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The best ever Brown Butter Pumpkin Oatmeal Chocolate Chip Cookies. Homemade pumpkin chocolate chip cookies, made with browned butter, pumpkin butter, oatmeal, pumpkin spice, and plenty of chocolate. Plus one special ingredient that really makes these stand out…espresso. They’re the perfect fall pumpkin cookie. Slightly crisp on the edges, but soft and gooey in the middle. And the sea salt on top makes every bite even more addicting. Equally perfect for Halloween night as they are for Thanksgiving dinner.
This is my year to bake all things pumpkin. When I was looking back at the last 10 years of writing recipes for HBH, I realized many things. But one thing that hit me about fall is the lack of sweet pumpkin recipes.
I actually have plenty of favorite pumpkin recipes. But when it comes to baking with pumpkin, I only have a handful of really solid go-to recipes.
I made it my goal this week to embrace baking with pumpkin. I’m two recipes down and wow, they’re both so delicious. Starting with my personal favorite though, cookies!!
We absolutely love oatmeal cookies around here. My mom’s recipe is pretty famous at this point. So all I do is use her recipe as a base, then adjust from there.
Shockingly, these didn’t take me long to test. I had a few ideas, but in the end, I landed on this cookie. I think it’s pretty perfect.
Details
Like most of my cookie recipes during the fall, this one starts with brown butter. I just love the rich nutty flavor it adds. It makes your cooking and baking even more special.
I brown the butter and then add it to a bowl with brown sugar and pumpkin butter. The key here is pumpkin butter, not pumpkin puree. Pumpkin butter is more reduced down than pumpkin purèe and contains less moisture. Less moisture will give you a chewier cookie, not a cakey cookie. You can use my homemade pumpkin butter or pick some up at Trader Joe’s, Whole Foods, your local market, or even via Amazon. Though I’m partial to my homemade recipe. Just make sure your pumpkin butter is spiced for best flavor.
Mix in half the pumpkin butter along with an egg and vanilla. I also love to add a small amount of espresso powder. I found this paired so nicely with the flavors and chocolate in the cookie. Kind of like a pumpkin latte with melty chocolate.
Now mix in the dry ingredients: flour, oats, baking soda, pumpkin spice, and salt.
The next step is important. Dollop on the remaining pumpkin butter and add the chocolate, but don’t mix the pumpkin butter fully into the dough. You want streaks. This gives you more pumpkin flavor without creating an overly cakey cookie.
Roll the dough into balls, I love to use a cookie scoop for this. It’s so much easier and works nicely with this dough since it’s a bit stickier. Then bake.
These cookies smell incredible, like cookies with the addition of warming fall scents.
Easy to make, no chilling, and take less than a half hour to make. Love that. Plus they’re full of actual pumpkin flavor, real pumpkin, and swirled with both pumpkin butter and chocolate.
These cookies are lightly crisp on the edges but soft and gooey in the center.
Looking for other pumpkin recipes? Here are a few ideas:
Cream Cheese Swirled Cinnamon Pumpkin Butter Bread
6 Ingredient Spiced Pumpkin Butter
Chai Pumpkin Cake with Maple Browned Butter Frosting
Pumpkin Butter Chocolate Chip Cookies
Cinnamon Swirl Chocolate Chip Pumpkin Butter Bread
Fluffy Pumpkin Butter Chocolate Chip Pancakes
Lastly, if you make these Brown Butter Pumpkin Oatmeal Chocolate Chip Cookies, be sure to leave a comment and/or give this recipe a rating! Above all, I love to hear from you guys and always do my best to respond to each and every comment. And of course, if you do make this recipe, don’t forget to tag me on Instagram! Looking through the photos of recipes you all have made is my favorite!
Brown Butter Pumpkin Oatmeal Chocolate Chip Cookies
Servings: 18 -22 cookies
Calories Per Serving: 350 kcal
Nutritional information is only an estimate. The accuracy of the nutritional information for any recipe on this site is not guaranteed.
Ingredients
- 2 sticks (1 cup) salted butter
- 1 1/4 cup brown sugar
- 2/3 cup pumpkin butter
- 1 large egg
- 1 tablespoon vanilla extract
- 1 tablespoon espresso powder or instant coffee (optional)
- 2 cups all-purpose flour
- 2 cups old fashioned oats
- 1 teaspoon baking soda
- 1/2-1 teaspoon pumpkin pie spice
- 1/2 teaspoon kosher salt
- 2 cups chocolate chunks or chips
- sea salt (optional)
Instructions
- 1. Preheat the oven to 350° F. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper.2. Add the butter to a skillet set over medium heat. Cook until the butter begins to brown, about 3-4 minutes. Remove from the heat and transfer to a heatproof bowl. Let cool 5 minutes or so.3. To the browned butter, mix in the brown sugar, 1/3 cup pumpkin butter, the egg, vanilla, and espresso powder, mixing until smooth. Add the flour, oats, baking soda, pumpkin spice, and salt. 4. Dollop the remaining 1/3 cup pumpkin butter over the dough. Sprinkle over the chocolate chips. Gently fold the pumpkin butter and chocolate into the dough, being careful to not over-mix. You want streaks of pumpkin butter. 5. Roll the dough into rounded tablespoon size balls, it might be a little sticky. Place 2 inches apart on the prepared baking sheet. Gently flatten the dough down. Bake 8 minutes. Remove from the oven, rotate, and tap the baking sheet on the counter 1-2 times to flatten. Bake another 2-3 minutes or until the cookies are just beginning to set on the edges.6. Sprinkle with sea salt (if desired). Let the cookies cool on the baking sheet. They will continue to cook slightly as they sit on the baking sheet.
Notes
Pumpkin Butter: you can use my homemade pumpkin butter or just pick some up from Trader Joe’s, Whole Foods, your local market, or even via Amazon.
If you want more Pumpkin Spice Flavor: add in 1/2 teaspoon to 1 teaspoon of pumpkin pie spice along with the flour.
Can you make with GF flour?
Hi Tiffany,
Yes, an equal amount of gluten free flour will work well for you! I hope this recipe turns out amazing, please let me know if you give it a try! xx
I made these last night and they are AMAZING! I accidentally added the 2/3 cup of pumpkin butter all together in the beginning, but they were still delicious. Highly recommend and thank you for the recipe!
Hey Hannah,
Wonderful!! I am thrilled to hear that this recipe was enjoyed and truly appreciate you making it! Have a great weekend! 🍁🍂
Just made these an we loved them. Had to refrigerate the dough before baking them off layer that evening. Had some trouble getting the “smears” of pumpkin butter through the dough. Perhaps i need to practice! Since the dough was so sticky, i was dipping a tablespoon in water to drop onto the sheet.With wet hands i leveled them out. Only concern might be that there was too much moisture in the top and some cookies got a more plain/flattened round looking top without the pretty edges of oats and choc chunks. Any other tips? How flattened should the balls be? Assuming it’s best for them to be at room temp before going into oven (as i did). Some of mine didn’t have that perfect cookie break and may have been a bit more crumbly than we’d hope. Have to test out the timing temp order another time.
Hey Andrew,
Thanks so much for giving this recipe a try and sharing you feedback! I’m so glad these cookies were enjoyed! Maybe you just needed a little extra flour? If you have a cookie scoop that works best for scooping cookies into a nice round ball but it is totally normal for the dough to be sticky! xx
Another amazing recipe! Made these along with your pumpkin butter recipe and both turned out fantastic! Leftover the espresso powder since I made these on a whim and didn’t have any around but sooo good even without. 🙂
Hey there,
Wonderful!! I am thrilled to hear that this recipe was enjoyed and truly appreciate you making it! Have a great weekend! 🍁🍂
Like the pumpkin butter chocolate chip cookies, these are winners! The espresso powder (I use King Arthur’s) is really good in these, it takes them to another level. A tablespoon seems like a lot but it works great. I like them with the salt sprinkled on top, my husband likes them without, but this will be another staple in my house. I use the pumpkin butter recipe from your site and didn’t change anything when I made them. Thanks for sharing!
Hey Lauren,
Wonderful!! I am thrilled to hear that this recipe was enjoyed and truly appreciate you making it! Have a great weekend! 🍁🍂
I made these cookies the other day and just wanted to let you know my changes. I made your pumpkin butter as well. After I got everything all mixed my cookie dough was very runny. I knew I could not make cookies with it like this. I added 1/2 cup more oatmeal(quick cooking this time), 1/2 cup more flour, and 1/2 tsp. baking powder. I also used soft white wheat four that I grind myself. I love whole wheat taste in cookies, muffins, pancakes, etc. I only used about half the espresso and omitted the spices in the cookies. The pumpkin butter was spicy enough for us. I made 36 cookies, baked at 350 convection setting for about 8-9 minutes.
They are delicious!!! I cooked some immediately because I was concerned they would spread too much. I DO NOT like thin cookies. I was amazed how well they stayed a nice size thickness. I froze some dough balls to cook later. These were very enjoyable. My husband had 2 right out of the oven. He loved them.
Hi Charlotte,
Thanks so much for making these cookies 🍪 and sharing what worked well for you! I am so glad they were enjoyed as well as the pumpkin butter. Have a great weekend! xx
Great recipe. Had to go to several grocery stores for pumpkin puree and never did find any pumpkin pie spice or apple cider (sigh…Canadian Thanksgiving comes earlier than the US, so stores are seemingly sold out). So I riffed and finely grated a Pink Lady apple into the pumpkin puree, and made my own spice mix with cinnamon, cloves, nutmeg, ginger, and allspice. The cookies were a huge hit! Thanks for this great recipe!! I might try it next and include some walnut pieces.
Hey Jan,
Happy Friday!! I am thrilled to hear that this recipe was a winner, thanks a bunch for making it! 👻
Hey Tieghan,
Love all your recipes, main meals and desserts!!! I’d like to cut back on my sugar intake just to stay healthy. Can I substitute maple syrup for the brown sugar in this recipe and if so, what would the ratio be?
Hi Sandra,
Thanks so much!! Soooo I already used the maple syrup in place of regular cane sugar so I’m not really sure how well it would work to also replace all of the brown sugar! Let me know if you give it a try! xx
I made these cookies today they are very good and very sweet. I would like to make my own pumpkin pie spice for next time but I don’t know how much of each spice to use. I would like it kind of ginger snap like to really give them a kick . The pumpkin butter was great too and really easy to make. I’m trying the pizza sliders next 😃
Hi Mariann,
Happy Sunday!!🎃 I am delighted to hear that this recipe was enjoyed, thanks for making it and sharing your feedback! xx
Can I use pumpkin puree instead of pumpkin butter?
Hi Allie,
So sorry, for this recipe you will want to stick with the pumpkin butter:) Please let me know if you have any other questions! xT
Hi! Going to try these with ghee and GF flour. Thoughts?
Hi Diane,
That should work well for you, but I haven’t tested it so can’t say for sure! I hope you love the recipe! xT
Turned out great with my substitutions: GF flour (Bob’s Red Mill), Brown Coconut Sugar – I used regular butter instead of ghee. delish – oh the flavors! love the coffee addition! Mine weren’t too fluffy but I still went through the steps you recommended, and they turned out great. I love the pumpkin butter recipe, too. Have plenty left over for this harvest season!
Hey Diane,
Happy Saturday!! Thanks so much for sharing what worked well for you, so glad to hear that this recipe was enjoyed!! xx
I used GF flour and they turned out great!!
Awesome!! So glad to hear this!! Thanks for making the cookies!!
These look amazing! But if I’m not a fan of browned butter, do you recommend I just melt the butter in the microwave?
Hey Rosa,
You bet, that will work well for you! Please let me know if you give this recipe a try, I hope you love it! xT
I made these today and they are amazing!!! I love the sprinkle of salt on top. For those looking, I found pumpkin butter at Cost Plus World Market. I used dark chocolate chunks (Private Selection brand at King Soopers (Krogers). The cookies are a great seasonal treat!
Can these be frozen?
Thanks,
Nancy
Hey Nan,
Wonderful!🤩 I love to hear that this recipe was a winner, thanks so much for making it! Yes, you can definitely freeze these! xT
Hi! I don’t have any pumpkin butter on hand- but I do have some apple butter!
Would that work? 🙂
That is what I’m going to try since I have the apple butter but not the pumpkin butter. They should be like spiced apple cookies instead (?)
Yeah, I think they will still taste great!
Hey Taylor,
Yes, the apple butter is going to change the flavors up a bit, but it will work for you:) Let me know if you give the recipe a try! xT
It was very quick to make her pumpkin butter recipe. Apple butter tastes different to me. So I would think that’d make a noticeable change in the flavor of the cookie.
Thanks Mandy!
Haven’t made this yet. I wondered if I could freeze the cookies or should I freeze the dough?
Hey Jana,
You can freeze either, both will be just fine! I hope this recipe turns out amazing for you, please let me know if you have any other questions! xT
Hi! I’m so excited about these cookies- is there an alteration I can make to skip the oatmeal and instead have a pumpkin chocolate chip cookie? Thanks in advance!
Hey Kasey,
I would just use this recipe:
https://www.halfbakedharvest.com/pumpkin-butter-chocolate-chip-cookies/
Please let me know if you have any other questions, I hope you love this recipe! xT