Pumpkin Chocolate Chip Cookies
A Perfect Fall Treat: Pumpkin Chocolate Chip Cookies
Like a lot of people, autumn is my absolutely favorite season. I love the weather and the beautiful leaves. I love Halloween and Thanksgiving. Most of all, I love an excuse to be inside and be cozy. My favorite cozy hobby is, of course, baking. The flavors of the season – cinnamon, nutmeg, apples, pumpkin – are perfect for baking warm, cozy treats. These pumpkin chocolate chip cookies are soft, rich, and full of those fall spices and creamy pumpkin puree.
Pumpkin and Chocolate: A Great Pairing!
When I first started thinking about this recipe, I had doubts about how well pumpkin and chocolate would work out together. There’s cinnamon in the batter, too, and chocolate and cinnamon also seemed a little weird. Absolutely no worries there! It turns out pumpkin – and cinnamon – work together to create a warm, not too sweet dessert. I finished off by sprinkling a bit of fleur de sel (some fancy French salt) on top, but you can use sea salt.
Cookie Tips
One of the tricks I have learned while doing all of this baking, is to really take your time creaming the butter and sugar. It really adds some air to the batter and makes the cookies a bit lighter. I use a stand mixer and let the butter and sugar blend for at least three minutes. It also reduces the graininess of the sugar.
Pumpkin Chocolate Chip Cookies and Autumn Spices
I added a few fall spices to the batter in addition to the usual ingredients. Cinnamon, nutmeg, and ground cloves really kick up the pumpkin flavor. Let’s face it: on its own, pumpkin doesn’t have much going for it.
Chocolate: How Much is Too Much?
Chocolate chips. How much do you use? I think there is a fine line between a sufficient amount of chocolate chips and chocolate chips being held together with a little dough. I added ½ cup here. That’s probably because I also knew I was going to add a chocolate wafer to the middle. I would say that’s too much – but no.
Step Up Your Coziness Game
These cookies are just as easy as your basic chocolate chip recipe, but they’ll really help you celebrate autumn the way it is meant to be: a cup of tea, warm spices, and a nice fuzzy blanket. Cozy to the max!
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Pumpkin Chocolate Chip Cookies
Ingredients
- 2 cups all purpose flour
- 1/2 tsp baking soda
- 3/4 cup butter softened
- 1 cup packed brown sugar
- 1/2 cup granulated sugar
- 2 eggs room temp
- 1 tsp vanilla
- 1/3 cup pure pumpkin puree NOT pie filling
- 1 tsp cinnamon
- 1/2 tsp nutmeg
- 1/4 tsp ground cloves
- 3/4 cup mini semisweet chocolate chips
- 4 oz semisweet chocolate 1 per cookies; optional
- fleur de sel or sea salt optional
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 350 degrees.
- Line two baking sheets with parchment paper or silicone mats.
- Whisk the flour and baking soda together in a mixing bowl. Set aside.
- In the bowl of a stand mixer, cream together the butter and sugars. I like to beat them together for about three minutes to add some air to the batter.
- Mix in the eggs, one at a time. I never remember to take out the eggs, so I let them sit in a bowl of really warm water until I get to this step.
- Add the vanilla and mix. Make sure you are scraping the sides and bottom of the bowl with a spatula from time-to-time.
- Mix in the pure pumpkin puree. It make look curdled during this step, but don't worry.
- Add the cinnamon, nutmeg, and ground cloves to the batter.
- Add the flour and baking soda to the batter and mix everything together. Again, make sure you scrape the side and bottom of the bowl.
- Stir in the chocolate chips using a spoon or spatula. If you are not using the chocolate wafers, you can add a bit more than 1/2 cup.
- Scoop the batter onto the prepared trays. I use a small cookie scoop, but you can use a tablespoon. Leave room between the cookies for spreading.
- Chop the semisweet chocolate bar into small pieces.
- Press a few pieces of chopped chocolate into the top of each cookie.
- If you are using the salt – either fleur de del or sea salt – top a little pinch onto the top of each cookie before baking. Oddly, if you do this from a bit high up, it will work out better than holding your hand right over the cookie.
- Bake for seven minutes, then rotate the trays.
- The cookies are done when they are golden, about 13-15 minutes total.
