The Best Pumpkin White Chocolate Chip Cookies (soft and chewy)

I am so happy that it's pumpkin season! The Fall season is my favorite time to bake, and I love anything pumpkin. With all the warm spices, pumpkin custard pies, cinnamon rolls with apple pie filling, cardamom oatmeal cookies, and mini apple pies with puff pastry, it really is the best time of year!

These super soft and chewy pumpkin white chocolate chip cookies are similar to a sugar cookie, but packed with pumpkin flavor. I've also added some maple syrup for extra sweetness and because I think it pairs well with the pumpkin!

Each pumpkin cookie dough ball is rolled in pumpkin pie spice sugar, giving you a pumpkin snickerdoodle flavor! This sugar coating is really going to amp up the pumpkin spice flavor.

If you love pumpkin recipes, then you have to try my pumpkin muffins with streusel topping, pumpkin walnut bread, and pumpkin pie with graham cracker crust.

Ingredients Needed

• Pumpkin Puree: make sure you're using 100% pumpkin and not pumpkin pie filling.
• Flour: I've only tested this recipe with all purpose flour.
• Maple Syrup: I love adding a bit of maple syrup flavor to these cookies!
• Egg Yolk: Because of the pumpkin, you don't need a whole egg. Otherwise, a whole egg would make the cookies cakey.
• Spices: The cookies have warm spices like ground cinnamon and pumpkin pie spice.
• White Chocolate Chips: I love adding white chocolate chips to these cookies but you can use milk chocolate, semisweet chocolate chips or leave them out entirely.

Step by Step Instructions

Step 1: Start by browning your butter. Place the butter in a small or medium pot on the stove over medium-low heat. Let the butter melt, then it should begin to foam and sputter. Stir with a rubber spatula until you can see small white milk solids at the bottom of the pan. Those milk solids should turn a golden brown and it should smell toasty and nutty. Turn off the heat and pour the brown butter into a bowl. Let cool.

Step 2: In a large bowl whisk together the flour, baking soda, baking powder, salt, cinnamon and pumpkin spice.

Step 3: Once the butter is cool, add the light brown sugar, white sugar and maple syrup.

Step 4: Pat the pumpkin puree with a kitchen towel. Add the egg yolk and vanilla extract as well as the pumpkin puree. Whisk until smooth.

Step 5: Add the wet ingredients to the dry ingredients and stir until just combined. Stir in the white chocolate chips. Place the bowl in the fridge to chill for 30 minutes. Line two baking sheets with parchment paper and preheat the oven to 350ºFahrenheit.

Step 6: Scoop out 2 tablespoons of cookie dough using a large cookie scoop or spoon. Whisk the white sugar and pumpkin spice in a small bowl and roll each cookie dough ball in the sugar. Place the cookie dough balls 3-4 inches apart on the prepared baking sheet. Bake in the preheated oven for 10-14 minutes.

Let the cookies cool on the baking sheet for 5-10 minutes before removing to a wire cooling rack.

Expert Tips & Tricks

• Kitchen Scale - I always recommend using a kitchen scale as it's the most accurate way to bake! It's really easy to add too much flour, giving you dry and cakey cookies.
• Bakery Style Cookies - Keep ¼ cup of white chocolate chips to the side. As soon as the cookies come out of the oven gently press the extra chips on top of each warm cookie. Use a biscuit cutter or large glass to gently scoot the cookies into a perfect shape.
• Slightly Underbake - I always recommend slightly underbaking your cookies! That is going to give you a soft and chewy cookie, no dry cookies here!
• Patting the Pumpkin Dry - Don't skip out on patting the pumpkin dry with a paper towel! Pumpkin puree has a lot of moisture, so I recommend patting until dry before adding to the other ingredients.

Storage

Keep the baked pumpkin cookies in an airtight container at room temperature for 3-4 days.

To freeze, you can freeze the baked white chocolate chip pumpkin cookies in a ziploc bag or freezer safe bag for up to 2 months. Let thaw at room temperature before enjoying.