These Cake-Like Pumpkin Chocolate Chip Cookies are basically pumpkin bread meets chocolate chip cookie, and we are here for it. Packed with cozy pumpkin flavor, warm spices, and melty chocolate chips, all wrapped up in a soft, tender cookie with a pillowy texture. These bake up beautifully with a slightly crisp edge and a soft, cakey center.
Ingredients Needed
- All-purpose flour
- Salt
- Baking soda
- Baking powder
- Pumpkin pie spice
- Neutral cooking oil – Like canola or peanut.
- Dark brown sugar
- Pumpkin puree
- Vanilla extract
- Egg
- Chocolate chips
How to Make Pumpkin Chocolate Chip Cookies
- We’re going to make a simple quick-bread type batter. First you’ll mix up some oil and sugar, add an egg, a splash of vanilla, and some canned pumpkin.
- To that you’ll add your dry ingredients: all purpose flour, baking powder, baking soda, and salt. Those get mixed into the wet ingredients to make a pretty thick batter.
- To that batter, you’ll add some chocolate chips. These cookies aren’t huge, so mini chocolate chips are great if you like them well dispersed!
- That batter gets scooped by the tablespoonful onto a parchment-lined baking sheet and they bake up beautifully in 10-14 minutes! You’ll know they’re done just like pumpkin bread: a toothpick inserted into the center of a cookie will come out clean or with just a few moist crumbs!
- Let them cool for just a few minutes on the pan, then transfer to a cooling rack.
Storing and Other Tips
- Allow cookies to cool completely, then transfer to an airtight container and store at room temperature. For best results, consume within 2-3 days.
- These cookies will not spread much and will basically be the same shape you scoop them in, so if beautifying is important to you, keep in mind they’ll look the same way coming out of the oven as they did going in.
- If the recipe looks familiar, you’ll be pleased to hear it’s the same cookie base as our amazing Pumpkin Whoopie Pies, which sandwiches a delicious maple cream cheese frosting between two tender pumpkin cookies (sans chocolate chips).
Frequently Asked Questions
What do I do with the rest of the canned pumpkin leftover from this recipe?
Try using the leftover pumpkin in this pumpkin pie milkshake, freeze it for later, or keep it on hand to give your dog. Seriously, pumpkin helps with all sorts of canine digestive problems–I have cans and cans of it permanently stocked in my cupboards just for this!
Can I make these ahead of time?
Yes! They are great for 2-3 days so feel free to make them a day ahead of time if needed.
Can I freeze these?
Yep! For best results, freeze in a single layer in a zip-top bag and consume within 3 months.
The tops aren’t doming—what happened?
Make sure your oven is fully preheated to 350°F before baking. Also, avoid overmixing—you want a light batter to get that signature mound.
Can I swap out the chocolate chips?
Sure! White chocolate, chopped pecans, or even raisins would be tasty. Just keep the total mix‑in amount similar so texture stays balanced.
Cake-Like Pumpkin Chocolate Chip Cookies
These cake-like pumpkin chocolate chip cookies are soft and light–almost like muffin tops!
Servings servings (2 cookies each)
Equipment
Ingredients
- 1 ½ cups all-purpose flour
- ½ teaspoon salt
- ½ teaspoon baking soda
- ½ teaspoon baking powder
- 1½ tablespoons pumpkin pie spice (same as 1 tablespoon plus 1½ teaspoons, or 4½ teaspoons)
- ½ cup neutral-flavored cooking oil like canola or peanut
- 1 cup dark brown sugar see "Notes" section below regarding an earlier version of this recipe that also included ½ white sugar
- 1 ½ cups pumpkin puree almost a whole 15-ounce can; see notes for how to use the remaining ½ cup
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- 1 egg
- 1 10-12 ounce bag bag chocolate chips
Instructions
- Line baking sheets with parchment paper. Preheat oven to 350℉.
- Lightly spoon the flour into the measuring cup and level with a knife. In a medium bowl, whisk together the flour, baking soda, baking powder, salt, and pumpkin pie spice. Set aside.
- In a large bowl, beat together the brown sugar, and oil. Add the pumpkin puree and mix well. Add the vanilla and egg and mix well. Slowly add in the flour mixture and mix until combined. Add chocolate chips and mix until combined.
- Using a 1 tablespoon scoop, drop the batter onto a baking sheet, leaving about 1″ between the batter (I got 12 per standard cookie sheet).
- Bake for 10-14 minutes or until the tops are done and a toothpick inserted into the middle of one of the ccookies comes out clean (I cook mine closer to 13-14 minutes). Remove from oven and allow to cool for 5 minutes on the pan and then transfer to a cooling rack.
See the recipe edit note below. If you prefer the earlier version on this recipe, add ½ cup white sugar in addition to the 1 cup brown sugar.
Notes
Recipe Edit Note
An earlier version of this recipe included 1/2 cup white sugar in addition to the 1 cup brown sugar. We found the extra sugar created a looser batter that spread while baking. If you are including chocolate chips, these cookies are plenty sweet without the additional sugar and our testers actually preferred them that way! If you have been making these for years and have liked how they turn out, feel free to add that extra 1/2 cup white sugar back in!Notes
- This recipe as currently written is a half batch of these Whoopie Pies. The Whoopie pie version leaves out the chocolate chips and adds a delightful whipped cream cheese maple frosting between two cookies. If you like these you’ll love the whoopie pies!
- Allow cookies to cool completely, then transfer to an airtight container and store at room temperature. For best results, enjoy within 2-3 days.
- These cookies will not spread much and will basically be the same shape you scoop them in, so if beauty is important to you, keep in mind they’ll look the same way coming out of the oven as they did going in.
- Try using the leftover pumpkin in this pumpkin pie milkshake, freeze it for later, or keep it on hand to give your dog. Seriously, pumpkin helps with all sorts of canine digestive problems–I have cans and cans of it permanently stocked in my cupboards just for this!
Nutrition
Serving: 2cookies, Calories: 229kcal, Carbohydrates: 33g, Protein: 2g, Fat: 10g, Saturated Fat: 1g, Polyunsaturated Fat: 3g, Monounsaturated Fat: 6g, Trans Fat: 0.04g, Cholesterol: 14mg, Sodium: 173mg, Potassium: 115mg, Fiber: 1g, Sugar: 19g, Vitamin A: 4788IU, Vitamin C: 1mg, Calcium: 43mg, Iron: 2mg
Calories: 229kcal
Cost: $7
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Questions & Reviews
I’ve used this recipe for 2 years now and it always comes out wonderful. I get so many complements. Thank you for posting this.
The recipe calls for pumpkin pie spice, but the instructions say to mix in cinnamon, ginger and nutmeg. I assume that means to mix in the pumpkin pie spice which contains those ingredients, hope that is correct I am making them right now 🙂
It’s a long time from the last time I make cookies, I can’t wait to try this recipe. Thank you for sharing!
This is really random, but do you ever get a tiny, crunchy bit of something in your pumpkin baked goods? As is maybe i got a bit of egg shell in the batter? I have noticed this over the years in everything I make with pumpkin – just a few random crunchy bites here and there spread over a whole batch of bread, cookies, anything pumpkin. Last year I was super careful to make sure it wasn’t egg shells by cracking them in a glass measure first and thoroughly inspecting before adding on every pumpkin recipe. Still got some crunchies, so I’m confident it’s not egg shell. Never have it with anything else – just pumpkin items. It’s weird. I’m thinking it must be something in the canned pumpkin? Does Libby’s have an insect problem (eww)? Just wondering if anyone else has experienced this.
Hmmmm…I wonder if it’s a moisture/crystallization thing? I’m going to do some digging!
I have this same problem! My only conclusion is that it is from nutmeg. I think there might be grainier bits of nutmeg in ground nutmeg? Or maybe it IS pumpkin bits. I have experienced this in store-brand pumpkin, too.
Semi-sweet or milk? In YOUR opinion which is better with these cookies? I always love milk chocolate but for some reason I feel like semi-sweet might be the way to go w/ these… but I want to know what you think!
These are pretty sweet, so semi-sweet is definitely a good choice. I’m such a sucker for the Ghirardelli milk chips, though, that I had to do it. 🙂
Is it supposed to be 1 1/2 cup flour? My batter is a little runny ?
Yikes!! I’m so sorry, this was my mistake! It was 1 1/2 cups, but I didn’t see the comments until someone mentioned it on Instagram last night. It’s fixed now, but I’m so so sorry!
Add brown butter frosting to the top and perfection!
This is what I grew up eating—my favorite! And they’re even better the next day! Yum 🙂
This recipe looks amazing! I can’t wait to try them. The ingredients list says to look at the notes section for ideas for the 1/2 cup of leftover pumpkin, but I don’t see the notes! I’d love to get suggestions, I find I always have leftover pumpkin.
Oh my goodness! Your muffin top comment made me ??. These look delicious!