Key Ingredients
Chocolate chips – A mix of high quality mini and regular semi sweet chocolate chips. I also like to add a couple of dark chocolate chips at the end of baking. The dark chocolate balances the sweetness and spices in the cookies- but it is totally up to you!
Brown Butter – High quality European style butter browned makes for the most flavorful and nutty cookie.
Pumpkin puree – Canned pumpkin, not pumpkin pie mix to add the perfect amount of moisture and softness.
Cozy Spices – Cinnamon, homemade pumpkin spice (store bought is totally fine) Not only enhance the chocolate flavor, but add that iconic aroma and fall flare!
Espresso Powder – A recent addition! No this does not make the cookies taste like coffee. When added to the warm brown butter, the espresso powder blooms and later enhances all of the wonderful flavors in this cookie.
Brown & Granulated Sugar – In a chocolate chip cookies, a balance of these two sugars is critical. I love using dark brown sugar but light is just fine.
About This Recipe
One of my favorite times of year is watching that shift from summer to fall. The sunlight changes, the air feels crisper (unless you’re in Southern California in early September… but I digress), and the leaves start changing. I wish I could just pause time and live in this season for a few more months!
And as a baker, there is nothing more exciting than busting out your spice rack to get ready for some Brown Butter Pumpkin Chocolate Chip Cookies. This is always my first fall bake. I’m not sure why, but I always lead into fall with these. Probably because they are so freaking delicious and festive. I love regular chocolate chip cookies, don’t get me wrong. But when we’re talking about brown butter, espresso, pumpkin, and all the spices getting added to the mix, I become giddy just thinking about the burst of flavor in each cookie!
I would say that these cookies are in my top three favorite cookies of all time—they are that good. And here’s why: browning the butter adds a deep, nutty flavor that perfectly complements the warm spices and subtle sweetness of pumpkin purée. We use a little baking soda and a healthy amount of granulated sugar to help the cookies develop crispy, golden-brown edges. I also recommend a 24-hour chill time, if you have the patience.
The end result is a soft, chewy cookie with crisp edges, melty pools of chocolate, and a crazy-good and cozy flavor that goes beyond your average pumpkin treat. I hope you all enjoy these as much as I do!
FAQ’s
Helpful tips
Here are some important Pro tips by Maude
- Don’t walk away from your butter on the stove! While browning your butter is an extra step (that takes a few minutes), once the butter melts, the browning process can happen pretty quickly. So you will want to keep an eye on it as the browning happens.
- When measuring your flour, if you are not using a baking scale, be sure not to scoop your measuring cup into the flour (that is too much flour!) You want to spoon your flour into your measuring cup (spoonful by spoonful) until the cup is full. Then use a knife to scrape off the top, excess flour. This tip will ensure that you are not using too much flour in your recipes.
- Chilling cookie dough is a sure way to improve the flavor of your cookies! The chilling process allows the flour to moisten and the sugars and butter to get acquainted… which gives so much flavor to your cookies! It is heavenly! Try not to skip this step!
- Room temperature ingredients help cookies have an even bake! Try to give yourself enough time and let your butter and egg yolk come to room temperature. If your butter is cold, try putting in the mixing bowl (assuming your bowl is microwave proof) in the microwave, select defrost mode and check on the butter every 10-20 seconds. This helps the butter warm up without melting it completely.
- Instructions to freeze dough: Once dough is mixed, I recommend scooping the dough into balls, placing the balls into a ziplock bag, all air pushed out and sealed tightly. Cookies can freeze up to 2 months. To thaw, place cookies in fridge for 24 hours and then let them sit at room temperature for about 30 minutes before baking. We want the cookies to be at almost room temperature. Note: If they are too cold, they will not spread in the oven. On the flip side, if they are too warm, they could spread too much.
More Recipes!
Here are some similar recipes you might enjoy!
Pistachio Cream Chocolate Chip Cookies
NYC Style Chocolate Chip Cookies
If you try this recipe, I would love your feedback! Please leave a star rating, a comment below or on the reel in Instagram! Also please share what you made and tag @eatmaudes !! Thank you so much for stopping by and making yumminess with me!
Brown Butter Pumpkin Chocolate Chip Cookies
Servings
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Equipment
Ingredients
Cookies
- 10 tbsp (142 g) unsalted butter, divided
- 3/4 tsp (1.5 g) espresso powder
- ½ cup (100 g) granulated sugar
- ½ cup (110 g) dark brown sugar
- 1½ cups (195 g) all-purpose flour
- ¼ tsp (1.5 g) salt
- ½ tsp (1.5 g) cornstarch
- ½ tsp (2 g) baking soda
- ⅛ tsp (1 g) baking powder
- 1 1/2 tsp (3.5 g) cinnamon
- 1 tsp (2 g) pumpkin spice
- 1 large egg yolk
- 1 1/2 tsp (9 g) vanilla bean paste
- ⅓ cup (75 g) pumpkin purée
- 1 cup (170 g) semisweet chocolate chips
- Mini Chocolate Chips (for decoration)
- Flaky sea salt for topping
Instructions
Enable Step-by-Step Mode- To brown the butter, place 8 tbsp of butter in a medium saucepan over medium low heat and melt. Continue to cook until butter starts to foam and release a fragrant odor. It will smell nutty and glorious! Keep cooking until butter turns brown (and you see brown specks in your pan) then remove from the heat, pour immediately into a heat safe bowl. Make sure to get all those brown specks into the bowl (thats where all the flavor is!) Let the butter cool. As butter is cooling, add the 2 additional tbsp of softened butter and the espresso powder to the brown butter (this helps add moisture back into the browned butter and allows the espresso powder to bloom!) Let the butter sit for about 5 minutes.
- Measure the pumpkin puree, and then spoon it onto a paper towel over a plate. Squeeze all of the liquid out. Set the drained pumpkin (still in the paper towel is fine) off to the side.
- Add brown sugar and granulated sugar to brown butter, Mix with a hand whisk or rubber spatula (note: the butter will still be liquid, that is ok!). Add the egg yolk, drained pumpkin and vanilla. Mix gently until everything is combined. Then add the cinnamon and pumpkin spice. Mix again.
- In a medium bowl, mix flour, cornstarch, baking powder, baking soda and salt. Then add that dry mixture to the wet. Fold with a rubber spatula until barely combined. Add the chocolate chips. Using an ice cream scoop, split the dough into about 8 large cookies. Each cookie should roughly weigh about 3.3 - 3.5 oz (~94 - 98 g).
- Place scooped cookies onto a baking sheet lined with parchment paper. Cover the cookies and chill overnight. Note: you don't need to wait 24 hrs to bake these cookies, though I recommend it for the best flavor and texture. If you are short on time, leave the cookies, uncovered in the fridge for at least 30 minutes. This will help them firm up. If the cookies are still soft after 30 minutes, give them another 30 minutes.
- Preheat oven to 375 degrees (190 degrees Celsius). If cookies have been chilling in the fridge overnight, let them rest on the counter for about 30 minutes before baking. Bake only 3 cookies at a time for 10-11 minutes. Halfway through baking, remove the cookies from the oven and bang them firmly on the counter twice. This technique encourages spread for the cookies (and will help with a chewier texture). Remove and let the cookies sit for about 5 minutes. Top with mini chocolate chips and flaky sea salt. Then using a metal or wooden spatula, move them to a cooling rack.
Hi can I freeze the cookie dough? If so can I have some more instructions on how to bake from frozen thanks!!
Hi Nat! Of course! Thanks for asking, I just added some freezing instructions to the helpful tips section. Please let me know if you have any additional questions! Enjoy!
How long can the cookies stay in the fridge for without going bad? These turned out great by the way!
Hi Hailey! Are they baked or are you referring to the dough, pre baked? 😀 Im so glad you liked them, thanks for trying!
hi! is there a reason it says to only bake 3 cookies at a time? i just quadrupled the recipe for a party before i read that part!
Hi Syd! Mostly so the cookies don’t spread into each other while baking! Depending on the size of each ball of dough, you can fit up to maybe 4-5 cookies per sheet. Just try to make sure the cookies are 2 inches apart and you should be fine! I hope this helps!
Hey! The cookies tastes amazing! But they came out looking like domes. What can I do to fix this?
Hi Valeria! Thanks for sharing, Im glad you enjoyed despite the dome shape! I have some FAQ’s on the page that talks about spreading too much and not enough. It sounds like the ingredients were measured correctly, but they may have been a little too cold? Ive had this happen where each ball of dough doesnt spread enough while baking. So halfway through the baking process I tap my baking sheet on the counter (firmly) twice and then return the baking sheet to the oven to finish baking. This will help encourage the cookies to spread. I sometimes even do the same action at the end of the bake. One other thing you can try is let the cookies warm up at room temperature a bit before baking (if the butter is too cold the cookies wont spread very well) I hope this helps! Please let me know if you have any other questions.