It’s officially fall: I’ve made pumpkin chocolate chip cookies. And healthy ones, to boot. Granted, they aren’t gluten-free, but most fall parties I attend are filled with people who aren’t gluten-free and they get gobbled up.
My friend Shardae gave me this cookie recipe when we were in college, and one thing I learned quickly about her is that she’s a fabulous baker. So when she gave it her seal of approval, I knew they would be delicious and taste anything but healthy. And it’s been my go-to recipe for (cough) many, many years since college. 😉
If you bake, you probably already have most, if not all, of the ingredients to make this recipe on hand like sugar, flour, baking powder, cinnamon, nutmeg, baking soda, and more. The only thing you might not have is the canned pumpkin and unsweetened applesauce but those are easy ingredients to pick up!
You start by combining the pumpkin, sugar, applesauce, egg, and vanilla with a hand mixer. Before combining and whisking the flour, baking powder, cinnamon, nutmeg, cloves and salt in a separate bowl.
You should then dissolve the baking soda in the milk and add it to the wet mixture. Then you combine it all, gradually adding the dry mixture to the wet mixture until just combined. Be careful here to NOT over mix your ingredients. You don’t need to beat it for minutes, just make sure there aren’t any visible dry clumps!
Then the good part, add in the chocolate chips! Once they’re mixed in, take an ice cream scoop to measure out the cookies. Or use your best judgment.
Bake these for 10-12 minutes at 350 degrees until they no longer look wet.
Then enjoy when they’re cool!
Healthy Pumpkin Chocolate Chip Cookie Recipe
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Healthified Pumpkin Chocolate Chip Cookies
Ingredients
- 1 cup canned pumpkin (not pumpkin pie mix)
- 3/4 cup sugar
- 1/2 cup unsweetened applesauce
- 1 egg
- 1 Tbs. vanilla
- 2 cups whole wheat flour
- 2 tsp. baking powder
- 2 tsp. cinnamon
- 1/8 tsp. nutmeg
- 1/8 tsp. ground cloves
- 1/2 tsp. salt
- 1 tsp. baking soda
- 1 tsp. milk
- 1 cup semi-sweet chocolate chips
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 350 degrees
- Using a hand mixer, combine pumpkin, sugar, applesauce, egg and vanilla and mix well.
- Combine by whisking: flour, baking powder, cinnamon, nutmeg, cloves and salt in a separate bowl.
- Dissolve baking soda in milk, then add to the wet mixture
- Gradually add dry mixture to wet and mix until just combined. Don’t overmix it!
- Fold in chocolate chips
- Grease a cookie sheet and use an ice cream scoop to measure out. (These are the BEST cookie sheets!)
- Bake for 10-12 minutes until they no longer look wet
- Let sit on pan for 2 minutes then remove to a wire rack to cool
Notes
*Once you put these in a tupperware, they’re not quite as good. So, I make them in small batches (refrigerating the leftover dough) and just leave them out until they are eaten.
Do you have something you bake that officially signals fall to you? Pumpkin cookies and pumpkin bread are my must-bakes before it’s really fall for me.
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53 Comments
Tina @ Faith Fitness Fun
atI’m making pumpkin choc chip cookies for our small group this Wednesday. I’ve seen them all over blog world and can’t wait to have some myself.
Lauren
atMmm, pumpkin cookies are the best fall treat!
Heather (Heather's Dish)
atit’s all about the pumpkin for me too! you had me at “doesn’t taste healthy” 🙂
Katie @ Healthy Heddleston
atPumpkin means falls here too! I made pumpkin chocolate chip muffins this past weekend (again, hehe).
Jennifer
atBest fall treat ever! Thanks for sharing! 🙂 xoxo
Michelle (The Runner's Plate)
atI love pumpkin in anything: muffins, cookies, oats, pie. . . okay, mostly just in sweet things. 😉
Katie
atOooo these look so good! Anything pumpkin screams fall to me – I’m going to have to make these asap.
BroccoliHut
atYum! These look like little clouds of heaven!
Teri
atclouds of heaven! I love it!
Andrea
atThank you for posting this recipe! I have been searching for a healthy pumpkin cookie/bar recipe. This fits the bill!
Claire
atUm, can I have one? Good thing I have the two key ingredients = Pumpkin + Chocolate Chips = heaven….
Teri
atthey’d be easy to veganize too!
Tracey @ I'm Not Superhuman
atOh yum. The chocolate chips looked like raisins at first, but I’m glad to see they’re chocolate. I love that combo.
Stephanie @ The Cookie Battle
atPumpkin is definitely the #1 sign that it’s fall! But close behind is gingerbread, I will be making some of that tonight!
Nichole
atMy pumpkin cookies last year were a total fail, cannot wait to try again with a recipe like this.
Anything pumpkin rocks my socks. Pumpkin bread and apple orchards, fave time of year!
Krysten
atOh yummy those look amazing!
Pumpkin and apple pies always signify fall for me!
Rachel
atThose cookies look delightful! I’m happy they remind you of fall 🙂
So many people seem into pumpkin these days that I can’t even think of anything else that is fall-reminiscent!
Hillary [Nutrition Nut on the Run]
atOh, yes… fall can’t go by without a batch or two… or three of pumpkin muffins.
Heather @ Get Healthy with Heather
atPumpkin for sure but I think baking in general is very fall-ish to me. When the weather gets cooler I crave comforting foods and that definitely includes naked goodies.
Liz @ Blog is the New Black
atOk, not big on pumpkin but these look way too good!
Shannon
athow about pumpkin cinnamon rolls 🙂 hehe, these look great! might need to get my bake on this weekend…
Andrea
atCouldn’t wait to try this and mine are hot out of the oven! I am a bit surprised at their cake-like consistency – I think I’d prefer them as muffins instead, but the flavors are spot on (definitely did the nutmeg and cloves – a MUST!) and they’re a good (healthier) treat.
Teri
atI should have mentioned their cake-like consistency. That’s how I’ve always had pumpkin cookies and prefer them that way, but I know some people might not like that for a cookie!
They would make awesome muffins! I think I need to try that!
Melanie Big
atWow! Those cookies make me hungry. Better try this one as soon as possible since Halloween is near I should practice making it to make it perfect. Thanks for sharing this healthy recipe of yours.
Melani Schoenhut
atChocolate cookies are always my favorite but I never tried to bake my own cookies. Maybe it is the time for me to bake mine. LOL. Thanks for this easy and simple recipe of yours.
Kathleen @ Kat's Health Corner
atPumpkin Cookies — the best ever!! The more and more I explore your blog, the deeper and deeper my adoration for it becomes!!!
Teri
atoh yay! I’m so glad you are enjoying it! thank you!
janetha @ meals and moves
atmaking these nowwww
Teri
atI hope you liked them!!!
Heather McCarthy
atDelicious! I was looking for something just like this and Google led me to your recipe. I messed with it a bit (didn’t add any sugar, used pumpkin pie filling cause that’s all I could get (grrrr) and used applesauce with sugar. I added about a quarter up of wheat bran to the dry ingredients and a little extra pumpkin to make up for hte missing sugar. I still added extra cloves.nutmeg (like you, I like them.) Used broken up 70 percent lindt dark chocolate car instead of chips… and wow!! I will also try your exact recipe when I have the right things…but it worked for me. Thanks for helping me make healthy and tasty food.
Meg
atLovely feel-good fall weekend here in Maine. Had been craving some homeade goodies. Made this recipe and I would have to admit…. BEST pumpkin chocolate chip cookies EVER ! !
Teri
atyay!! I’m so glad you liked them! Thanks for letting me know!
Kristy
atI made these cookies on the weekend and my kids loved them and I did not feel any guilt because they were healthy. I doubled the batch, added a cup of oatmeal and 3 cups WW flour and a little less sugar and they turned out great. Thanks for the great recipe.
Julia
atThese were really good, but definitely more of a muffin texture than a cookie.
Alyssa
atI made these last week and brought them to a Thanksgiving Potluck- they got RAVE reviews. They’re incredibly easy to prepare, and even easier to consume (sans guilt).
Thank you! I’m making more today… this time they’re staying home just for us 🙂
Jill
atThese were AMAZING! In my experience the healthy baking recipes can be a little hit or miss in terms of texture, but these were awesome! I added a little ginger to the recipe and they came out the perfect combination of sweet and savory! yumm!
Tammy
atI was surprised by these…sooooooooo yummy and my kids(teenagers) cant get enough.
TY TY TY
Cara O'Sullivan
atThis reciepe looks great. I tried it this evening and have two questions:
1) What size of canned pumpkin did you use? 8 oz. or a bigger size?
2) 12 minutes didn’t seem long enough–the cookies weren’t baked all the way through.
I used dates instead of chips in half the batch I made. THank you.
Teri
atHi Cara!
I used an 8 oz can.
It might vary on your elevation. Just bake until they are springy to the touch, kind of like muffins.
I bet they are delicious with dates! I’ll have to try that!
Cara O'Sullivan
atI hadn’t thought of the elevation–we’re in a valley in the Rocky Mountains. Thanks!
Melissa
atThese look delicious. Has anyone tried using rolled oats, either whole or ground into flour, for a portion of the flour needed? I’m looking for ways to get more oatmeal into my diet. Thanks.
Anna
atI literally just made these and they are heaven! Thank you for posting this!
Kara
atLOVE this recipe! Just FYI, I double it and make them all at one, then freeze them. They thaw super quick (and get eaten super quick)!