Thin and Chewy Chocolate Chunk Pumpkin Cookies
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My Thin and Chewy Chocolate Chunk Pumpkin Cookies are the epitome of Fall baking – filled with warm spices, rich chocolate, nutty brown butter, and pumpkin puree.
I am so excited for cozy sweaters, crisp Autumn air, and all things pumpkin. These pumpkin cookies feel sophisticated yet are simple to make. No stand mixers or chill time are required to put them together, and the small extra step of making the brown butter takes them to the next level.
The chocolate and pumpkin combination is just so good, and if you love it too you’ll need to make my Pumpkin Brownies, Pumpkin Puppy Chow, and this Pumpkin Fudge.
Why this recipe works
- Perfectly Spiced: The pumpkin is infused with warm spices like cinnamon, nutmeg, and cloves, creating that classic fall flavor we all love.
- Soft and Chewy: These cookies have a soft and chewy texture, thanks to the melted brown butter and perfect ratio of dry ingredients.
- Chocolatey Goodness: Instead of regular chocolate chips, I use chunks of dark chocolate, which melt into gooey pockets of deliciousness and also make the cookies look beautiful.
- No need to blot the pumpkin: Some baked goods require the moisture from the canned pumpkin to be blotted out with paper towels, but this step is not necessary for these cookies. The moisture keeps them soft for days and ultra-chewy!
Ingredient Notes
Scroll down to the recipe card for the complete list of ingredients and measurements.
- Pumpkin Puree: Be sure to use the 100% pumpkin puree and not the pumpkin pie filling.
- Butter: choose unsalted butter, and visit this post on how to brown butter for an easy tutorial.
- Sugar: I like using more brown sugar than white sugar in this recipe to make the cookies chewy. The molasses content in the dark brown sugar gives the cookies a subtle caramel flavor, which plays nicely with the brown butter and pumpkin.
- Egg yolk: just the yolk is needed, you can save the egg white for breakfast the next day! Make sure it’s at room temperature to help it blend more easily with the other ingredients.
- Flour: all-purpose flour is the only flour I’ve tested this cookie recipe with. Measure flour accurately by spooning it into the measuring cup and leveling it off. Too much flour can make the cookies dense and dry.
- Pumpkin Pie Spice: instead of taking out several different spices, I am keeping it simple and just adding pumpkin pie spice into these cookies.
- Chocolate chunks: I love how these cookies look with chopped chocolate pieces, but feel free to use your favorite chocolate chips instead.
Step by Step Directions
Be sure to scroll down to the recipe card for the full recipe instructions.
Brown butter
Check out my how to brown butter blog post if you need some guidance. Then whisk in the sugars.
Add in yolk, vanilla, and pumpkin
Whisk until combined and smooth.
Dry ingredients
Fold in the dry ingredients just until mostly combined.
Chopped chocolate chunks
Fold in about 3/4 cup chopped chocolate chunks.
Scoop & bake
Scoop into 2 Tbsp. cookie dough balls, dunk in more chocolate chunks, then bake for ~8 minutes.
Done!
Garnish with a little hit of flaky sea salt, and enjoy!
Success Tips
- Don’t Overmix the Dough: Mix the dough just until the ingredients are combined. Over mixing can develop too much gluten, making the cookies tough. To combat this, I like to fold in the dry ingredients just until no more dry flour pockets are left.
- Do not over bake. These cookies look very soft and slightly under baked when you take them out of the oven. But they will settle and create a fudgy soft center in the middle as they cool.
- Do not crowd the baking sheet. I like to bake 6 cookies at a time. Overcrowding the cookies can lead to the cookies baking into each other and creating wonky shaped cookies. We want the heat to circulate evenly around the cookies so if you find your cookies are spreading too much, bake less cookies on your sheet at one time.
Storage
- Store these chocolate chunk pumpkin cookies in a sealed container at room temperature for up to 5 days, or in the freezer for up to 3 months.
- To freeze the cookie dough, scoop the dough into 2 Tbsp. balls, press the chocolate pieces on top and freeze in a single layer in an airtight container for up to 3 months. You can bake the frozen cookie dough from frozen, just add an extra minute or so to your bake time. Ovens vary.
- Make Ahead: You can make the cookie dough and chill it in the refrigerator for up to 2–3 days. Allow to come to room temperature then continue to bake as directed.
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Ingredients
- 3/4 cup unsalted butter, browned
- 1 cup dark brown sugar, packed
- 1/4 cup granulated sugar
- 1/3 cup 100% pumpkin puree
- 1 large egg yolk, room temperature
- 2 tsp. vanilla extract
- 2 cups all-purpose flour, spooned and leveled
- 2 tsp. pumpkin pie spice
- 1 tsp. baking soda
- 1/2 tsp. baking powder
- 1/2 tsp. salt
- 2, 4 oz. semi-sweet chocolate bars, chopped, divided
- maldon flaky sea salt, for finishing
Last step! If you make this, please leave a review and rating letting us know how you liked this recipe! This helps our business thrive & continue providing free recipes.
Instructions
- Brown the butter. For a detailed tutorial, see this post on how to brown butter. Allow brown butter to cool at room temperature for just 10-15 minutes so it’s not super hot.3/4 cup unsalted butter, browned
- Whisk the sugars into the brown butter, being sure to break up any clumps of the brown sugar.1 cup dark brown sugar, packed, 1/4 cup granulated sugar
- Then, whisk in the pumpkin, egg yolk, and vanilla.1/3 cup 100% pumpkin puree, 1 large egg yolk, room temperature, 2 tsp. vanilla extract
- In another bowl, whisk together the dry ingredients. Add in the dry ingredients and fold just until combined.2 cups all-purpose flour, spooned and leveled, 2 tsp. pumpkin pie spice, 1 tsp. baking soda, 1/2 tsp. baking powder, 1/2 tsp. salt
- Fold in about ¾ cup of the chopped chocolate.2, 4 oz. semi-sweet chocolate bars, chopped, divided
- Allow cookie dough to sit at room temperature for just about 5-10 minutes so it feels more like a cookie dough (flour will hydrate). If the dough feels overly thick, you can add a splash of whole milk.
- Preheat the oven to 350°F. Line 2 baking sheets with parchment paper or silicone baking mats.
- Scoop the cookie dough using a 2 Tbsp. cookie scoop, and dunk the cookie dough ball in the remaining chopped chocolate pieces so the chocolate covers the tops of the cookie dough balls. Press the chocolate pieces into the cookie slightly to be sure it sticks. You can also slightly flatten the cookie dough all so you get a good surface. Repeat with remaining cookie dough balls and place 6 cookies on a baking sheet at a time.
- Bake for ~8 minutes. Cookies should look set along what edges, middle might look a little underdone, but that’s perfect. Cool on the cookie sheet just for a few minutes, then carefully transfer to wire rack to cool completely. Garnish with flaky sea salt and dig in! If your cookies feel very soft, you can pop them in the fridge and they'll firm up a little 🤗maldon flaky sea salt, for finishing
Video
Notes
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- Store these chocolate chunk pumpkin cookies in a sealed container at room temperature for up to 5 days, or in the freezer for up to 3 months.
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- To freeze the cookie dough, scoop the dough into 2 Tbsp. balls, press the chocolate pieces on top, and freeze in a single layer in an airtight container for up to 3 months. You can bake the frozen cookie dough from frozen, just add an extra minute or so to your bake time. Ovens vary.
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- Make Ahead: You can make the cookie dough and chill it in the refrigerator for up to 2–3 days. Allow to come to room temperature then continue to bake as directed.
- 3/4 cup butter = 12 Tbsp.
Nutrition Information
Nutritional information is provided as a courtesy and is automatically calculated. It should only be construed as an estimate rather than a guarantee. Ingredients can vary and Kroll’s Korner can’t make any guarantees to the accuracy of this information.
Hola! Me gusta mucho el tema de las galletas. Quería preguntar si puedes suministrar las cantidades en gr de cada ingrediente ya que estoy en Latinoamérica y las tazas varían
Hello! yes if you click on metric, those conversions are available to you 🙂 i hope you love these!
These are so easy to make and packed full of pumpkin flavor; however, I’ve made this recipe three times and neither time have the cookies come out thin and crispy. What would cause the cookies to not thin out while baking? I’m stumped here
Thank you so much for making the recipe! Hmm, baking is so tricky! Are you spooning and leveling off the flour when measuring?
This was a great fall take on chocolate chip cookies! Super easy to follow and very delicious–everyone in the family was a big fan!
I wasn’t sure if I was ready for Fall or pumpkin anything until I saw this recipe and I had to try! Thanks again for hitting it out of the park and teaching me how to master the browned butter! I made these for my coworkers at the hospital and they all wanted the recipe. The proportions of the flavors were spot on and I used milk chocolate bc it’s what I had on hand. Thanks for making me look like a baker once again! I love all of your recipes and know I will succeed with them bc they are easy to follow. Pumpkin bread will be next!
I wasn’t sure if I was ready for Fall or pumpkin anything until I saw this recipe and I had to try! Thanks again for hitting it out of the park and teaching me how to master the browned butter! I made these for my coworkers at the hospital and they all wanted the recipe. The proportions of the flavors were spot on and I used milk chocolate bc it’s what I had on hand. Thanks for making me look like a baker once again! I love all of your recipes and know I will succeed with them bc they are easy to follow. Pulling bread will be next!
Soooooo yummy and easy to make! I ate so much batter too before baking because I just couldn’t wait! I do say however, I felt like the chocolate chunks on top of the cookie were a little overpowering and rich where I couldn’t taste the flavors of the cookie very much. I made a batch without the additional chunks on top and to me it tasted perfect!
Totally a hit – I made them to take to work and they were gone within an hour. I had so many people come to my desk to compliment on how good they were! Will definitely make again!
P.S. – my oven just might be older but my cook time was 11 minutes, instead of 8!
Really good
thank you!