This recipe for Pumpkin Chocolate Chip Cookies I got from my mother and she would make them around Halloween or around Thanksgiving. She always used fresh baked down pumpkin for the pumpkin puree in the cookies and I don’t know if they would be the same with the canned puree because I am a purest and I stick to what my mother taught me when I make these cookies.
You can purchase baking pumpkins, they are smaller and usually are only available around the Halloween/Thanksgiving season for making pumpkin pie. You can batch bake you pumpkins and then puree them to freeze and store so you have them all year round if you want. I definitely buy enough pumpkins so that I can make all of my favorite pumpkin flavored desserts this time of year.
Baking down your pumpkin
To bake down your pumpkins you are going to cut them in half, scoop out the seeds and the stringy parts so that all is left is the skin and flesh of the pumpkin. You can save the pumpkin seeds to make toasted pumpkin seeds as well. I’ll share what I do for my pumpkin seeds at the end of this blog post. Next you are going to brush the flesh side of the pumpkin with oil, you can use coconut oil if you plan to use the pumpkin puree for desserts such as these cookies, pumpkin pie or my pumpkin cheesecake recipe. If you want to use the puree for a pumpkin soup or another savory dish you might want to use olive or avocado oil. Now place your pumpkin on a parchment lined baking sheet with the flesh side that you just brushed oil on down on the parchment paper. Then take the knife you used for cutting it in half and piece the skin a few times to let it cook through. You will then put it in the oven at 350 degrees for 40-50 minutes to bake. It’s done when the skin starts to pull away from the flesh of the pumpkin.
Making the pumpkin puree
Once the pumpkin has cooled down enough to touch, you will use a spoon to pull back the skin of the pumpkin so all that you have is the flesh of the pumpkin. Then add the pumpkin to a food processor or blender. Blend until it is a creamy, puree texture. If you need you can add a tablespoon of water if necessary. I work in batches and bag it in cup intervals so I know when I am baking that each freezer bag I have is 1 cup of pumpkin puree. Don’t forget to mark on the outside of the bag what the contents are and how much is measured in there if you need to remember.
Pumpkin Chocolate Chip Cookie Recipe
The ingredients list for the pumpkin chocolate chip cookies is:
- One cup margarine
- One cup sugar
- One cup pumpkin puree (either the fresh I shared above or the canned puree)
- One egg
- One tsp. vanilla
- Two cups flour
- One tsp. baking powder
- One tsp. baking soda
- One tsp. cinnamon
- 1/2 tsp. salt
- 6 ounces chocolate chips
Once you have all your ingredients ready and are ready to bake your pumpkin chocolate chip cookies you will mix the first five ingredients together: margarine, sugar, pumpkin, egg and vanilla. Once that is mixed up then you will want to add in your dry ingredients: flour, baking powder, baking soda, cinnamon and salt.
After it is all combined then you will stir in your chocolate chips.
I use a one tablespoon measuring spoon then to scoop out the dough and drop it on my baking sheet. Then bake the cookies for 10 minutes at 350 degrees Fahrenheit.
You want the edges to be a light brown if they get too brown the the cookie will be crispier and I prefer these cookies to be soft. Let them cool for 5 minutes on the pan and then transfer to cooling rack until they are cooled down enough to enjoy.
I store mine in either seal tight containers or ziplock baggies to keep them fresh. Sometimes if you stack them they will stick to each other and might crumble or break. When I use this recipe amounts and the one tablespoon for measuring out the drop cookies I get about 3 dozen cookies.
If you try this recipe please let me know what you thought of them. If you are looking for other pumpkin recipes, I have a couple other pumpkin dessert options on my blog. There is a pumpkin pie recipe and a pumpkin cheesecake recipe as well. I also have other cookie recipes if you are just looking for a new cookie recipe. Check out my recipes section on the blog for more ideas.
If you want to see what some of my favorite baking products are, I have a Baking Favorites blog post as well that I share my favorite baking sheets and the cookie mats I use as well.