These Brown Butter Pumpkin Chocolate Chip Cookies are ALL THE THINGS.
Loaded with spices (cinnamon, nutmeg, cloves), a heavy hand of vanilla, brown sugar and the magic of brown butter, these Pumpkin Chocolate Chip Cookies deliver on all fronts.
For texture they are soft, chewy and are still soft two days later (you will love them!).
This recipe recently got a glow-up and is now one bowl! And, it needs no mixer, just your beautiful arms.
Let’s make some delicious Pumpkin Chocolate Chip Cookies!
The Baker’s Guide to Measuring Flour
One of the biggest (and most common) mistakes in baking is how we measure flour. If you find yourself without a scale, see my top tips on how to properly measure flour for the perfect amount every time!
The Magic of Browning Butter
My number one (only?) reason for browning butter is that the flavor it imparts on baked goods is next level. Think of flavors like toffee and caramel being added to your cookie without actually adding toffee and caramel.
Browning butter only takes about 5 minutes, with an additional 5-ish minutes more for it to cool before using. It’s literally the only element keeping this from being a true, one-bowl recipe (because we need the saucepan for browning).
When browning butter, moisture in the butter evaporates. This is why I like to get in and brown my butter quick as the longer your saucepan is on the hot burner the more moisture will evaporate.
When you brown butter, you loose volume. A stick of butter (US) weighs 113 g. Post browning it will weigh about 83 grams.
If you start with 8 tablespoons (113 g) of butter and follow my browning butter instructions below, I don’t think you need to then, again, weigh your brown butter (unless out of curiosity). But this is a good baking fact to stash away for all of your brown butter baking.
I have a full brown butter tutorial here!
Favorite Brown Butter Recipes
Adding brown butter really elevates these recipes: Brown Butter Chocolate Chip Bar Cookies, Spiced Apple Cake With Brown Butter Buttercream, Soft & Chewy Brown Butter Snickerdoodles, Pumpkin Bourbon Cake With Brown Butter Bourbon Buttercream and Brown Butter Banana Bread.
Here is a complete list of Brown Butter Recipes on DisplacedHousewife!
Tools for Making These
Brown Butter Pumpkin Chocolate Chip Cookies Fabulous
These are pretty fuss-free cookies to bake, these are my favorite tools:
I love this small, light-colored Williams-Sonoma sauce pan for browning butter.
These spoonulas from GIR are my absolute favorites right now (I love the soft blue).
My favorite nested, heat-safe bowls for any baking occasion! I love them so.
That beautiful Williams-Sonoma whisk with the wooden handle. It’s so pretty. When I’m being practical (and not making videos), this Material whisk is THE BOMB. I love their stuff!
Don’t forget my favorite scale. I wrote both of my books with this one, it will serve you well on your baking journey!
More Cookies Please!
I want all the brown butter and chocolate chip cookies! Check out: Brown Butter Chocolate Chip Cookies, Soft & Chewy Brown Butter Snickerdoodles, Chewy Oatmeal Chocolate Chip Cookies and you can find all the cookie recipes here!
Enjoy your Brown Butter Pumpkin Chocolate Chip Cookies!
Brown Butter Pumpkin Chocolate Chip Cookies
Ingredients
- 83 grams unsalted brown butter (about 8 tablespoons (113 g) unsalted butter before browning)
- 1/3 cup (81 g) pure pumpkin puree (don't get pumpkin pie filling)
- 1/3 cup (67 g) sunflower or grapeseed oil (or other neutral-flavored oil)
- 1 tablespoon (13 g) real vanilla extract
- 2 teaspoons (4 g) cinnamon
- 1/2 teaspoon nutmeg
- 1/4 teaspoon cloves
- 1 teaspoon (6 g) sea salt
- 2 large eggs (cold)
- 3/4 cup (165 g) light brown sugar, packed
- 3/4 cup (150 g) granulated sugar
- 1 teaspoon baking powder
- 1 teaspoon baking soda
- 3 cups (405 g) all-purpose flour (how to measure flour)
- 1 1/2 cups (255 g) dark chocolate (coarsely chopped or chips)
- Sea salt flakes (optional)
Instructions
- Preheat your oven to 350℉ (177℃). Cover several baking sheets with parchment paper.
- Place 8 tablespoons (113 g) butter in a small sauce pan and melt over medium heat. Once melted, crank up the heat to medium high. Stand by, continuously stirring and watching. Small golden bits will start to settle on the bottom of the pan. Once this happens, take it off the heat and pour into a large, heat-safe bowl to cool until closer to room temperature, but still liquid.(For more details on browning butter, check out my How to Perfectly Brown Butter tutorial)
- To the slightly cooled browned butter, add the pumpkin, oil, vanilla, cinnamon, nutmeg, cloves and salt, whisking to combine. Add in the eggs, whisking for about 1 minute or until thoroughly blended. Add in the brown sugar, sugar, baking powder and baking soda, and whisk for about 1 minute more or until the mixture is thick and well combined.
- Grab a spatula and mix in the flour until just barely combined. Add the chocolate stirring until evenly distributed throughout. Don't overmix.
- Scoop 2-tbsp dough balls and set 2-inches (5-cm) apart on the prepared baking sheet. Bake each sheet for 11 minutes in the center of the oven. They will appear slightly undone, that's perfect. They will appear puffed and then they will collapse on themselves. Let cool for 5 minutes before transferring to a cooling rack. If you're feeling frisky, sprinkle with sea salt flakes and serve!
Notes
Freezing Ya Balls
For long-term storage wrap the entire lump of cookie dough tightly (in plastic wrap, ideally) and then stash in an air-tight container. For short-term storage (I’m talking about wanting to have a fresh cookie (or two) every night after dinner), freeze the cookie dough balls on a parchment-lined baking sheet. Once frozen, after several hours, stash in an air-tight container. When baking, they can go straight from the freezer to the oven, just tack on a few extra minutes to the bake time. This will result in a puffier cookie. If you want the cookies to look similar to the photos here, then let the dough come closer to room temperature (just sitting out while you pre-heat the oven is fine). Add 1 to 2 minutes bake time if the dough still has a slight chill. *Please note that this particular cookie dough will yield a puffier cookie the longer the dough is chilled.Want More Cookie Inspo?
Head over to My 10 Favorite Tips for Better Cookies!Want a Brown Butter Refresher?
Check out my How to Make Perfect Brown Butter tutorial.
Hi Rebecca, I bought The Cookie Book Decadent Bites yesterday, I realize you always mix butter with natural oil, is there any particular reason on doing that. I would think Butter will have most balanced flavor? And natural oil will make the cookies a bit oily?
Hey Cherlene!
I apologize for the delay in getting back to you! Thank you so much for buying the book — I hope you are enjoying it!!! I love to mix my fats — butter gives lots of flavor and oil gives a soft texture. Your cookies shouldn’t be oily. Make sure you really mix the fats/wet ingredients together and you should be all good! Let me know how it goes!!
R xoxo
Hi
Do you mean the small Trader Joe’s chocolate bars or the 1 pound bars?
Hi Erika! I’m so sorry it took me a bit to get back to you!! So I’m referencing the bars that are towards the exit of TJs and they’re about 2.5/3 ounces each? I don’t have them in front of me…but they definitely aren’t the 1 pound ones…they’re the smaller candy bar-size ones. I hope this helps. Have fun baking!! xoxo
Made these for a Halloween party at work to RAVE reviews. Perfect soft and fluffy texture!
Rebeccah — Yes!! That’s what I like to hear!! I’m so glad that you loved them!! xoxo
Would these be good to ship?
Hi Rick — Yes, I think these would ship great!!
R xo
Made a batch of these last night and they were incredible!! Quick to whip up, perfectly soft and spiced and yeah, that smell is kind of intoxicating. Thanks for the recipe!
Lauren — This is so good to hear! I’m so glad you liked them…I was just thinking about making a batch myself!! xoxo
Hey girl! These were so much easier to make than I thought. My only question/concern – my dough is definitely less like cookie dough and not as able to run into balls – it’s definitely a little more soupy. I cut the recipe in half, does that matter?
Hey Addie! Hmm…soupy doesn’t sound quite right. The only way that cutting it in half would affect the outcome would be if the measurements weren’t exact. You could try putting the dough in the fridge (wrapped in plastic wrap) for 30+ minutes. That could help firm up the dough. Since the dough is soft, you might also want to put the dough balls in the freezer for a stint prior to baking, to help keep spread to a minimum. Please let me know how they turned out!! My guess on the soupiness is that there was too much butter or oil OR not enough flour in there when you halved it? But I’m just guessing!!! Good luck!
Why thanks Kate — that’s so sweet of you to say!!! I was so happy/surprised when that happen. Her photo was AMAZING!!! I oved it. I’m so glad it brought you here!! I’m going to check out your site now!! Lots of love.
Rebecca
xoxo
i’ll leave the comment here, since this was my entry into your site (thanks food52 and instagram!) but, really, it applies everywhere: you are hilarious. i have thoroughly enjoyed the past (mumblemumble) minutes (hours?) i have spent clicking around on your site, reading stories and delicious sounding recipes. you are awesome. the end.
Don’t tell anyone but… I’m so ready for anything pumpkin spice! ;) These cookies are everything!
Hey Laura!! I was ready for fall too…until it got really cold this morning and then I was like…hmmm…maybe a couple more weeks of summer wouldn’t be too bad!! xoxo
YEEEEEES! Love Fall! Love pumpkin! Love cookies! Could eat these year ’round no problem. Pinned!
Wishing I had a huge stack of these right now with my coffee….now, that’s what I call a good start to the week ;)
Have a good one!
Hey Dawn! I wish I could share!! Thanks so much for pinning and have a great week!! xoxo
These sound absolutely, fabulously fall Rebecca! I’ve already seen Christmas decorations out in a store or two, so I guess it’s appropriate to hop on the fall bandwagon! (with my shorts and flip flops on of course!) Can’t wait for your upcoming recipes!
Thank you Mary Ann!! I truly love summer (berries…tomatoes…flip flops…)…but I’m excited for fall and winter too!! Especially fall…I love the pears, apples and, of course, pumpkins!! I hope you’re enjoying this long weekend!! xoxo
I agree with Stella this cookie tastes like fall and I can’t even taste them. I can’t believe how fast this year flew by but I’m not complaining, this is the time of year where I let up on my strict diet and indulge a little, these cookies fit the bill. I enjoy anything and everything pumpkin, you could say I’m semi-obsessed with it and who doesn’t love chocolate chunk cookies! Beautiful Beautiful Beautiful
I seriously can’t believe how fast the year has gone by. But, I’m not complaining either…it’s been a good one. This is a great cookie to splurge on…I’m totally biased…but I promise!! xoxo
Holy cookie heaven up in here!! These look beyond fabulous! Even my clinging-to-all-things-summer self is swooning hard core over these pumpkin spiced and chocolate studded beauties! These look perfectly soft and absolutely delicious… Makes me almost ready to embrace fall, and trust me that is saying A LOT! Pinned!! Cheers, friend!
Thanks so much Cheyanne!!! I feel the same way…want to hang onto summer. But these spices get me every time!! xoxo