Along with my vegan pumpkin bread and pumpkin muffins, these chocolate chip pumpkin cookies are one of the most popular fall recipes during pumpkin season.
This recipe will yield 8 giant bakery-style cookies (like these vegan apple pie cookies) but feel free to make them 12 smaller cookies if you prefer.
Note: This recipe was originally posted in September 2020. It has since been modified and improved to be even more delicious and easy to make!
🧾 Ingredients
Here's everything you need to make these vegan pumpkin cookies:
Ingredient Notes
Find the complete list of ingredients, quantities, and instructions in the recipe card at the end of this post.
- Vegan Butter: Made with melted butter which creates beautiful crisp edges, rather than creamed butter which would result in a fluffier cookie. You will need block-style butter, not the spreadable kind from a tub.
- Sugar: Soft brown sugar for a hint of molasses and caramelized flavor, and white sugar for the crispy outer shell. The combination of sugars lends to the texture of the cookies, which is both soft and chewy!
- Canned Pumpkin Purée: Needs to be 100% pumpkin, you want pure pumpkin puree and not pumpkin pie filling which contains added sugar and flavorings. These cookies use just the right amount of pumpkin to flavor them while staying chewy and crisp on the outside. Adding more pumpkin results in too much liquid and the cookies tend to be softer with a cakey texture.
- Aquafaba: This is the liquid from a can of chickpeas or garbanzo beans, and it’s a magical vegan egg substitute. You can also use vegan Greek-style yogurt if you need to make them without aquafaba.
- Espresso Powder: While optional, this adds such a lovely layer of flavor to the cookies. It makes the chocolate taste more chocolatey, and the pumpkin cookies taste almost like PSLs.
- Pumpkin Pie Spice Mix: If you don't have a pumpkin spice blend, simply mix 2 teaspoons of ground cinnamon, ½ teaspoon of ground ginger, ½ teaspoon of allspice, and ¼ teaspoon of ground cloves.
- Vegan Chocolate & Chocolate Chips: For the absolute BEST vegan pumpkin cookies, I use dark chocolate chips, plus chopped dark chocolate and milk chocolate bars.
🔪 Instructions
Here are step-by-step images showing how to make these vegan pumpkin chocolate chip cookies. Please refer to the detailed printable recipe card at the end of this page for full measurements and written instructions:
Step 1: Whisk together the melted vegan butter, light brown sugar, and granulated sugar.
Step 2: Whisk in the puréed pumpkin, aquafaba, vanilla, and espresso powder until combined.
Step 3: Combine the dry ingredients (all-purpose flour, baking powder, baking soda, sea salt, and fall spices) and fold them through the batter until almost mixed. Then chuck in the chocolate pieces and fold until evenly incorporated into the cookie dough.
Step 4: Cover and chill the dough for at least 30 minutes (you can up the chill time if you prefer, or even let them chill overnight if that suits your schedule better).
Step 5: Use a large cookie scoop or ice cream scoop to measure out cookie dough balls on prepared baking sheets. Make sure there is plenty of space between each cookie for them to spread out. Stud with more chocolate chunks and chips and bake.
Step 6: While the cookies are still hot out of the oven, use a large cookie cutter or round glass to circle off any stray edges. If you like, you can also add more dollops of chocolate and watch them melt into beautiful puddles!
🍽 Variations
- Pumpkin White Chocolate Chip Cookies: Swap out the dark and milk chocolate in favor of creamy-sweet white chocolate.
- Other Mix-Ins: Feel free to get creative when you add texture to these pumpkin spice chocolate chip cookies. Crunchy pecans, chewy dried cranberries, or toasted pepitas are all great!
- Pumpkin Chocolate Ice Cream Sandwiches: Halve the size of your cookies before baking, and let them cool to room temp. Stuff a scoop of chocolate ice cream between two, smoosh slightly, then pop in the freezer for another 30 or so minutes to firm up.
💭 Expert Tips
Fold your dry ingredients until *almost* incorporated. Add in the chocolate chunks and chips while there are still a few flour pockets so that the batter doesn't end up being overmixed.
Chop an additional 50g of chocolate and reserve until the cookies are baked. Place them on top of the cookies while they are still warm and they will melt into gooey chocolate pools.
If you can't use up a whole batch, you can freeze a few vegan pumpkin cookie dough balls for Future You. When a sweets craving strikes, simply grab a ball (or three!) from the freezer and bake, adding an extra minute or two as needed.
The best way to get perfectly round cookies is to use a large cookie cutter to round off the edges right after they come out of the oven.
💬 FAQs
Let any leftover cookies cool completely to room temperature before transferring to an airtight container. They will last at room temp for about 5 days. If you’d like to extend their life, they freeze well for up to a month.
Sure! Simply swap in vegan Greek-style yogurt instead.
I strongly recommend opting for storebought if you can. It's specifically designed for baking and has quite a low water content in comparison to homemade. If you have no option but to make your own, I recommend using butternut squash.
Butternut squash and pumpkin have a very similar flavor, although butternut squash is actually much sweeter and less watery! I find it to be much better for baking, nobody will be able to tell it's not real pumpkin purée!
🍪 More Vegan Cookies
📖 Recipe
Description
Ingredients
- 170 g (6 oz) vegan butter (block-style), melted
- 130 g (⅔ cup) granulated sugar
- 110 g (½ cup) light brown sugar, I use light Muscovado (unrefined cane sugar)
- 60 g (¼ cup) canned pumpkin puree, not pumpkin pie filling
- 1 tablespoon aquafaba, *see note 1
- 1 tablespoon vanilla extract
- ½ teaspoon instant espresso powder, optional
- 250 g (2 cups + 2 teaspoons) all-purpose flour, (plain flour)
- 1 tablespoon pumpkin pie spice, *see note 2
- 1 teaspoon baking soda
- ½ teaspoon sea salt
- 100 g (3.53 oz) vegan chocolate chips
- 50 g (1.76 oz) vegan dark chocolate, roughly chopped
- 50 g (1.76 oz) vegan milk chocolate, roughly chopped
- flaky salt, for garnish
Instructions
- Add the melted butter, granulated sugar, and soft brown sugar to a mixing bowl and whisk until combined. Whisk in the pumpkin puree, aquafaba, vanilla extract, and espresso powder. In a separate bowl, combine the flour, pumpkin spice mix, baking soda, and salt. Stir the dry ingredients so that they are mixed evenly.
- Add the dry ingredients to the wet ingredients and fold them together using a spatula until they are *almost* mixed leaving a few pockets of flour.
- Add about ¾ of the chocolate chips and ¾ of the chopped chocolate to the bowl and fold them through the dough as evenly as possible. Cover the bowl with the cookie dough with some clingfilm or a plate and chill in the fridge for 30 minutes.
- Preheat your oven to 180°C (356°F) while the cookie dough is chilling. Line 2 large baking trays with some parchment paper.
- Use a 2.4"/6cm cookie scoop or ice cream scoop to separate the dough into 8 portions. Place the cookie dough balls on the lined sheets - be careful to leave at least 2.5 inches of space between each ball of dough as they will spread whilst baking! Stud the cookies with most of the remaining chocolate chips and chocolate chunks (saving a few pieces for when they come out of the oven).
- Bake the cookies for 12-15 minutes. Then use a large cookie cutter or glass to carefully round off and shape the edges of the hot cookies. Let the cookies sit on the baking trays for 5 minutes to cool slightly. If you want big chocolatey pools, you can add more chocolate chunks to the tops of the cookies while they are warm. Top with some sea salt flakes while they are still warm.
- Carefully slide the sheet of parchment paper with the cookies off of the tray and onto a cooling rack to cool to room temperature.
- Storage: Once cool, transfer the cookies to an airtight container. They will keep well at room temp for about 5 days. If you’d like to extend their life, they freeze well for up to a month.
Notes
- Aquafaba: the liquid part from tinned chickpeas.
- Pumpkin spice mix (homemade): Mix together 2 tsp ground cinnamon, ½ tsp ground ginger, ½ tsp allspice, and ¼ tsp ground cloves.
- Coconut sugar: This can be used in place of soft brown sugar. Using coconut sugar will give these pumpkin spice chocolate chip cookies a more caramelized flavor and color, and they will be slightly softer.
Nutrition
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