perfectly sweet and spiced pumpkin cookies studded with chunks of dark chocolate, topped with flakey sea salt
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If you’ve never had a perfectly spiced pumpkin cookie, now is the time! In my mind, the beauty is in the balance.
The best pumpkin cookie is one that tastes like pumpkin.
I know that sounds silly, but many pumpkin recipes are so heavily spiced that all you taste is cinnamon and allspice – don’t overdo it!
Then, just add in generous chunks of good dark chocolate that are shingled throughout the cookies for pure cookie bliss. The flakey sea salt on top of these Pumpkin Chocolate Chip Cookies add so much, because it enhances the flavors of the chocolate and the spices. It also adds a bit of crunch that pairs so well with the soft, slightly cake-y cookie.
Key Ingredients
Canned Pumpkin – make sure to use pure canned pumpkin here, not pumpkin pie filling. The pumpkin should be unsweetened without any additives. If you want a slightly chewier, dense cookie, you can drain the pumpkin in a strainer lined with cheesecloth to remove some of the water content from the pumpkin puree. This is totally optional though.
Dark Chocolate – I like to use a good quality bar of dark chocolate that is at least 63% cacao or above. The fruity dark chocolate is so lovely with the warm spices and earthy pumpkin. Save a few larger chunks of chocolate to place on top of the cookies right before they go into the oven for the signature dreamy “chocolate puddles.”
Brown Sugar – In all of my recipes, I use dark brown sugar. The difference between dark brown sugar and light brown sugar is the amount of molasses that is added to the granulated sugar. I always prefer more of the rich caramel notes of molasses in my baked goods, so I use dark brown sugar which has more molasses. If you prefer less molasses flavor, use light brown sugar.
All purpose flour – unbleached all purpose flour – I recommend using unbleached all purpose flour for these light and tender pumpkin chocolate chip cookies, and would not substitute whole meal flours here.
Sea Salt – There is something elegant in the pyramid crystals of flakey sea salt. The really elevate the look and taste of baked goods. I sprinkle the flakey sea salt on the tops of the cookies right when I take them out of the oven, preferably on top of the “chocolate puddles” (see dark chocolate notes above).
Ground Spices – you can use individually ground spices or a Pumpkin Spice blend if you have one. Either way, make sure that your spices are fresh. I like to keep mine in the fridge which helps preserve their potent flavors.
Want more great cookie recipes? Check out:
How to make Pumpkin Chocolate Chip Cookies with Sea Salt
The flavors in this cookie are beautiful and complex but the process is very simple.
- Start by creaming together your butters and sugars for about 3 minutes. Then add your egg, canned pumpkin puree, and pure vanilla extract. Yes sure to use PURE vanilla extract here, I know it’s pricier but the flavor that it adds is 100% worth it, I promise.
- Add in your dry ingredients – flour, baking powder, baking soda, ground spices, and salt. Mix until the dry ingredients are about 70% incorporated, then add in the chopped dark chocolate. Mix only until just combined, then cover the cookies dough, and let it rest in the fridge for about 30 minutes. (the chill time is an important step, so please don’t skip it!)
- Use a cookie scoop to portion out the dough, and place the dough balls on a parchment lined baking sheet. Top each cookie with an extra chunk of dark chocolate to create those gorgeous instagram-worth chocolate puddles. Bake the cookies at 350 degrees F, then top with flakey sea salt.
How to Store
The beauty of these cookies is that once the chocolate is set, they can be stored at room temperature for up to 4 days, and they’re still totally delicious. This makes them ideal for holiday gifts, or cookie boxes! Another option is to freeze the balls of dough. When you’re ready to bake them, just pull it out of the freezer, let it soften slightly at room temperature for about 20 minutes, then place on parchment lined baking sheet and bake!
Pro Tips for Cookie Baking
- Cream your butter and sugars together for at least 3 minutes. Creaming butter and sugar together adds pockets of air that aerate the dough. This air puffs up these cookies as they bake, giving them a lighter and more appealing texture. The air is added by beating room-temperature butter with sugar on high speed.
- Don’t overmix the dough. Stop the mixer as soon as you see that the dry ingredients are incorporated. This will ensure that the cookies are light and tender. Over mixing cookie dough can develop the gluten in the flour, which results in a chewy/bready texture that we love in artisan bread, but not so much in cookies.
- chill the dough! I know it’s hard to be patient, because we all want cookies ASAP, but chilling the dough the flour a chance to absorb the wet ingredients, and helps the dough firm up. If you don’t chill the dough for at least 30 minutes, the cookies will spread out all over the baking sheet in the oven.
- Use a cookie scoop/ice cream scoop when portioning out the dough. This ensures that all of the cookies will be roughly the same size and will bake evenly.
- Space your Pumpkin Chocolate Chip Cookies with Sea Salt about 2.5 inches apart on your baking sheet. The cookies will spread out slightly during baking, and you want to make sure that they don’t bake into one another.
- Last but not least, the trick to getting perfectly round cookies, is to use a large jam jar lid or round biscuit cutter to round-out and scooch the cookies into a nice circular shape right when they come out of the oven.
The tools I use
- Stand Mixer – This KitchenAid stand mixer is such a work horse, and an absolute staple in my kitchen.
- Cookie/Ice Cream Scoop – I love this one because it’s so sturdy, and releases the drop cookies very cleanly
- parchment paper – can’t bake without it! I love this brand, because it gives me professional consistent results every time.
- Sharp Chef’s Knife – to chop chocolate like a pro, you need a great chef’s knife: my go-to knives for every single kitchen task are made by Nakano – handcrafted premium Japanese steel, lightweight, very sturdy, stays sharp for SO long – use code “LEANNE” for 15% off your order.
I can’t wait to see all of your takes on these Pumpkin Chocolate Chip Cookies with Sea Salt. Remember to tag me in your pictures so that I can see what you’re baking from the blog, @lions.bread
Want to save this recipe for later? Just tap the “P” on any of the images to save it to your favorite Pinterest Boards.
-LeAnne
Did you make this recipe? What did you think? Rate and comment below to let me know
Pumpkin Chocolate Chip Cookies with Sea Salt
perfectly sweet and spiced pumpkin cookies studded with chunks of dark chocolate, topped with flakey sea salt
Ingredients
- 12 tablespoons salted butter, I use Kerrygold at room temperature, 170g
- ¾ cup brown sugar 160g
- ⅓ cup granulated sugar 134g
- 1 large egg at room temperature
- ¾ cup pure canned pumpkin 184g
- 1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
- 2 ¼ cups unbleached all purpose flour 270g
- 1 ½ teaspoons ground cinnamon
- ¼ teaspoon ground cloves
- ¼ teaspoon ground nutmeg
- ¼ teaspoon allspice
- 1 teaspoon baking soda
- ½ teaspoon baking powder
- ¼ teaspoon kosher salt
- Flakey sea salt for garnish
- 2 cups chopped dark chocolate 275g
Instructions
- Line 2 baking sheets with parchment paper, set aside. In the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, combine the salted butter, brown sugar, and granulated sugar. Beat on medium speed until the mixture is light and fluffy.
- Add the egg, pumpkin, and vanilla extract to the bowl, and mix on low until thoroughly incorporated. In a medium mixing bowl, combine the all purpose flour, ground cinnamon, ground cloves, ground nutmeg, allspice, baking powder, baking soda, and salt. Whisk well.
- Add the dry ingredients to the bowl of the stand mixer, then mix on the lowest speed for 30 seconds, making sure there are no dry patches of flour. Remove the bowl from the mixer, as well at the paddle attachment. Use a spatula to fold the chocolate chips into the cookie dough gently. The dough will be very soft.
- Cover the bowl of cookie dough with plastic wrap, and refrigerate for 30 minutes to let the dough firm up slightly.
- Meanwhile, preheat the oven to 350°F.
- Use an ice cream school to scoop out the dough, and place on the parchment lined baking sheets. Bake about 9 cookies at a time on a quarter sheet pan, spaced 2” apart on the pan. Add a few more chocolate chips on top. Bake for 12-14 minutes until lightly golden brown around the edges. Sprinkle the baked cookies with flakey sea salt immediately when they come out of the oven.
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