These Soft Pumpkin Chocolate Chip Cookies mix classic chocolate chip cookies with the Fall flavor of pumpkin spice in 20 minutes. They are soft, delicious and packed with plenty of pumpkin, spice and chocolate chip flavor!
A soft chocolate chip cookie any time of the year is always a good idea! These chocolate chip cookies are made with a pumpkin twist and warming fall flavors that make them a great dessert for the cooler months.
Simple chocolate chip cookie dough is mixed with canned pumpkin puree. This makes the cookies soft on the inside giving them a great soft texture that rivals regular chocolate chip cookies.
You’ll also add a hint of pumpkin pie spice that has warming notes of cinnamon and ginger that will add a layer of comfort that everyone can enjoy. Serve them for the Thanksgiving holiday or any fall gatherings.
Why You’ll Love This Recipe
- These cookies are fluffy and pillowy soft.
- The recipe combines classic chocolate chip cookies with the warm flavors of fall.
- These cookies are the perfect dessert to serve at Thanksgiving that’s great for kids.
- These cookies are delicately spiced with pumpkin pie spice right in the cookie dough.
- You can adapt this recipe to make it gluten free.
Ingredients You’ll Need
You will need a few basic pantry ingredients to make the best soft pumpkin chocolate chip cookies.
- All-Purpose Flour – You can substitute the all purpose flour with 1:1 gluten free all purpose flour that contains xantham gum to make these cookies gluten free.
- Salt – Helps to balance all the flavors in the cookie and activates the baking powder and baking soda.
- Baking Soda & Baking Powder – Helps to give the cookies a slight rise while baking and adds texture to the outside.
- Pumpkin Pie Spice – Flavors the cookies with warming fall spices.
- Butter – Unsalted is best.
- Sugar – A mix of light brown sugar and white granulated sugar is used to help sweeten the cookie.
- Egg – Binds the ingredients together and helps them set while baking.
- Vanilla Extract – Gives these cookies a light vanilla flavor.
- Pumpkin Puree – Adds fresh pumpkin flavor and an orange hue to the cookies. Do not use pumpkin pie filling as it is not the same as pumpkin puree.
- Chocolate Chips – You can use any type of chocolate chips – semi sweet chocolate chips, milk chocolate chips, white chocolate chips or mini chocolate chips.
How To Make Pumpkin Chocolate Chip Cookies
This recipe comes together easily in a few basic steps.
- Prepare for baking: Preheat your oven to 350F while preparing the cookie dough. You’ll also want to line a cookie sheet with parchment paper or a silicone baking mat.
- Mix dry ingredients: In a medium bowl, whisk together the dry ingredients including flour, salt, baking soda and powder, and the pumpkin pie spice until fully combined.
- Mix wet ingredients: Using a stand mixer or hand mixer, add the butter and sugar and cream together over medium speed until combined and fluffy. This should take about 4 minutes. Then, add the egg, vanilla extract, and pumpkin and mix until the wet ingredients are fully combined.
- Form the cookie dough: Slowly add the dry ingredients to the mixer over medium-low speed until a soft cookie dough is formed. Turn off the mixer and fold in the chocolate chips with a rubber spatula until evenly distributed into the cookie dough.
- Bake the cookies: Using a greased medium cookie scoop or rounded spoon. Drop a tablespoon of the cookie dough onto the prepared baking sheet with enough room to expand. Bake for 8-10 minutes or until the cookies begin to brown around the edges. Remove from the oven and cool for 5 minutes before transferring to a wire rack to cool completely before serving.
If you want the cookies to look like the photos, with the chocolate chips on top, reserve 1/4 cup of the chocolate chips and sprinkle on top of the cookie dough balls before baking.
Expert Tips
- Make sure to buy pumpkin puree and not pumpkin pie filling as the filling mix already contains sugar and other ingredients that may ruin the texture of the cookie.
- Don’t overmix the cookie dough as this could make the texture on the inside a bit tough.
- Use room temperature eggs and butter. This ensures the cookie dough is all at room temperature before baking.
- The soft pumpkin chocolate chip cookies will spread a bit when baking, which means it’s best to place them 1.5 inches apart on the baking sheet.
- The dough will be a bit sticky unlike a regular cookie dough, this is the correct texture with the added pumpkin puree.
- If you don’t have all of the spices needed for pumpkin pie spice, use just cinnamon instead.
Variations
- For gluten free pumpkin chocolate chip cookies, replace the flour with a gluten-free blend that’s 1:1 with all-purpose flour. It should have xantham gum in the blend.
- Use nuts. You can add nuts or substitute 1 cup chopped walnuts instead of the chocolate chips.
- Add dried fruit. Dried cranberries, raisins, or golden berries make an excellent addition to these cookies making them tart and sweet.
- Add oats. You can also add some rolled old-fashioned oats (about 1/4 to 1/3 cup) to make pumpkin oatmeal chocolate chip cookies.
- Use white chocolate chips instead of milk or dark chocolate for a creamy white chocolate twist.
- Add 3 tbsp of unsweetened cocoa powder to the dry ingredients for double chocolate chip pumpkin cookies.
How long do soft pumpkin chocolate chip cookies last? Store these cookies at room temperature in a sealed container for up to 4 days.
These soft pumpkin cookies are the treat of the season. While they taste great any time of the year, they are the perfect dessert for September, October and November. Make a batch to share and enjoy the sweet flavors of fall.
More Fall Pumpkin Desserts
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Soft Pumpkin Chocolate Chip Cookies
Ingredients
- 3 cups all-purpose flour
- 1/2 teaspoon salt
- 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
- 1/2 teaspoon baking powder
- 2 1/2 teaspoon pumpkin pie spice
- 1 cup butter, (2 sticks) at room temperature
- 3/4 cup sugar
- 1 cup light brown sugar
- 1 egg
- 2 teaspoon vanilla extract
- 1 cup pumpkin puree, not pumpkin pie filling
- 1 1/2 cups semi sweet chocolate chips
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Line a baking sheet with a silicone baking mat or parchment paper; set aside.
- In a medium bowl, whisk together flour, salt, baking soda, baking powder and pumpkin pie spice; set aside.
- In a stand mixer fitted with a paddle attachment, cream the butter and sugars together until light and fluffy, about 4 minutes. Add the egg, vanilla, and pumpkin and mix until combined, about 3 minutes. Slowly add the dry ingredients and mix until combined. Fold in the chocolate chips.
- Using a cookie scoop or spoon, drop rounded tablespoons onto prepared baking sheet. Bake for 8-10 minutes, or until cookies are just beginning to brown around the edges. Let the cookies cool on the baking sheet for 5 minutes. Transfer to a wire cooling rack and cool completely.
Notes
Nutrition
This recipe originally published in 2013. It was updated with new photos and tips in September 2021.
You really just can’t go wrong with cookies! Love these!!
These are the perfect cookies for fall. I adore them!!