Looking for a great pumpkin cookie that your whole family will love? This recipe for soft and cakey pumpkin chocolate chip cookies will elevate your status from “Mom” to “Mom of the Year” as quick as you can say ” Cookies are ready!” Made with real pumpkin, and milk chocolate chips, these cookies are out of this world!
I’m known for these pumpkin chocolate chip cookies because I’m the only one who makes them in my neck of the woods, and everyone LOVES them.
Now, I love anything pumpkin, but chocolate takes pumkin to a whole new level.
I’d actually never thought of combining pumpkin and chocolate until 10 years ago, when we had a 20 year old hockey player from the Maritimes billeting with us.
I baked a lot while he was here, and one day he mentioned that his favourite homemade cookies were his mom’s pumpkin chocolate chip cookies.
You may also like this recipe for the best soft chocolate chip cookies ever.
Pumpkin and chocolate – a match made in heaven!
Being that I’m pretty much willing to try anything pumpkin flavoured, I had him get his mom’s recipe, and I made a big batch of those cookies for him.
When I took my first bite of one, all warm and toasty from the oven, I swear the heavens opened up and angels sang.
From that day on, pumpkin chocolate chip cookies have been one of our all-time favourite homemade cookies.
Not only does my family love these cookies, my daycare hooligans love them, my kids’ friends love them, my UPS delivery guy loves them… Seriously. I feed these cookies to everyone.
My sons’ friends, now in their late teens, often say one of the best things about being at our house was the plate of warm pumpkin chocolate chip cookies I often served up at sleepovers or after a game of basketball or road hockey in the driveway.
You’ll also love our pumpkin chocolate chip muffins and our pumpkin chocolate chip bundt cake.
10 Reasons To Make these Cookies:
(not that you need a reason)
- teacher appreciation
- surprise a neighbour
- cookie exchange
- a girlfriends’ birthday (because who wouldn’t want to receive a double batch of pumpkin chocolate chip cookies for their birthday?)
- classroom party (they’re nut-free!)
- school/church bake sale
- surprise your work-mates
- send them with your kid when they go to a friends’ cottage for a weekend
- road-trips, camping, team tournaments
- dessert alternative at a family get-together or pot-luck
The recipe doubles easily!
Note: the recipe below is for a single batch, but it doubles easily. I always double it because a single batch gets eaten too quickly.
A double batch will yield about 5 dozen pumpkin chocolate chip cookies (and you’ll still wish you had more!)
Pumpkin Chocolate Chip Cookie Recipe (single batch):
Printable recipe at the bottom of this post.
Ingredients:
Note: 1 cup = 8 ounces = 250 mL
- 1 cup pure pumpkin purée (not pumpkin pie filling – to learn the difference, see note below)
- 3/4 cup white sugar
- 1/2 cup vegetable or canola oil
- 1 egg
- 2 cups all-purpose flour
- 2 teaspoons baking powder
- 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
- 1/2 teaspoon salt
- 1 teaspoon baking soda dissolved in 1 teaspoon milk
- 1 cup chocolate chips
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
Before we get started, let’s just clarify the difference between pumpkin puree and pumpkin pie filling. This is important because they’re not interchangeable.
What is pumpkin purée?
The image below is a can of pure pumpkin, also known as 100% pumpkin or pumpkin purée. That’s what you want for these pumpkin cookies, not pumpkin pie filling.
What’s the difference between canned pumpkin purée and pumpkin pie filling?
Pumpkin pureé is pure pumpkin, cooked, puréed and canned with no other ingredients added.
Pumpkin pie filling is cooked pumpkin that’s been sweetened and flavoured with sugar and spices. It makes pumpkin pie making easier but you don’t want to use it for this cookie recipe because we’ll be adding our own sugar and spice.
Ok. Let’s make these cookies!
Instructions:
1. In a large bowl, stir together pumpkin purée, sugar, oil and eggs. Stir until well mixed.
2. Add flour, baking powder, cinnamon and salt, stirring until well-mixed.
3. Stir in the vanilla and the milk/baking soda mixture.
4. Stir in those gorgeous chocolate chips.
5, Drop the cookie batter by heaping spoonful onto a baking sheet or baking stone. Note: You can place them fairly close together because these cookies don’t spread. They just puff up and expand a little.
6. Bake cookies at 375ºF for 10-12 minutes. I bake my cookies on a stone for the full 12 minutes.
I don’t have a picture of the cookies going into the oven, but here they are coming out.
See how they didn’t spread? They just puff up. They’re soft, fluffy cookies that you can really sink your teeth into.
I love how the outside cracks open to reveal the steamy, soft center.
7. Let your cookies cool for a few minutes and then transfer to a cooling rack.
Recipe to use up 1 cup of leftover pumpkin puree
After making these pumpkin cookies, you’ll likely have about a cup of pumpkin puree leftover. I have the perfect recipe for you.
I always follow up my cookie recipe by making a loaf of this pumpkin chocolate chip bread because it takes 1 cup of pumpkin purée. It’s moist and delicious and slightly addictive.
Mmmm… A plate of pumpkin chocolate chip cookies, all warm and steamy from the oven, is a heavenly thing thing.
They may not look fancy, but they’re one of the yummiest cookies you’ll ever taste.
Pumpkin Chocolate Chip Cookies
Ingredients
- 1 cup pure pumpkin purée
- 3/4 cup white sugar
- 1/2 cup vegetable or canola oil
- 1 egg
- 2 cups all-purpose flour
- 2 teaspoons baking powder
- 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
- 1/2 teaspoon salt
- 1 teaspoon baking soda dissolved in 1 teaspoon milk
- 1 cup milk chocolate chips
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
Instructions
- In a large bowl, stir together pumpkin purée, sugar, oil and eggs. Mix well.
- Add flour, baking powder, cinnamon and salt, stirring until well mixed.
- Stir in the vanilla and the baking soda/milk mixture.
- Stir in chocolate chips.
- Drop the cookie batter by heaping spoonful onto a baking sheet or stone.
- Bake at 375ºF for 10-12 minutes.
- Let cookies cool slightly before transferring to a rack to cool completely.
Notes
Nutrition
More Great Chocolate Chip Recipes:
- Pumpkin Chocolate Chip Muffins
- Oatmeal Chocolate Chip, Cranberry Cookies
- Cranberry and White Chocolate Cookies
- Giant Chocolate Chip “Pizza” Cookie
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Jackie is a mom, wife, home daycare provider, and the creative spirit behind Happy Hooligans. She specializes in kids’ crafts and activities, easy recipes, and parenting. She began blogging in 2011, and today, Happy Hooligans inspires more than 2 million parents, caregivers and Early Years Professionals all over the globe.
Kierna
What a lovely idea for your act of kindness 🙂
Carrie
I just found this and wanted to say thanks for the post…. my husband loves these and we usually make it with spice cake mix. Don’t have any mix but I do have the rest of the ingredients.
Lori
Would this be able to be adjusted to use whole wheat flour?
happyhooligans
I have no idea, Lori. I’ve never tried. Do you regularly sub with w.w. flour? How does it work for other cookie recipes? I’m not sure how you’d really know without just going for it, and seeing how it turned out. Good luck!
kim
trying to find your oatmeal choc chip cookie recipe???
happyhooligans
Is it this one, Kim? https://happyhooligans.ca/chocolate-chip-cranberry-cookies/
Heather
I have a question with the pumpkin choc chip cookie recipe. The ingredients call for 1 egg, but the picture and directions call for two eggs. Do I use one or two?
happyhooligans
I mentioned in the post that the photos were taken when I was making a double batch, Heather. It’s just the one egg you’d need for a single batch. Hope you try them. They’re so good!
Heather
Thank you! They were delicious!
Patsy Cullins
How do you ajust this recipe for regular chocolate chip drop cookies?
Jackie Currie
I think I would just do a google search for regular chocolate chip drop cookies, Patsy. Unfortunately, I don’t have one on my blog. This recipe contains so much pumpkin, I wouldn’t want to guess at modifying it.
Janice@Learning 4 Kids
These look absolutely gorgeous Jackie…yummo! I was on the hunt for a chocolate chip cookie recipe and I think I just found it. Can’t wait to give these a try, thanks 🙂
happyhooligans
Hey Janice! So glad you found my recipe! I hope you love it as much as we do!
Liz
i used spelt flour instead of all purpose. The cookies turned out awesome! One batch was gobbled up by my kids in 10 minutes. A keeper
Dani
We’ve been making these in my family for years and I adore them! Everyone is always so excited when I say I’m going to make them. My recipe calls for a cup of sugar, not just 3/4 cup (also, we add more cinnamon and I usually add a whole standard sized bag of chocolate chips, haha_. They always come out so nice and cakey and moist. I always make sure to keep them covered soon after cooling so they don’t dry out.
Julia
I did everything but used 1 cup of sugar, coconut oil instead of regular, and I used pumpkin spice AND cinnamon. So yummy!
Dora
Just made a double batch of these. My mom and myself are the only ones that like them but they’re perfect when you have a sweet craving!! Nice to have in the freezer for the fall. Can’t wait to dig in!!
Betty
The recipe looks delicious, but it states 1 egg and I see 2 in the bowl. Was it a typo? Just wondering. And can this recipe be doubled. I plan on making these next month. Thank you for sharing your recipe.
happyhooligans
Yes, that’s right. You probably just missed it in the post, but it’s a double batch I’ve made here. The recipe is for a single batch though. I’ve gone and bolded some of the text in the post to make that more obvious for others who might wonder the same. Thanks, Betty!
Patricia Ferreira
Thank you for sharing! Could you tell me if we can substitute canned pumpkin for cooked pumpkin purée?
That’s in advance!
happyhooligans
I use canned pumpkin puree, Patricia. Just don’t use the canned “pumpkin pie filling”.
kim
i thin k i mighve used the pumpkin pie filling if thats what they put out around halloween/thanksgiving all the same they were all gonzo! delicious
Clay Pendleton
If you ever get tired of pumpkin you can also add sweet potato to the mix with pecans and a little maple syrup. That also is a great cookie during this time of year.
happyhooligans
Oh man. That sounds like an AWESOME combo!
Amy Thompson
Question: When it says 1 c. pumpkin puree is that one cup or one can?
Also you can use butterscotch morsels, my mom makes those!
happyhooligans
1 cup, Amy. Butterscotch chips would be amazing!
Jen
is your can of pumpkin purée the 769 ml can? Thanks!
amanda
I was writing this down in my recipe book to make these wit the kids cause my mom makes them and we loves them but when I was reading it said to stir in vanilla and milk but there wasn’t not milk listed so I was wondering how much milk? Anyone plz help I want to make these soon
happyhooligans
It’s there, Amanda, 2 up from the vanilla (right above the chocolate chips). 🙂
Kylie
I live in Australia – no pumpkin puree in a can here. Can I substitute fresh mashed pumpkin? Would love to try them!
happyhooligans
Hi Kylie! You can certainly give it a try. I’ve never used fresh mashed pumpkin for anything, but if you look at the label for the brand of canned pumpkin I use, the only ingredient in it is fresh pumpkin. Here’s a link to their page: http://www.edsmith.com/en/products/pure-pumpkin/
Jen
Just wondering what the reason is behind dissolving the baking soda in milk? I have made probably a hundred cookie recipes in my life and I’ve never seen that before – baking soda is usually just mixed in with the other dry ingredients. Just curious!
Rebekah
Hi Lori
I have made this recipe numerous times, and my boys and hubby just go crazy for them. Thanks for sharing your recipe. I have always used fresh pumpkin for my cookies and it works great.
Now can I freeze these cookies?
Rebekah
happyhooligans
Yay! I’m so glad you love them too! I’ve never tried freezing them, Rebekah, so unfortunately, I can’t say. My guess is that they would freeze well. Most cookies and baked items do.
Karissa
What happens if you use pumpkin pie filling?
happyhooligans
I never have, Karissa, so I can’t say for sure. Google pumpkin puree vs. pumpkin pie filling, and you’ll find some info about substituting. It looks like pumpkin pie filling is simply pumpkin puree with added sugar and spices, so I imagine it would work, but again, I’ve never tried it, so I can’t personally say if the results will be the same.
Lynda
Is that milk chocolate chips or semi sweet?
happyhooligans
I always use milk chocolate chips, Lynda. They’re my favourite.
Darlene
Yummy. Just made these, So delicious and fluffy. I doubled the recipe, 4 tsp pumpkin pie spice, and an extra cup of Ch. Chips. :-). Made big cookies. Thank you so much for the recipe Jackie. My hubby is a cookie monster. He loves them.
happyhooligans
Glad you and your husband loved them, Darlene!
Emily
How long are these good for? When stored in a sealed container room temp?
Thanks!!! So yummy!
Emily
Jackie Currie
They’ll keep for a week at least, Emily, but the fresher they are, the better they taste, just like anything.