Chewy Pumpkin Chocolate Chip Cookies

 pin it

 So, if you know me then you probably know that my favorite food texture is chewy - especially when it comes to cookies. I prefer my cookies to be slightly crisp and crunchy around the edges, a little soft in the center and chewy all over. It's hard to find this texture in a regular cookie let alone a pumpkin cookie. For whatever reason, pumpkin tends to make baked goods very moist and cake-like. This is great for pumpkin breads, cakes and even whoopie pies, but not so much for cookies.
  Inevitably, this put me on a mission. I searched the internet for the perfect chewy pumpkin chocolate chip cookie recipe. I thought I found a winner when I found this recipe. The pictures of the final product is just what I like to see: A flat cookie that is crisp around the edges and chewy in the middle.

Picture from How Sweet It Is

 So, I set off to make these cookies. (But this is not the recipe that I fell in love with. Keep reading to find out what happened when mine didn't turn out like the picture above.)
My first step was to make my homemade pumpkin butter. It's basically pumpkin jam. This gives the cookies the flavor of pumpkin without the cake-y texture.
Then I followed the original recipe.
 Take 1 1/2 sticks of butter,

and melt it down.

Then add the melted butter to some white and brown sugar.


Then add 1 egg plus 1 egg yolk and some vanilla extract.

I mixed these together thoroughly.

Now the recipe called for 1/2 cup of pumpkin butter. So, this is what I did. (But like I mentioned earlier, this recipe is not what I ended up liking.)

In goes the pumpkin butter.

Next comes some baking soda,

salt,

and pumpkin pie spice.

The recipe also called for corn starch, so I added it as well. In my recipe, at the end of this post, I take this ingredient out.

While the mixer is on low, add in the flour SLOWLY. (It will make a huge mess otherwise.)

When it looks like everything is combined, scrape down the bowl,

and mix in the chocolate chips.

This is the final product.

Scoop it out onto some parchment paper or a silpat lined baking sheet, and bake the cookies @ 325F for 12 minutes or until golden around the edges.

The come out of the oven looking like this. Or at least. Mine came out of the oven looking like this. They don't look like what I was expecting. Too puffy. But, I held out judgement until I could eat one. . .

I cooled them on a metal rack . . .

And then broke one open. Yup. Still cake-y. I was very disappointed to say the least. I RARELY make a recipe exactly as written, but I did with this one because I wanted my final product to be as thin, crisp and chewy as the pictures showed the cookies to be. Unfortunately this was not the case. My cookies were too thick and too fluffy. Tasty, but not chewy in the least. So . . . I tinkered with the recipe and made it my own.

The first batch I wrapped up and sent to the fire station with the hubby. They don't know I was hoping for chewy cookies and they are getting my cake-like rejects. They are just happy to get anything homemade. ;)

My first attempt at changing the recipe resulted in a thinner cookie, but they were still too cake-y.

Original recipe on the left, my first version on the right.

It was flatter than the original recipe, but they had the same texture on the inside. Not what I was looking for.

Then, I tinkered with the recipe some more and these beauties are my final result.

 

See they chewy goodness inside? No fluffy texture here. This is pure crisp on the outside, chewy on the inside cookie heaven.

Do they look as tempting as the professional picture of the original recipe? Maybe not, but they taste a heck of a lot better.

There was no need to give these ones away, as I ate the entire batch myself. ;)

 Here are the recipes. My successful version is the second recipe listed.

Original Recipe: (That I thought was still too cake-like. Think pumpkin bread in cookie form.)
Chewy Pumpkin Chocolate Chip Cookies made with Pumpkin Butter
[from How Sweet It Is ]
makes about 24-30 cookies
1 1/2 sticks (12 tablespoons) unsalted butter, melted and cooled
1 cup packed brown sugar
1/2 cup granulated sugar
1 large egg + 1 egg yolk
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
1/2 cup pumpkin butter
2 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
3 tablespoons cornstarch
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/4 teaspoon salt
1 tablespoon pumpkin pie spice

1 1/4 cups chocolate chips
Preheat oven to 325 degrees F.
Mix the flour, salt, cornstarch, pumpkin pie spice and baking soda in a bowl and set aside. In another bowl, mix the melted butter and sugars until they are combined. Add the egg, egg yolk, and vanilla and stir until mixed. Stir in pumpkin butter until smooth. Gradually add flour mixture and mix until a dough forms – it will look crumbly at first, but it will come together. I even used my hands to help at one point. Fold chocolate chips and chunks.
Refrigerate dough for 30 minutes, then roll into golf ball-sized balls. Bake for 12-15 minutes, or until cookies are crisp and slightly golden on the edges, then let cool completely.

My version, that is the cookie that I dream about and wake up wanting to eat for breakfast. ;)
Chewy Pumpkin Chocolate Chip Cookies

1 1/2 sticks salted butter, melted
1 cup packed brown sugar
1/2 cup plus 2 Tbsp granulated sugar
1 large egg
1 Tbsp pure vanilla extract
1/4 cup pumpkin butter
2 cups all-purpose flour
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/4 teaspoon salt
1 Tbsp pumpkin pie spice

1 1/2 cups chocolate chips (to taste)

Preheat oven to 350F. Combine the butter and sugars until almost smooth. Add the vanilla, pumpkin pie spice, salt, and baking soda. Stir and add the egg. Combine well and slowly add in the flour until the dough forms. Mix in the chocolate chips. Scoop out 1 to 1 1/2 inch sized balls of dough onto a cookie sheet and bake for 8-10 minutes (until the bottoms and edges are golden brown). Cool completely. Devour and smile. :)