Pumpkin Chocolate Chip Cookies
These soft-baked Pumpkin Chocolate Chip Cookies are a little chewy, a little cakey, and full of pumpkin spices and creamy chocolate chips. An easy and delicious fall treat!
Pumpkin Chocolate Chip Cookies are a favorite fall treat. The spices and chocolate marry really well in this moist pumpkin cookie, which is why it’s a seasonal must!
Pumpkin Chocolate Chip Cookies
There are two ways to enjoy Pumpkin Chocolate Chip Cookies – cakey or chewy.
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Cakey pumpkin chocolate chip cookies are super easy to achieve. Usually with oil, eggs, and pumpkin. My mom’s recipe is my favorite cakey pumpkin chocolate chip cookie.
Chewy pumpkin chocolate chip cookies are harder to achieve, because pumpkin and eggs will both contribute to a cakey texture by leavening the dough. You can shoot for a chewy texture by using butter instead of oil, and omitting the eggs completely. Like in this recipe here.
This pumpkin chocolate chip cookie recipe is somewhere in the middle. It’s chewy and moist, but still slightly cakey. The PERFECT combination, in my opinion.
Cakey or Chewy?
I tested this recipe twice. The first time I chilled the dough for 1 hour and got the beautiful cookies pictured in the photos. The second time I did not chill the dough and they turned out a lot more cakey and didn’t spread as much.
In my mind it works like cake batter or biscuits. If you bake it right away, it rises beautifully. If you let it sit, the rise isn’t as effective because the leavening action that reacts to liquid, and or heat, is being delayed and weakens as the time goes by.
So, if you want cakey pumpkin chocolate chip cookies, bake the dough right away. Rather have a soft and chewy texture? Chill the dough!
Chilling the Dough
Chilling the dough will effect the chemical leavening reaction by weakening the rise once it hits the oven because of time and temperature. It wasn’t placed in the oven right away and will take longer to heat up from being chilled; allowing a slower rise that will create a more dense, chewy texture.
So why not just take out the leavening you might ask? I haven’t tried leaving the baking soda out completely, because it helps with that softness we all know and love. Feel free to experiment and leave your findings in the comments or just use my recipe below!
Pumpkin Chocolate Chip Cookies
Ingredients
- ½ cup (113 g) unsalted butter, (1 stick) melted
- ½ cup (100 g) brown sugar, gently packed
- ¼ cup (50 g) granulated sugar
- 1 tsp vanilla extract
- 6 Tbsp pumpin pureé
- 1 large egg yolk, (discard whites, or save for another recipe)
- 1 ½ cups (180 g) all-purpose flour, (Stir, spoon into cup, and level off.)
- ¼ tsp salt
- ½ tsp baking soda
- 1 ½ tsp ground cinnamon
- ½ tsp ground allspice
- ¼ tsp ground ginger
- ⅛ tsp ground cloves
- ⅛ tsp ground nutmeg
- 1 cup (170 g) semi-sweet chocolate chips
Instructions
- In a stand mixer with the paddle attachment, cream the butter with both sugars. Add the vanilla, pumpkin pureé, and egg yolk. Mix until just combined. Scrape bowl.
- In a separate bowl, whisk together the flour, salt, baking soda, cinnamon, allspice, ginger, cloves, and nutmeg. Add to wet ingredients and mix until incorporated.
- Fold in the chocolate chips* and CHILL the dough in the refrigerator for 1 hour. (*Save 1/3 cup of chocolate chips to press into the top of the dough balls, if desired.)
- Scoop dough into balls, roll gently in hands, and place on a prepared cookie sheet that has been greased with cooking spray or lined with parchment paper or a silicone baking mat. (I use a #40 cookie scoop which is about 1 & 3/4 Tablespoons of dough.) Press extra chocolate chips into the top of the dough balls, if desired.
- Bake at 350 degrees Fahrenheit for 7-9 minutes. Do not over-bake. Allow to cool for a few minutes on tray before transferring to a wire rack to cool completely. Store in an airtight container up to 1 week.
Notes
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