These soft Pumpkin Chocolate Chip Cookies, made with pumpkin puree, pumpkin spice, and cream cheese, have a cake-like texture and lots of pumpkin flavor!
Soft Pumpkin Chocolate Chip Cookies
My daughter Madison loves pumpkin spice, so she devoured these Pumpkin Chocolate Chip Cookies when I was testing them. I adapted them slightly from these pumpkin cookies with chocolate glaze, and I think they’re even better! I see many box cake recipes for cookies, which have a similar texture, but making them from scratch means the ingredients are a bit cleaner. More pumpkin recipes you may like are my Pumpkin Pie, Pumpkin Roll, or these Chocolate Chip Pumpkin Muffins.
Pumpkin Chocolate Chip Cookies Ingredients
- Cream cheese: Use four ounces of reduced-fat cream cheese.
- Butter: Let two tablespoons of unsalted butter soften at room temperature.
- Sweetener: I made these healthy pumpkin chocolate chip cookies with regular monk fruit and golden monk fruit. You can also use granulated and brown sugars.
- Egg: You’ll need one large egg.
- Pumpkin: Measure a half cup of canned pumpkin puree. If you have homemade, you can use it.
- Buttermilk: If you don’t have buttermilk, pour ¾ teaspoons of lemon juice or vinegar into a measuring cup and fill the rest with 1% milk until you reach the quarter-cup mark.
- Flavor: Vanilla extract and pumpkin spice
- Flour: You’ll need all-purpose flour.
- Baking Soda and Baking Powder help the cookies rise and make them more tender.
- Salt balances the sweetness and improves the flavor and texture.
- Chocolate Chips: I used Lily’s sugar-free chocolate chips, but regular will work too.
How to Make Pumpkin Chocolate Chip Cookies
- Prep: Preheat the oven to 350°F, and line three baking sheets with a silicone mat or parchment paper. You can also prep only one tray and bake the cookies in batches.
- Wet Ingredients: Beat the cream cheese, butter, and sugars in a large bowl until light and fluffy. Add the egg and beat, followed by the pumpkin, buttermilk, and vanilla.
- Dry Ingredients: Whisk the flour, pumpkin spice, baking soda, salt, and baking powder in another bowl. Gradually stir the flour into the pumpkin mixture.
- Bake: Drop heaping tablespoons of the dough (one ounce each) on the prepared sheet pan. Bake for 14 to 15 minutes, rotating the sheets halfway. Transfer to a wire rack to cool.
Storage
Store 2 days in an air tight container room temperature or up to 7 days in the refrigerator. Before serving them, let the cookies come to room temperature. You can also freeze them up to 3 months.
What can be done with leftover canned pumpkin?
Since you only need a half cup of pumpkin for these chocolate chip cookies, you’ll have quite a bit left over. You could make another pumpkin recipe, like this Creamy Pumpkin Polenta, Whole Wheat Pumpkin Pancakes, or Pumpkin Smoothie. Or freeze the remaining puree in ice cube trays. When you need it for another dish, thaw some cubes in the fridge and use the puree as normal.
More Pumpkin Cookie Recipes You’ll Love
Yield: 18 servings
Serving Size: 2 cookies
-
Preheat oven to 350F. Line 3 baking sheets with a silicone mat or silpat (or bake in batches).
-
In a large bowl, beat cream cheese, butter and sugars together until light and fluffy, about 2 minutes.
-
Add the egg; beat well. Mix in pumpkin, buttermilk and vanilla.
-
In another bowl combine flour, pumpkin spice, baking soda, salt and baking powder; gradually add to pumpkin mixture; mix well.
-
Drop by heaping tablespoonfuls, 1 ounce each, 2 inches apart onto the silicone lined baking sheets.
-
Bake 14 to 15 minutes or until golden, rotating the baking sheets halfway.
-
Remove to wire rack to cool.
Last Step:
Please leave a rating and comment letting us know how you liked this recipe! This helps our business to thrive and continue providing free, high-quality recipes for you.
Serving: 2 cookies, Calories: 95 kcal, Carbohydrates: 25.5 g, Protein: 2.5 g, Fat: 3.5 g, Saturated Fat: 2 g, Cholesterol: 15 mg, Sodium: 107 mg, Fiber: 3 g, Sugar: 1 g
