined with baking powder and soda, lifts the cookie into a cakey, spongey texture rather than letting it spread into a chewy cookie.

Because pumpkins are up to 92% water, you have to dry the pumpkin puree before adding it to the batter in order to avoid the excess moisture that it would add. The water isn't obviously apparent when you open the can, but by wringing the pumpkin out in paper towels, a fine mesh sieve, or cheesecloth (or a combination of the three), you'll notice how much moisture is released. The volume of pumpkin puree will actually reduce by almost half after you drain the moisture, which will better concentrate the pumpkin flavor and result in more flavorful cookies, too.

Knowing that pumpkin is full of moisture, then, explains why pumpkin treats tend to be chewy, cakey, moist, and tender rather than crisp or dense. Transforming these from chewy, soft cookies into crisp, thin wafers requires you to dry the pumpkin out even more, so that the moisture is essentially completely removed. The drier the pumpkin, the easier it will be for the cookies to crisp and brown in the oven.

Instead of trying to strain the moisture out, you can dry the pumpkin in the oven, which will effectively evaporate most excess moisture. To do this, spread the pumpkin puree on a sheet tray and bake it at 300 F in 5-minute increments, stirring in between, until the pumpkin is darkened and reduced by almost half. This method requires some precision to avoid overbaking and caramelizing the pumpkin, which changes the flavor, but can be a good way to achieve a more crispy cookie. Either way, the cookie will never be perfectly crispy or browned — for that, you'd want to leave the pumpkin out entirely and rely on the pumpkin spice to do the heavy lifting.

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