Browned Butter Pumpkin Pudding Cookies Recipe

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This pumpkin chocolate chip cookie recipe has been tested over and over again, and I believe it is the best Pumpkin CCC on the planet!! The pudding mix and the pumpkin keep them soft and moist, and the browned butter lends a toffee-like flavor. They’re chewy like chocolate chip cookies, but have a spiced pumpkin flavor that tastes like Fall.

Ashton
pumpkin pudding cookies with chocolate chip

You guys.

I have been baking pumpkin chocolate chip cookies like a mad woman for about 3 months. In fact, I’ve been through seven different versions of this cookie, trying to get it just right. I’ve been waning to develop a chewy (instead of cake-y) pumpkin cookie for a couple of years now, but it always just seemed too daunting.

pumpkin pudding chocolate chip cookies

Around batch number 5, I saw Mandy’s recipe for Pumpkin Pudding Cookies. And I thought that was just the most genius thing ever. Because everyone knows that it’s the pumpkin that gives pumpkin cookies their fluffy, moist, cake-y texture. Which is nice, but not what I was going for. So if I could replace some of the pumpkin with pumpkin flavored pudding mix, but still retain a strong pumpkin flavor… well, I could work with that!

pumpkin pudding chocolate chip cookie mix

I knew I wanted to use melted butter and not chill the dough to create spreading (pumpkin cookies usually poof up) and crispy edges, so I had been working on a browned butter pumpkin cookie since batch number 3. The browned butter creates this magnificent underlying rich toffee-like flavor that is just super amazing with the pumpkin. It’s literally the taste of Fall in cookie form.

When I finally brought the two components together, it was cookie magic.

chocolate chip cookies
pumpkin pudding chocolate chip cookies

Happy Fall Baking!

Browned Butter Pumpkin Pudding Cookies Recipe
These pumpkin pudding cookies are the BEST pumpkin cookies on the planet!

Browned Butter Pumpkin Pudding Cookies Recipe

Yield: 48 cookies

Ingredients

  • 1 cup butter
  • 3/4 cup granulated sugar
  • 3/4 cup brown sugar
  • 1 egg
  • 1/4 cup pumpkin puree or pure pumpkin (not pumpkin pie filling)
  • 1 tsp pumpkin pie spice
  • 1 tsp vanilla extract
  • 1/2 tsp salt
  • 2 1/2 cups flour
  • 3.4 oz package Jell-O Instant Pudding Mix, Pumpkin Spice Flavor
  • 1 1/2 cups chocolate chips (I used a blend of semi-sweet and milk chocolate)

Instructions

  1. Preheat oven to 350ºF.
  2. Place the butter in a deep microwave safe dish (it bubbles up a little, so it needs to be deep). Microwave for 2 minutes, then stir. Microwave for 2 minutes, then stir. Microwave for 1 minute, then stir. At this point, it should be turning a golden brown color and have a strong scent. If it's not, heat additionally in 30-second increments until color changes. Mine was perfect at 5 minutes and 30 seconds.
  3. Pour the browned butter in the bowl of a stand mixer or in your mixing bowl.
  4. Beat together the browned butter, sugar, and brown sugar until well mixed. Add the egg and mix well. Add the pumpkin puree, pumpkin pie spice, vanilla extract, and salt and mix well.
  5. Add the flour and instant pudding mix, and mix just until dough forms.
  6. Use a spatula or wooden spoon to mix in the chocolate chips.
  7. Scoop by heaping tablespoons onto a parchment or silicon lined baking sheet.
  8. Bake for 10 minutes and let cool on pan.

Notes

If you chill this dough (which does deepen the flavors), bring it back to room temperature before baking.

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27 thoughts on “Browned Butter Pumpkin Pudding Cookies Recipe”

  1. Wow. They look AMAZING! For one of my big projects that I told you about last weekend, I made and tested pumpkin choc chip cookies like it was my job (okay it kind of was) and it’s SO HARD to get a chewy, non-cakey pumpkin cookie b/c they blow up like little cakes in the oven. The best I’ve come is with cornstach and that’s what pudding mix is, in large part, and now I need to try these. Pinned!

  2. I just recently tried browned butter and now I can’t wait to incorporate it in another recipe! I think I just found that recipe! Fabulous cookies Ashton!

  3. The chewy pumpkin cookie is quite the enigma! I can’t WAIT to try these. They look like the absolute perfect texture. Thanks for doing all the hard work. I feel a little guilty that we just get to bake and enjoy. ๐Ÿ™‚

  4. I am definitely going to make these…but I’m having trouble finding the pudding in the LA area grocery stores (not known for carrying anything other than VERY basic baking/cooking ingredients). Anyone seen it around?

  5. Do you think it would be possible to make like a bar and then use a pumpkin cookie cutter with these?? We have snack at school next week and want to try these ๐Ÿ˜€

  6. Love these! Wondering if anyone has tried them with softened unmelted butter, like a usual cookie recipe. These were absolute heaven fresh out of the oven, and I usually prefer my cookies cooled, but after these cooled, still great but less soft. I let type dough sit for a couple hours covered, and they didn’t grow much in the oven, do they expand more normally if baked right away? Anyway, adore them, kids do too. Now I just have to find someone to booting pumpkin spice pudding into canada for me,

  7. Brilliant! I so admire your research and testing methodology. This is how great new recipes are created. Pumpkin pudding mix? What a great idea. Can’t wait to try this.

  8. Sorry if this is a silly question — but do you actually make the pudding and put that in the mixture, or do you literally just pour the contents of the box into the mixture?

    Thanks!

  9. That’s interesting, that pumpkin always makes cookies cake-like rather than cookie (sort of fried?!) texture.

    I agree, would prefer more cookie texture, so thanks for doing all the hard work experimenting. ๐Ÿ™‚

  10. Made these today! I know the pudding is available on Amazon, but couldn’t find it in a grocery store. So I used vanilla and two tsp of pumpkin pie spice to make up for it. We shall see!

  11. Went back and read comments after I made them…doesn’t anyone taste the pumpkin straight out of the can? It’s mild. The pumpkin flavor in the recipe is really coming from the pumpkin pie spice and the pudding. i think the pumpkin lends color and sneaks in a veggie–see Jessica Seinfeld’s notorious cookbooks. For argument’s sake, I used a 1/2 cup pumpkin because I couldn’t bare to throw 1/4 cup pumpkin down the drain…AND THEY WEREN’T CAKEY!??! So confused now. But maybe I could try these again sans pumpkin.

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