Baking a batch of pumpkin cookies is the best way to kick of the fall season! These cookies are soft, moist, thick, cake-like cookies that are loaded with chocolate chips and cozy pumpkin pie spices!
Everyone has a different idea of what the perfect cookie looks like. Thick, thin, crispy, soft, chewy, cake-like, healthy, etc.
My favorite? Yep! Pretty much all of them!
These homemade cookies are thick, moist, and soft! They’re exactly what you’d expect a pumpkin cookie to be like. Plus, they have chunks of warm gooey chocolate chips. You could always add walnuts, white chocolate chips, raisins, or cranberries too.
If you’re in love with pumpkin be sure to check out my pumpkin bars with cream cheese frosting, no-bake pumpkin cookies (for when you’re really in a hurry), pumpkin icebox cake, and you’ve gotta try my pumpkin French toast!
Why This Recipe Works:
You need a pumpkin recipe that you’ll come back to every single fall…and THIS is it!
- This is a one bowl recipe. No extra dishes to wash here!
- You need simple ingredients. Nothing weird or fancy!
- No chilling time! Who has time to wait? Not me!
- The addition of oatmeal makes them a little more hearty and healthy than traditional pumpkin cookies. You’ll love it!
Ingredients:
You’ll need simple ingredients to make pumpkin oatmeal cookies. Most likely you have all of them in your fridge and your pantry. Let’s go over the details!
- Pumpkin Puree – you need canned pumpkin puree, NOT to be confused with canned pumpkin pie filling.
- Brown Sugar
- Butter – real butter is best, salted or unsalted (you can substitute margarine if needed)
- Eggs
- Vanilla
- Oats – Quick oats or rolled oats have a softer texture than steel cut. Either will work. I prefer steel cut.
- All Purpose Flour
- Baking powder, baking soda, salt, cinnamon, nutmeg, cloves
- Chocolate Chips – semi-sweet, milk chocolate, or even white chocolate chips. Butterscotch chips would be fantastic too!
How to Make Pumpkin Oatmeal Cookies:
STEP 1: Cream butter and sugar together. Add eggs and beat for 1 more minute. Add pumpkin and vanilla. Beat
STEP 2: Mix dry ingredients in a separate bowl. Add to wet ingredients. Beat until combined.
STEP 3: Add chocolate chips. Stir.
STEP 4: Drop on a parchment-lined baking sheet. Add a few extra chocolate chips to the top if you want.
STEP 5: Bake. Let cool on baking sheet for 5 minutes. Remove to a cooling rack to finish cooling.
Some readers have had trouble with the cookies spreading too much. I’ve never actually had this problem. Remember the dough will be sticky. But here are a few suggestions for making sure the cookies are thick and puffy!
- Pat the pumpkin puree with a paper towel to absorb a little bit of the extra moisture.
- Use one whole egg and one egg yolk instead of of two whole eggs.
- Add a couple of minutes of baking time. 3-5 minutes.
- Add additional flour 1 Tablespoon at a time until the dough is the desired consistency. You can add up to 1/4 cup extra flour if needed.
- As the cookies sit they will get a little bit more dense. Just plan on that!
Recipe FAQ’s
Yes! Pumpkin cookies freeze beautifully. Flash freeze just until they are firm on a baking sheet, then remove to an airtight container. They will keep for up to 4 months.
You can also freeze the cookie dough and bake later if you prefer. Scoop dough into cookies. Freeze until firm. Store in an airtight container for up to 4 months. To bake cookies allow the dough to thaw and bake as instructed.
I’m not sure why I haven’t tried making this recipe into bar cookies because it would be faster than dropping them into cookies, but I haven’t. I imagine it would work well. I’d use a 9″x13″ pan and start with a 20 minute baking time. That’s just a guess though, so watch the baking time closely!
Other Easy Cookie Recipes:
You guys, if I had to choose one dessert to eat for the rest of my life it would definitely be cookies! They’re the best! Here’s a few of our fave’s that I know you’re going to love too!
- Zucchini Oatmeal Cookies
- S’mores Cookies
- Classic No Bake Cookies
- Peanut Butter Fudge Bar Cookies
- Thick Snickerdoodles
- Cake Mix Butterscotch Cookies
I love it when you make my recipes and give me feedback! If you have a minute please comment below and leave a star ranking! Also, be sure to follow me on Pinterest, Instagram, and Facebook!
Pumpkin Oatmeal Cookies with Chocolate Chips
Ingredients
- 1 1/2 cups brown sugar
- 3/4 cups butter room temperature
- 1 cup pumpkin puree
- 1 teaspoon vanilla
- 2 whole eggs
- 1 cups flour
- 2 cups quick oats
- 1/2 teaspoon baking powder
- 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
- 1 teaspoon salt
- 1 1/2 teaspoon cinnamon
- 1/2 teaspoon ground cloves
- 1/4 teaspoon nutmeg
- 1 1/2 cup semi sweet chocolate chips
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
- In large mixer bowl cream butter and sugar together. Add eggs and beat. Add pumpkin and vanilla and mix.
- If desired, add oats to blender and blend into a flour.
- In a separate bowl stir flour, cinnamon, nutmeg, cloves, baking powder, baking soda, salt and oatmeal together.
- Add dry ingredients to wet ingredients. Mix together only until combined. If needed add a more flour one Tablespoon at a time until the you have a soft dough. Be careful not to over mix.
- Add chocolate chips and mix to incorporate.
- Line baking sheet with parchment paper. Drop cookies a little larger than 1 inch sizes. Bake for 10-12 minutes. Don’t over bake the centers will be soft and will set as they cool.
- Remove immediately from baking sheet and cool on a wire rack.
Video
Notes
- You may need to add a few minutes to the baking time. Especially if using a bigger cookie scoop.
- Use one whole egg, and one egg yolk.
- Oat and oat flour will absorb some moisture as the dough sits. Allowing the dough to rest for 20 minutes before baking will prevent the spreading of the cookies.
- Pumpkin has high water content. You can squeeze the pumpkin puree to eliminate some moisture.
- Although I’ve never added additional flour to these cookies, you may add up to 1/4 a cup more flour than listed on the recipe. Add flour one tablespoon at a time.
- Chilling cookie dough before baking will prevent cookies from spreading too much. I don’t do this, but it can be done to help create a thicker cookie.
Rachel says
Have you ever froze the dough for future use?
Amy Engberson says
I actually haven’t ever tried freezing the dough. I bet the cookies would freeze really well though, and it’s never a bad thing to have a batch of cookies sitting in the freezer for when you can’t live without one!
Dolores says
I just made these and instead of chocolate chips I used walnuts. Very yummy!!
Amy Engberson says
Walnuts would add such a nice crunchy texture! I bet it was so tasty! Happy Fall!
Judy says
I love this recipe I didn’t have ground cloves so Used apple all spice and I used rasins instead of chocolate chips and is was awesome. This was a keeper my family loves this recipe. Thank you.
Amy Engberson says
I’m constantly substituting for ingredients for what I have available! Glad you these worked out for you! Happy fall!
Samantha says
Have you tried without brown sugar?
Amy Engberson says
I haven’t tried making them without brown sugar. Let me know if you try it!
Suzy says
I think I know what the issue might be with some of these comments…You list baking soda in the ingredients but not the recipe. I’m assuming you just forgot to add it to the list of dry ingredients in the recipe! For this reason, I added it, and my cookies came out absolutely delicious. Anyway, hope that might help some people. Thanks!!
Amy Engberson says
Thanks for the heads up. I will go back and correct the instructions so they include baking soda. I have such good luck with these cookies, and it seems like lots of other people do to. Unfortunately there are a few people who can’t seem to make them work. Hopefully changing the wording in the instructions will help! Happy Fall!
Charlene says
I think the omission of the baking soda in the instructions was EXACTLY the problem. I noticed that when I made these wonderful cookies and put in the baking soda along with the other dry ingredients. When baking I return all ingredients to the pantry after I’ve included them as per the recipe instructions. When I saw the baking soda still sitting there I realized that something was wrong. The mix is a bit wet but as per your instructions I added additional flour 1/2 TBS at a time and a bit more oatmeal. My suggestion: get rid of step # 3 where you instruct bakers to “If desired, add oats to blender and blend into a flour.” It only confuses things. You should also increase the amounts of four and oatmeal. After these few little tweaks the resulting cookie was spectacular. I see you have now added the baking soda in your instructions. Nice work. Thank you for paying attention to the comments.
Amy Engberson says
I think you are right. Thanks for catching that!
KendLl says
My cookie dough was soooo wet!!! Followed the recipe exactly until I had to add about an extra 3/4 cups of flour and a cup of oats. Added additional spices to make up for it. Just doing some test cookies now and crossing my fingers.
Amy Engberson says
Hopefully they turned out in the end. This cookie is a cake like cookie so the dough will be slightly wetter than traditional cookie dough. Happy Fall!
Amy says
I just made these and they are delicious! I didn’t have quite enough oats, so I just cut the amount of pumpkin a little and added some extra flour and they came out perfect! I think next time I might try raisins in them too. 🙂
Amy Engberson says
Raisins would be a delicious add-in! I say the more add-ins the better! Happy Fall!
Becki says
Just finishing up baking my last pan! They turned out amazing! Everything I was craving 🙂 I had to melt my butter so, before baking I refrigerated the batter for about 15 minutes. Thanks for a great recipe! Happy Fall!!!
Amy Engberson says
There is nothing like the smell of pumpkin cookies wafting through the house! Happy Fall!
Mindy says
I had the same problem with my firstborn batch being WAY too wet. Is the recipe supposed to call for both baking soda & powder? I baked the second batch a few extra
minutes and that helped some but still aren’t what I was expecting.
Amy Engberson says
I’m not sure what the problem is. Some people seem to have perfect luck while others struggle with this recipe. These cookies are a cake like cookie which means the dough will be wetter than traditional dough. They should still turn out good!
Linda says
I was from a high altitude state and found that adding 1/4 cup extra flour did the trick for flat cookies. I haven’t tried these but plan on it very soon. Fall is awesome!
Amy Engberson says
That is a good tip to know. Thanks for sharing. I hope you’ve had a chance to make these cookies!
Joel Padilla says
Thanks Amy I love baking and these turned out amazingly good I used dark chocolate chip and just added about a half cup more of flour cause it was I little runny with the two eggs and purée
Amy Engberson says
Yay! Glad they turned out for you! Happy fall!
Jessica H says
I just made these cookies on a very dreary afternoon…the smell alone could make any day feel brighter, not to mention the wonderful cake texture. I had to make a couple tweaks, as I have a gluten allergy and my son has a dairy allergy…that the doctor is convinced he will grow out of by the time he is two. *fingers crossed!* I followed your recipe but replaced the butter with dairy free butter and the flour with 1 1/4 cup gluten free Bisquick. When I went to throw in the dairy free chocolate chips, I was out of them. *Sad faces* I am not always one for prepping ingredients ahead of time. Instead I threw in some dried cranberries. Mmmmmmm, they turned out wonderful and I am sure my son will be delighted to try one when he wakes from his nap…if my neighbors don’t smell their way over and get them first. Thank you for sharing this lovely recipe, I will certainly be checking out more of them. Many blessings to you and your family.
Amy Engberson says
I love that you were able to substitute and make this recipe work for your family! Hopefully your son grows out of his dairy allergy (cheese and milk are the best)! Happy Fall!
Lisa says
This is my favorite time of year when all of the pumpkin recipes are pouring out everywhere and I can’t wait to make a batch of your pumpkin cookies…
Question for you: could you use butterscotch chips in place of the chocolate hips? Has anyone tried that?
I look forward to your recipes…
Happy cooking!
Amy Engberson says
Lisa, I’m all about substituting and I think adding butterscotch chips is a fantastic idea! I bet it will be delicious! Let me know if you try it and how it turns out!
Kristian says
I just made these, because it finally feels like fall. I followed your recipe exactly and they turned out beautifully. The only thing I did differently was bake them for 15 minutes vs 12-13 minutes. Reason: I have a combined regular and convect oven. I always bake on convect and takes a couple to few minutes longer.
I can hardly wait to try these out! Thank you for sharing!
Amy Engberson says
I’m so glad you loved them! Fall is all about pumpkin and these are the perfect way to enjoy it! Happy Fall!
Carol says
I’m making these right now and they are not spreading. Added baking powder and baking soda as directed. WWat do you think might be wrong?
Amy Engberson says
Without seeing the whole process it’s hard to say. They are a cake like cookie and a little puffy even after baked.
Kelly says
Thank you for sharing this recipe! My husband and I both agree that these our now our all time favorite cookies. Yum. Yum. I didn’t make any changes to the recipe, they just turned out perfect.
Amy Engberson says
So happy they turned out for you! Fall food is the best!
Christy says
Just made these as written. Like the others, my dough was far too wet. There is something wrong with the recipe. Please fix this recipe or take it down so many others don’t waste their time and money.
Amy Engberson says
I’m not sure why a few people have had trouble with this recipe. I have tweaked it a little so they should be a little more fool proof. Sorry they didn’t work out for you!
Kristianna says
I made these cookies and they are delicious but super soft, like really moist cake or bread. They still taste incredible so I wouldn’t say it was a waste of time or money. I might tinker with the recipe a little to get a better consistency but overall I’d say this is a great recipe idea for fall. Thank you for sharing.
Kristianna says
One can of pumpkin was three batches of cookies. My second and third batches of cookies came out perfectly. As one person had suggested, I added 1/2 tsp of baking powder, (for a total of 1 tsp of baking powder), and slightly more oats and flour. I didn’t grind the oats, as I hadn’t read that correctly on my first attempt. I didn’t grind the oats on second or third batches either though. It wasn’t until reading the comments and re-reading the recipe that I saw that part of the recipe. In any case, if your cookies come out slightly moist, you could try those slight changes. Amy, thank you so much for sharing this fabulous recipe for delicious cookies.
Amy Engberson says
Thanks for the great suggestions for those readers who seem to be having trouble with this recipe! You are a trooper to make three batches of cookies! I bet you had a happy family and friends! Happy Fall!
Amy Engberson says
They are supposed to be a super soft cake like cookie! Glad you enjoyed them!
Jennifer says
I just made these and they turned out great! Followed the recipe as is. Sifted dry ingredients before mixing with other ingredients. Thank you for the recipe. Delish!
Amy Engberson says
So glad they turned out for you! They are a fall favorite around here!
Angie says
I made these this morning! Oh they were good! I added a handful of pumpkin seeds and a pinch of all spice and ground ginger for some extra spice. Thank you for this recipe. I will definately make these again.
Amy Engberson says
Pumpkin seeds would make such a fun addition! Glad you enjoyed them! Happy Fall!
Dorelle Chase says
Maybe the leavening measurement isn’t listed correctly? I made them and got the dense quality described below. They did not spread out on the cookie sheet, but stayed in the shape they were dropped. I was thinking maybe in addition to 1/2 tsp baking powder, that perhaps baking soda should also have been added?
Amy Engberson says
I can’t figure out why they work perfectly for some people and not so much for others. I don’t know if it’s an altitude thing or what. I need to experiment a little bit and see what I find.
Katie says
Maybe people are not measuring the same. If you “pack” the flour in the measuring cup you will have more dense batter. Just a thought. Do you have a scale, maybe weigh your dry engredence and have the option of weighing or using measuring cups!
Amy Engberson says
It’s so true that when people measure differntly it produces different results. I haven’t ever weighed my flour for this recipe because they always turn out for me. Maybe I should just to be sure everyone has it exactly right. Thanks for the suggestion.
Melissa says
When making the cookies my dough was really wet but I went through with baking anyway so I made the cookies and they were still really wet and no matter if they rested for 20 minutes if I pick it up it falls apart. what can I do to prevent this for next time.?
Amy Engberson says
It’s hard to say why your dough was so wet. I’ve made these cookies lots of times and they always turn out great. So sorry!
Elizabeth Knaus says
My daughter just told me yesterday that she was excited about the season when everything is pumpkin spice. Today I happened to come across this, thanks! It’s now on my Pinterest board: Eat, drink & have fun!
Amy Engberson says
It’s definitely “everything pumpkin” season! Glad you found this and thanks for sharing to your Pinterest board!
Tiffany says
Just finished baking these. Mine came out really flat? And the texture was less like a cookie and more like bread. I followed the recipe exactly. I used fresh pumpkin.
Amy Engberson says
I’m not sure what would cause that to happen, Tiffany. I will check and make sure I typed the recipe correctly. They are very soft and cake like.
Elaine Duckett says
I’m too lazy to wash the blender as well, so I will leave the oatmeal as it comes in the box. I’m going to try using these in the mornings in place of the pumpkin muffins and see how that goes. I think the oatmeal makes it breakfast food don’t you.
Love the fall leaves in the photo.
Mom
Amy Engberson says
Thanks! Oatmeal is one of those things I’m willing to wash the blender for! I love oatmeal flour! I agree, anything with fruit or oatmeal is clearly a breakfast food!