Description
These cookies deliver molten chocolate pockets, warm spice, and that addictively soft, chewy center you crave. We build chewiness with browned butter and a concentrated (blotted) pumpkin puree — no cakey crumb here, just fudge-like texture and big flavor.
Ingredients
- 1 cup (226 g) unsalted butter — for browning
- 2/3 cup (160 g) pumpkin puree (Libby’s or similar), room temp, dried (see notes)
- 1/2 cup (100 g) granulated sugar
- 1/2 cup (100 g) packed light brown sugar
- 2 large egg yolks, room temperature
- 2 tsp vanilla extract
- 1 2/3 cups + 1 Tbsp (≈220 g) all-purpose flour
- 2 1/2 tsp pumpkin pie spice (or your blend of cinnamon/ginger/nutmeg/clove)
- 1 tsp baking soda
- 1/2 tsp fine sea salt
- 1 cup (125 g) finely chopped chocolate bar or chocolate chips
Instructions
Prep
Preheat your oven to 350°F (180°C). Line baking sheets with parchment or silicone.
Brown the butter
Melt the butter in a light-colored pan over medium heat. It will foam, quiet, then develop toasty brown bits and a nutty aroma — that’s your cue. Pour the browned butter into a glass container and chill it in the fridge, stirring occasionally, until it’s thickened but still pourable (aim for about 75°F / 24°C). You want it cool, not solid.
Bold tip: Watch the butter closely while browning — it turns from perfect to burnt fast.
Dry the pumpkin
Spread the pumpkin puree thinly on a plate. Press it with fresh paper towels, swap them out, and keep blotting until the puree loses excess liquid and feels like a soft, slightly tacky dough. You should end up with roughly 1/3 cup (75 g) of concentrated pumpkin.
Bold tip: Blotting is critical — too-wet pumpkin = cakey cookies.
Make the cookie base
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Whisk the cooled brown butter with both sugars for about one minute until it looks pale and slightly grainy — think “wet sand.”
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Add the egg yolks and vanilla; whisk to combine. Stir in the dried pumpkin until smooth.
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Gently fold in the flour, pumpkin spice, baking soda, and salt. Stop when the dough just comes together. Fold in the chopped chocolate. Avoid overmixing.
Shape & bake
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Use a 3-tablespoon scoop to portion dough (you’ll get ~15 cookies). Roll each scoop between your palms and place them 2–3 inches apart on the prepared sheets. For extra melty chocolate pools, press a few larger chocolate pieces onto each mound before baking.
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Bake one tray at a time for 9–13 minutes, until the edges are golden and the centers still look slightly underdone.
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Right out of the oven, press a round cookie cutter around each cookie’s edge to nudge up the sides for a thicker, perfectly round shape. Let cookies cool completely on the pan before transferring.
Bold baking tip: Bigger scoops = gooey centers. Don’t be shy — these cookies want mass.
Notes
- Storage & make-ahead
- Keep baked cookies in an airtight container at room temperature for 2–3 days.
- You can chill or freeze the scooped dough: refrigerate for up to a few days, or freeze for longer. Thaw in the fridge before baking (about 1 hour from chilled; ~2 hours from fully frozen dough).
- To refresh slightly stale cookies, warm them in a 300°F oven for 3–5 minutes.
- Extra notes & troubleshooting
- Flour measuring matters. Fluff, spoon, and level your flour — don’t scoop directly from the bag. Better yet, use a kitchen scale.
- If cookies are cakey: You probably didn’t blot the pumpkin enough or you added too much flour.
- If cookies spread too flat: Your oven could be running cool, you may have over-chilled the butter incorrectly, or the dough needed a touch more flour.
- For chocolate “puddles”: Chop the chocolate into larger chunks and press extra pieces onto tops right before baking.
- Prep Time: 1 hour 30 minutes
- Cook Time: 11 minutes
- Category: Dessert