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Few desserts capture the cozy spirit of fall like a giant pumpkin chocolate chip cookie. It’s everything you love about a classic chocolate chip cookie—soft centers, crisp edges, melty chocolate—blended with the warm spice and subtle sweetness of pumpkin. It’s oversized, festive, and guaranteed to make your kitchen smell like autumn.

The pumpkin helps give this cookie its tender, gooey middle, while still keeping those crisp, golden edges. Each bite is a perfect balance of cozy pumpkin spice and rich chocolate—like a hug in cookie form.

Best of all, it’s as easy as it is impressive. Simple, cozy, and undeniably fall.

Why You’ll LOVE These Cookies

Pumpkin and warm spices meet melty chocolate for the ultimate fall cookie—big flavor!
Speaking of big… these cookies are BIG and perfect for sharing (or not, I’m not judging)
Crisp outside and perfectly underdone on the inside
Surprisingly simple to make and can be stored in the freezer for a future quick fix

Here’s what you’ll need:

Kitchen staples – Butter, brown sugar, granulated sugar, flour
Chocolate – Dark or semisweet to add a bit of bitterness to balance the sweetness
Pumpkin puree – No need to complicate things, the stuff from the can is perfect
Spices – No pumpkin pie spice here—we’re creating our own ideal blend of seasonal spices
Kitchen scale – Be precise with measurements to have cookies come out just right

Pumpkin Chocolate Chip Cookie Tips

Brown butter. It’s an extra step, yes, but soooo worth the added nuttiness and depth it adds. Make your brown butter ahead of time so that it has time to get cold in the fridge.

Oven temp. You’ll notice the oven is HOT for these cookies—425°F to be exact. The contrast between the cold dough and the hot oven means we get crisp, set outsides while keeping the centers gooey and soft. If you notice your dough isn’t cold after mixing, simply pop the dough in the fridge for an hour before baking.

Pumpkin puree. Pumpkin puree adds quite a bit of moisture to a recipe, and so to control that we lightly blot it with a paper towel before adding.

How to make these cookies:

Create brown butter by starting with unsalted butter in a medium pot and heating over medium heat, stirring constantly, until brown and fragrant. Remove and refrigerate until cold and solid.
In a large bowl or a stand mixer with a paddle attachment, beat cold brown butter and sugars until sandy. Add flour, spices, baking powder, and salt and incorporate. Add pumpkin puree and vanilla and incorporate. Add chocolate and mix just to distribute.
Portion dough and place on lined baking sheet. Leave plenty of space between them.
Bake until outside is set and lightly browned. Let cookies cool on the pan for 15 minutes before transferring to a wire rack to cool completely.
While cookies are cooling, make cream cheese frosting.
Top cookies with frosting once completely cool, and enjoy!

FAQ

Most dark or semisweet chocolates work well here. Look for something listed as between 55%-75%.

No need to go crazy here—I find that lightly blotting is sufficient, which really just means dabbing it with a paper towel thoroughly. It doesn’t need to be run through a cheese cloth for this recipe.

Yes! Finished dough can be portioned, rolled into balls, and frozen for several months. To bake from frozen, simply allow for a slightly longer bake time.

Shop The Tools I Use

Kitchen scale: https://amzn.to/48OrR0f
KitchenAid stand mixer: https://amzn.to/4oF2VNd
Baking half sheet pans: https://amzn.to/4okmdI4
Cooling rack (half sheet): https://amzn.to/43K7zBv
3-Quart sauce pan: https://amzn.to/49rxq4W

“This is the poster child cookie for autumn.” – Steve C.

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Ingredients

Cookies

200 grams brown butter (cold)
175 grams brown sugar
100 grams granulated sugar
300 grams all-purpose flour
5 grams ground cinnamon
2 grams ground nutmeg
2 grams ground ginger
2 grams ground clove
10 grams baking powder
5 grams salt
100 grams pumpkin puree (blotted)
10 grams vanilla extrat
300 grams dark or semisweet chocolate (roughly chopped)

Cream Cheese Frosting

113 grams unsalted butter (room temperature)
226 grams full-fat cream cheese (room temperature)
350 grams powdered sugar (+50 grams reserve, if needed)
5 grams vanilla extract
Pinch of salt

Instructions

Cookies

Create brown butter ahead of time by starting with unsalted butter in a medium pot and heating over medium heat, stirring constantly, until brown and fragrant. Remove and refrigerate until cold and solid. Measure weight of brown butter after cooling.
Preheat oven to 425F. Line baking sheet(s) with parchment paper.
In a large bowl or the bowl of a stand mixer with a paddle attachment, beat cold brown butter, brown sugar, and granulated sugar until a wet sand consistency, about 2 minutes. Scrape down the bowl as necessary. Note, do not cream the butter and sugar.
With the mixer on low, add flour, spices, baking powder, and salt, mixing just until incorporated and a crumbly consistency.
Add pumpkin puree and vanilla extract and mix just until the dough begins to clump together. Add roughly chopped dark chocolate (or dark chocolate chips) and mix to evenly distribute.
Portion dough into 125g balls, loosely packed together, and place onto lined baking sheet at least 2 inches apart.
Bake until outside is set and lightly browned, about 12-14 minutes. Let the cookies cool on the pan for at least 15 minutes before transferring to a wire rack to cool completely.

Cream Cheese Frosting

While cookies are cooling, make cream cheese frosting. In a large bowl or bowl of a stand mixer with a paddle attachment, beat cream cheese and butter together until smooth. Add powdered sugar, vanilla extract, and salt and continue mixing until combined. For thicker frosting, add reserve powdered sugar as well.
Top cookies with cream cheese frosting once completely cool.

Notes

* Dough can be made ahead of time, rolled into balls, and frozen in an airtight container for several months. To bake from frozen, simply allow for a slightly longer bake time.

Did you make this recipe?

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