Chewy Chocolate Chip Pumpkin Cookies
This recipe was written by contributing author, Lily Mazzocco. Learn more about Lily on our Contributors page!
Every holiday season I look forward to my family’s annual Cookie Exchange, when my mom, sister, and I invite our friends and neighbors for a few hours of cookie sampling and recipe sharing. Indisputably, the best part of the party is making a huge cookie plate with a few of each attendee’s favorite cookie at the end of the night. Since we’ll all be celebrating a little differently this holiday, this year we’re opting to make a small plate of cookies and drop them off safely at each of our regular guests’ houses. These simply delicious cookies will definitely be on everyone’s plate!
After discovering this recipe earlier this fall, it’s quickly become one of my go-to’s for procrastination baking or gifts to remind a friend I’m thinking of them. These cookies are chewy, soft, and even better a couple of days later. One of my favorite parts of this recipe is the ease of modification to make it work for anyone—the recipe is vegan in nature as the pumpkin omits the need for an egg. Plant-based butter, dairy-free chocolate chips, and the opportunity to swap the all-purpose flour for a gluten-free 1:1 substitution make this recipe enjoyable for everyone!
Recipe adapted from Adrianna Guevara Adarme (@acozykitchen)
Ingredients
1/2 cup pumpkin puree
2/3 cup packed brown sugar
1/4 cup granulated sugar
1/4 cup plant-based butter, melted
1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon kosher salt
1 teaspoon pumpkin pie spice, (make your own using 1/2 teaspoon cinnamon, 1/4 teaspoon nutmeg, 1/4 teaspoon ginger, 1/4 teaspoon cloves)
1/3 cup dairy-free mini chocolate chips
Preparation:
In a large bowl, whisk pumpkin puree, both sugars, and melted butter until smooth.
In a separate medium-sized bowl, mix the flour, baking soda, salt, and pumpkin pie spice.
Pour the flour mixture into the pumpkin mixture, and fold it in using a spatula to create a dough. The dough will appear very dry at first, but keep folding until everything is incorporated and there are only a few steaks of flour in the dough.
Fold in the chocolate chips until just combined, incorporating any remaining streaks of flour.
Cover the bowl with plastic wrap and transfer to the fridge for 30 minutes to 1 hour. The longer the dough cools, the less tacky it will be when forming cookies.
Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C). Line two baking sheets with reusable silicone liners, parchment paper or foil will also work.
Using about a tablespoon of dough each, form 18 cookies and divide them evenly among the two cookie sheets. My trick for shaping chewy cookies is to roll the dough into a ball, then split it in half and stack the two halves with the rough-split edges facing down; this prevents them from spreading as much.
Bake for 14-16 minutes until the edges look firm. Allow the cookies to cool on the baking sheets for 5 minutes to firm up before transferring to a wire cooling rack. Cool completely before serving or storing in an air-tight container for up to a week.
Considerations:
Try to bring your own bags when you go shopping for these ingredients, and choose bulk plastic-free options when possible.
Make sure you have a plan for the extra ingredients! While all ingredients in this recipe will last a long time if stored properly, if you use canned pumpkin puree this recipe will not use up the whole can. Try to plan a way to #UseItUp with the rest of that pumpkin, or double the batch!
You can use canned pumpkin for this recipe, or you can make your own pumpkin puree (old holiday decorations anyone?!). This recipe is a great place to learn how to make your own pumpkin puree. Making your own can be more time consuming than opening a can, but it is one way to reduce your packaging and buy locally.
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