This is your way to have your very own Great Pumpkin - in the form of a Great Pumpkin and Chocolate Chip Cookie. What a tasty Fall combo. Combine two of your favorite flavors together in one Great Cookie. They don't take much pumpkin puree, but a lot of chocolate chips give this a GIANT flavor. And they're a just right chewy cookie.
Some people just don’t go for the pumpkin flavor. That’s okay. It leaves that many more cookies for the rest of us. One thing I did discover, as a non-pumpkin believer, is that when I use the pumpkin puree and not the pumpkin pie filling in recipes, I like the flavor much more. Pumpkin puree is pure pumpkin with no spices added. I can add my own combination of fall spices to the mix. Pumpkin pie filling already has a number of spices added. I have found more people enjoy my pumpkin recipes made with the puree than made with the pie filling. I agree.
Curl up in front of the fire, go ahead and dunk them in a homemade Pumpkin Chocolate Latte for even more flavor. Whether it's a hot or cold one, it's a Giant Yum!
This chewy Great Pumpkin Chocolate Chip Cookie recipe serves up 24-30 chewy Giants!
Prepare your oven:
A few minutes before you bake these Giants, preheat your oven to 350F degrees.
Prepare your cookie sheets:
I like to use sheets of parchment paper on my cookie sheets to make clean up much easier.
Gather up the Ingredients:
1 C Butter, melted
1 C Sugar
1/2 C Brown sugar
1 T Vanilla Extract
1 C Pumpkin puree (not pie filling)
3 1/4 C Flour
1/4 t Salt
1/2 t Baking powder
1/2 t Baking soda
2 t Cinnamon, ground
2 t Pumpkin spice (homemade is best)
1 1/2 C Chocolate chips, semi-sweet
1 C Dark Chocolate chips, for garnish
Mix up your Great cookie dough:
- Melt the butter for a few seconds in your microwave. Let cool a little before beating it with the sugars.
- With your electric hand mixer, beat the melted butter, sugars and vanilla extract until well combined.
- NOTE: Yes! There are no eggs in this cookie recipe.
- Add the pumpkin puree and beat until combined and set aside.
- NOTE: Make sure you're using 100% pumpkin puree, not pie filling.
- NOTE: If the puree seems rather wet, sop up some of the moisture by placing the pumpkin puree in a low bowl. Pressing 2-3 paper towels onto the puree, sop up some of the wetness.
- Whisk together your 3 cups of flour, salt, baking powder, baking soda, spices. Hold back 1/4 cup of flour and add it a little at a time if you think you need it.
- Stir and beat the dry mix into your wet pumpkin mixture.
- Stir in the 1 ½ cups of chocolate chips.- Place the dark chocolate chips in a low bowl for dipping.
Bake up these BIG Cookies:
- First chill the dough for 2 hours or overnight. I have even refrigerated the dough for a couple of days before baking.
- Measure and roll out balls of dough with a generous 2-tablespoon scoop.
- NOTE: Here are a couple of options for you regarding the chocolate chips. At this point, press one side of each dough ball into dark chocolate chips, making sure they stick. Place the chocolate chip side UP when placing the dough balls on the parchment paper.
The other option is to press a few of the dark chocolate chips into the top of the cookies after pulling them out of the oven, doing it while they are still warm. It’s your choice.
- Place the cookie dough balls 2”-3” apart on the parchment paper lined cookie sheets.
- Flatten the dough balls a little.
- Bake 11-13 minutes at 350F degrees. I check them at the 9-minute mark to make sure they are spreading a little. Don’t let them overbake or they may not be chewy inside.
- Take the cookies out of the oven and allow them to cool on the pans for at least 10 minutes. They will continue cooking while on the pans.
Try different flavors and colors on top!
Mix in some other flavors and colors, too! As soon as the cookies have been baked and still hot, add colorful M&Ms on top to fit in with the holidays. Add different flavors by plopping a Rolos chocolate covered caramel on top or a mini Reese's Peanut Butter cup on top. Yummy!!
How about freezing, then baking the cookie dough?
- I like to roll up the dough balls and bake them later, maybe a couple of weeks down the road. So, I freeze them in a parchment paper lined covered cake pan. Set them in the pan so they are not touching. (I do not press the dark chocolate chips into the cookie dough balls before I freeze them.)
- After they have frozen overnight, I crowd them into sealable food safe plastic bags, along with a note taped on the outside as to the baking temp and time. They’ll be fresh for at least a month.
- I have baked them right out of the freezer or have let them thaw for about 20 minutes before baking. If you thaw them, they can be easily dipped to add the dark chocolate chips to the top.
- Bake at the same temp of 350F degrees but you may need to bake them a minute or more. - Be sure to check on them and bake a bit more if you need to.
- Don’t overbake if you like them chewy. Either way they come out great.
Enjoy them with a big glass of milk or relax with a cup of hot Pumpkin Chocolate Latte. Accessorize with Pumpkin Spice Malted Milk Balls and stir your latte with a cinnamon stick. It's a wonderfully Fall cozy break.
Pumpkin puree is an easy way to get another flavor into the fall spectrum of sweet treats. Whether or not you like the sometimes controversial pumpkin flavoring in your latte, your cookies, bars, cakes, frostings, donuts, or other treats, do them your way and “Bake your own Memories!”