These chocolate chip pumpkin cookies are soft, tender, and pillowy in the best possible way, with warm fall spice in every bite and pools of melted chocolate throughout. A lot of pumpkin cookie recipes out there go out of their way to promise you they are not cakey. Ours does the opposite. These are soft and a little cakey on purpose, because that is exactly the kind of pumpkin cookie we wanted, and once you finish them with flaky sea salt and extra chocolate chips pressed on top, they are hard to stop eating.
Baking cookies is my favorite thing in the whole world. I have developed nearly 70 dessert recipes for this website, more than 20 of them being cookie recipes, and have been baking for over 30 years, including an annual holiday cookie baking marathon with my mom every December. She is also the reason this recipe exists. She’s been telling me that I need a pumpkin cookie recipe on the site for a while now… repeatedly, so this one is for her.
Here’s how we landed on this recipe. The first test used a whole egg and gave me a very soft, cakey cookie. Knowing that a lot of bakers swap in just the egg yolk to cut moisture and get something chewier, I tested that too. I compared them side-by-side, along with a handful of friends, and the difference was not big enough to justify the time and skill needed to separate an egg in my opinion. And my taste testers liked the soft version anyway… so we leaned into the soft, cakey texture and wrote this using a whole egg. My husband put it best during testing when he said the texture of these pumpkin and chocolate chip cookies reminded him of a pumpkin version of those soft Lofthouse cookies. This is a great way to describe the soft and tender texture of this dessert.
One more thing worth mentioning: a single batch of these cookies uses ⅓ cup of pumpkin puree, so it’s a great way to use up that half-used can sitting in your fridge from something else. We have a whole roundup of what to do with leftover pumpkin puree if you still have more after this. And if you love the combination of chocolate and pumpkin as much as I do, you’ve got to try our marbled chocolate pumpkin muffins and our 3-ingredient pumpkin muffins recipe too!
You’ll Love This Soft Pumpkin Chocolate Chip Cookie Recipe
Soft, tender, and pillowy. These are not trying to be a crispy-edged chocolate chip cookie. They are their own thing, and if a soft pumpkin cookie is what you are after, these deliver.
Warm fall spice in every bite. Pumpkin pie spice plus extra cinnamon gives these real depth, with just the right amount of pumpkin flavor behind it. They taste properly pumpkin-y without tipping into pumpkin pie territory.
Only needs a third of a cup of pumpkin. No opening a can and wondering what to do with the rest of it, though a roundup for that exists if you need one.
Ingredients for Chocolate Chip Pumpkin Cookies
- Salted butter. Softened, not melted. Creaming softened butter with the sugars is part of what gives these their soft, tender texture.
- Granulated sugar. Helps the edges set and balances the brown sugar.
- Dark brown sugar. Adds moisture and a deeper molasses flavor that plays really well with the pumpkin spice.
- Egg. A whole egg, which is what makes these soft. This is a deliberate choice, and there is more on that above.
- Canned pumpkin puree. Make sure you grab pumpkin puree and not pumpkin pie filling, which is already sweetened and spiced. You only need a third of a cup.
- Vanilla extract. Rounds out the spices and the chocolate.
- Baking soda and baking powder. Using both gives these their lift and that soft, cake-like crumb.
- Salt. Sharpens all the other flavors and keeps the sweetness in check.
- Pumpkin pie spice and cinnamon. Pumpkin pie spice is a blend, usually cinnamon, ginger, nutmeg, and cloves, though some brands add allspice too. It does the heavy lifting here, and the extra cinnamon on top of it is what makes these taste like fall rather than just faintly spiced.
- All-purpose flour. The structure of the cookie.
- Semi-sweet chocolate chips. Some go in the dough, and I always save a few to press onto the tops of the dough balls before baking. It makes a real difference in how they look.
- Optional, but highly recommended: flaky sea salt. Sprinkled on right after they come out of the oven. The majority of my adult taste-testers during recipe testing took a bite, eyes went wide, and said “oh, the salt on there!”… so definitely worth a little something that brings the wow factor. I usually put it on about half of them because my little prefers it without.
Scroll down to the recipe card at the bottom of this post for exact measurements and complete directions.
Helpful Equipment
A stand mixer or an electric hand mixer makes creaming the butter and sugars quick and easy, but doing this by hand is completely doable. Grab your favorite wooden spoon and put those muscles to work. We use a medium cookie scoop, which is about 2 tablespoons, to portion and shape the dough so every cookie comes out the same size and bakes evenly. And baking sheets, a spatula, and wire cooling racks are cookie baking basics too.
How to Make Pumpkin and Chocolate Chip Cookies
Cream the butter and sugars. In the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, or in a large bowl with a hand mixer, cream together the softened butter, granulated sugar, and brown sugar until light and fluffy.
Add the remaining wet ingredients. Add the egg, pumpkin puree, and vanilla and beat until combined and fluffy.
Slowly add in the dry ingredients. Slowly stir in the salt, baking soda, baking powder, pumpkin pie spice, cinnamon, and flour until a dough forms.
Fold in the chocolate chips. Gently stir in the chocolate chips until they’re well distributed throughout the dough.
Cover and chill the dough. Cover and chill for at least 30 minutes, and up to overnight. Do not skip this step (there’s more on why this is so important below).
Preheat and prep. Preheat your oven to 375°F and line a cookie sheet with parchment paper. Scoop dough balls using a medium cookie scoop (about 2 tablespoons), placing them 2-inches apart on the lined cookie sheet. Press a few extra chocolate chips onto the top of each one.
Bake for 8 to 10 minutes. Pull them when the edges are set and the centers still look soft. Salt them with flaky sea salt (if using) as soon as they come out of the oven, while they are still hot.
Cool. Let the cookies cool on the baking sheet for at least 10 minutes before transferring them to a wire rack to cool completely.
Why You Have to Chill This Cookie Dough
This is a very soft and sticky dough because of the moisture the pumpkin puree brings with it. If you scoop and bake it right away, not only will it be hard to work with, the cookies will spread more than you want and lose their shape.
Thirty minutes in the fridge is the minimum, and that is usually all I do (during testing 30 minutes vs. and hour didn’t seem to make much of a difference). The dough firms up enough to hold a nice round scoop, and the cookies bake up thicker because of it.
If you want to get ahead, the dough will keep covered in the refrigerator overnight, and up to 2 or 3 days if you need it to. Chilled longer than a few hours, it will be firmer and harder to scoop, so let it sit on the counter for a few minutes to loosen up before you portion it.
Pumpkin Cookie Variation Ideas
- Switch up your chocolate. Use whatever kind of chocolate chip you like. Milk chocolate, white chocolate chips, dark chocolate, mini chips, chunks, or a chopped up chocolate bar all work here.
- Use unsalted butter. If unsalted is what you keep on hand, you can absolutely use it. Just bump the salt in the recipe from ¼ teaspoon up to ½ teaspoon to make up the difference.
- Add nuts. Chopped pecans or walnuts stirred in with the chocolate give these a little crunch against all that softness.
- Go heavier on the spice. If you want these to taste even more like the fall season, add another half teaspoon of pumpkin pie spice to the dough.
Expert Tips for Soft and Cakey Pumpkin Cookies
Use pumpkin puree, not pumpkin pie filling. They sit right next to each other on the shelf and the cans look similar. Pie filling is already sweetened and spiced, and it will throw the whole recipe off.
Do not skip the chill. This is a very sticky dough, so taking the short thirty minutes not only helps the dough become easier to work with, it’s also the difference between a thick, cakey cookie and one that spreads into a puddle.
Press extra chocolate chips on top before baking. This takes about ten seconds and is the single easiest way to make homemade cookies look bakery-made. All those visible chocolate chips on top come from doing this, not from the chips already in the dough.
Add the flaky salt while they’re hot. If you wait until the cookies cool, the salt will not stick. Sprinkle it on as soon as the pan comes out of the oven.
Pull them when the centers still look soft. They keep setting up on the hot pan for a few minutes after they come out. Baking until the centers look done in the oven means dry cookies once they cool.
How to Store Pumpkin Chocolate Chip Cookies
Store cooled cookies in an airtight container at room temperature for up to 5 days. Because these are on the soft side, they stay tender for days, which makes them a good treat to have sitting on the counter all week.
You can also freeze these baked or unbaked. To freeze the dough, scoop it into balls, freeze them on a parchment-lined sheet until solid, then transfer to a labeled freezer bag for up to 3 months. Bake straight from frozen and add 2 to 3 minutes to the baking time. To freeze baked cookies, cool them completely first, then store them in an airtight container or freezer bag with parchment paper between the layers so they do not stick together. They will keep for up to 3 months. Thaw at room temperature or in the refrigerator.
Chocolate Chip and Pumpkin Cookies FAQs
They are on the soft, tender, cake-like side, and that is on purpose. Most pumpkin cookie recipes you will find are working hard to be chewy instead. If a crispy-edged, chewy cookie is what you want, this is not that recipe. If you like a soft pumpkin cookie, you are in the right place.
I tested it using just the yolk since that is the standard trick for cutting moisture in a pumpkin cookie. The difference was not significant enough to make separating an egg every time worth it in my opinion. However, if you want to try it or need egg whites for another recipe, it will work just fine.
Yes. This dough is soft and sticky, making it harder to work with. Unchilled dough also spreads thinner when baking, so taking the thirty minutes in the fridge does makes a real difference in this recipe.
A batch of these only uses a third of a cup, so you will have plenty left. Store it in an airtight container in the fridge for about a week, or freeze it in measured portions. We also have a roundup of recipes for leftover pumpkin puree if you want ideas.
You can, but fresh puree tends to hold more water than canned, which will make an already soft dough even softer. If you go that route, blot it with a paper towel first to draw out some of the extra moisture.
Love This Recipe? Try One of These Pumpkin Recipes Next!
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Soft Pumpkin Cookies with Chocolate Chips
Equipment
- stand mixer -OR- an electric hand mixer or wooden spoon + mixing bowl
Ingredients
- ½ Cup salted butter, softened
- ½ Cup granulated sugar
- ¼ Cup brown sugar (light or dark)
- 1 large egg
- ⅓ Cup 100% pumpkin puree (NOT pumpkin pie filling)
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- ½ teaspoon baking soda
- ¼ teaspoon baking powder
- ¼ teaspoon salt
- 2 teaspoons pumpkin pie spice
- 1 teaspoon cinnamon
- 1 + ½ Cups all-purpose flour
- ½ Cup semi-sweet chocolate chips + more for topping
- optional: flaky salt for topping
Instructions
- Cream the butter and sugars together. In the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment (or in a large bowl with a hand mixer or wooden spoon), cream together the softened butter, granulated sugar, and brown sugar until light and fluffy.½ Cup salted butter, softened½ Cup granulated sugar¼ Cup brown sugar
- Mix in the wet ingredients. Add the egg, pumpkin puree, and vanilla and beat until combined and fluffy.1 large egg⅓ Cup 100% pumpkin puree1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- Slowly add the dry ingredients. Slowly stir in the salt, baking soda, baking powder, pumpkin pie spice, cinnamon, and flour until a dough forms.½ teaspoon baking soda¼ teaspoon baking powder¼ teaspoon salt2 teaspoons pumpkin pie spice1 teaspoon cinnamon1 + ½ Cups all-purpose flour
- Fold in the chocolate chips. Gently stir until they are distributed throughout the dough, holding back a small handful for topping.½ Cup semi-sweet chocolate chips + more for topping
- Cover and chill the dough. Cover with plastic wrap and chill for at least 30 minutes, and up to overnight.
- Preheat and prep. Preheat your oven to 375°F and line a cookie sheet with parchment paper.
- Scoop the dough and top with extra chocolate chips. Using a medium cookie scoop (about 2 tablespoons), scoop the chilled dough onto the lined cookie sheet, spacing the dough balls about 2 inches apart. Press a few extra chocolate chips onto the top of each one.
- Bake for 8 to 10 minutes. Pull them when the edges are set and the centers still look soft.
- Optional: sprinkle with flaky salt as soon as they come out of the oven, while they are still hot.optional: flaky salt for topping
- Cool. Let the cookies cool on the baking sheet for at least 10 minutes before transferring them to a wire rack to cool completely.
Notes
- Switch up your chocolate. Try milk chocolate, white chocolate, dark chocolate, or mini chocolate chips. Or use chunks or a chopped up chocolate bar all work here.
- Use unsalted butter. If unsalted is what you keep on hand you can use it, just bump the salt in the recipe from ¼ teaspoon up to ½ teaspoon.
- Add nuts. Chopped pecans or walnuts stirred in with the chocolate give these a little crunch against all that softness.
- Go heavier on the spice. We’re not skimping on fall spices, but if you want even more, add another half teaspoon of pumpkin pie spice to the dough.
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