These are hands down the best pumpkin cookies you’ll ever have, just trust me. And that’s for a few reasons, but the first is that this recipe uses a supplemental amount of pumpkin. Not a huge amount, enough that you get the pumpkin vibes, but not the cakey, oily, puffy texture that usually comes along with a lot of pumpkin cookies.
These are flat, chewy, crispy on the edges and filled with melty chocolate on the inside. They key is to use enough cornstarch to maintain a soft, tender texture, but still cream the wet ingredients to get enough lift and structure for the cookie. The signature crinkly-tops come from this being an egg-less recipe (accidentally vegan babayyyy) where the pumpkin takes the place of the egg. Throw in some pumpkin spice and you have a new fall staple recipe!
Table of contents
What makes these pumpkin cookies unique
These vegan pumpkin chocolate chip cookies (or not vegan if you want, live your best life!) are unique because they don’t use a large amount of pumpkin.
These cookies use a supplemental amount of pumpkin so that you still get the pumpkin color and flavor, but maintain that chewy, gooey, craveable cookie texture we all know and love.
I also utilize cornstarch and salt to manipulate the cookie texture, which you can read more about in the next section.
Baking science tip (!)
This recipe has a lot of salt. Like a lotta lotta salt.
And we like it like that! Along with water, salt enhances gluten formation. Usually cooks try to avoid building up gluten in a cookie, but for a cookie as light and tender as this one, we want to add a little bit of “chew” in any way we can.
This cookie is soft on the inside due to the pumpkin, but chewy and crispy on the edges thanks to all of the gluten-forming hacks we’ve added.
So don’t skimp on the salt – you won’t regret it!
Ingredients you will need to make the best pumpkin chocolate chip cookies
The ingredients are all your cookie classics. If you are an avid baker you’ll most likely have everything you need for this vegan pumpkin chocolate chip cookie recipe!
- 1 ¼ cup all-purpose flour, 150 grams
- 3 tbsp cornstarch, 22 grams
- ½ tsp salt
- 2 tsp pumpkin spice
- 2 tsp baking powder
- 8 tbsp, 113 grams butter or vegan butter substitute
- ¼ cup brown sugar, 40 grams
- ½ cup white sugar, 110 grams
- ¼ cup pumpkin puree, 60 grams
- 1 cup chocolate chips
How to make this pumpkin chocolate chip cookie recipe
A classic cookie at it’s best, this pumpkin chocolate chip cookie recipe follows the wet-then-dry method. Here’s how to bring it all together:
- Whisk together the flour, cornstarch, salt, pumpkin pie spice and baking powder.
- In a separate larger bowl, cream together the butter and sugar until the color changes and it is light and fluffy. This should take about 2-3 minutes. Then add the pumpkin and beat until fluffy. This should take another 2-3 minutes. Make sure to beat on low speed so the emulsified mixture doesn’t break.
- Fold in the dry ingredients until well combined, then add in your chocolate chips.
- Chill the dough for 30 minutes in the fridge while you preheat the oven to 400F.
- Once the dough is chilled, form 8 balls that are 75g each. Place on a parchment lined baking sheet and bake at 400F for 13-16 minutes.
- Take them out before the feel completely “done” – that’s what will keep them soft!
- When they are out of the oven, if they appear “puffier” than you’d like, immediately smack the pan down on the counter a few times. This will help the cookies flatten and spread to a thin, chewy texture.
- Serve whenever!
Looking for other pumpkin recipes to go with this pumpkin chocolate chip cookie?
It’s the season of spooky – so I get it, here are a few of my favorite things with pumpkin included!
And that’s about it for the best pumpkin chocolate chip cookie on the internet (trust me, it’s that good)
If you make it, please tag me on Pinterest or Instagram so I can see! It’s my favorite thing to scroll through stories and see what you all are making.
And of course feel free to leave any questions, comments or reviews! This is the best place to reach me, and I’d love to hear from you <3
Watch the recipe video here:
The BEST Pumpkin Cookies
Equipment
- Stand mixer or hand mixer
- Whisk
- Baking sheet
- Parchment paper
Ingredients
- 1 ¼ cup all-purpose flour 150 grams
- 3 tbsp cornstarch 24 grams
- ½ tsp salt
- 2 tsp pumpkin spice
- 2 tsp baking powder
- 8 tbsp butter or vegan butter substitute 113 grams
- ¼ cup brown sugar 40 grams
- ½ cup white sugar 110 grams
- ¼ cup pumpkin puree 60 grams
- 1 cup chocolate chips
Instructions
- Preheat your oven to 400F.
- Whisk together the flour, cornstarch, salt, pumpkin pie spice and baking powder.
- In a separate larger bowl, cream together the butter and sugar until the color changes and it is light and fluffy. This should take about 2-3 minutes. Then add the pumpkin and beat until fluffy. This should take another 2-3 minutes. Make sure to beat on low speed so the emulsified mixture doesn't break.
- Fold in the dry ingredients until well combined, then add in your chocolate chips.
- Chill the dough for 30 minutes in the fridge while you preheat the oven to 400F.
- Once the dough is chilled, form it into 8 balls that are 75g each. Place on a parchment lined baking sheet and bake at 400F for 13-16 minutes.
- When they are out of the oven, if they appear "puffier" than you'd like, immediately smack the pan down on the counter a few times. This will help the cookies flatten and spread to a thin, chewy texture.
- Take them out before the feel completely “done” – that’s what will keep them soft!
