Chewy brown butter pumpkin chocolate chip cookies with crisp edges and soft centers. Blotting the pumpkin down to 70 grams is what keeps them from baking up cakey.
Preheat oven to 350°F then line a large baking sheet with parchment paper and set aside.
Brown the butter:
In a saucepan, melt butter over medium heat until it foams and small brown bits appear. Remove from heat, transfer to a large bowl and let cool to room temperature completely about 15-25 minutes.
3/4 cup unsalted butter
Prep the pumpkin:
Spread pumpkin puree on paper towels and blot until it seems more dry and thick (It'll be about 70g or about 1/3 cup thick paste).
1/2 cup pumpkin puree
Add the brown sugar, and granulated sugar to the cooled down brown butter and mix until smooth.
⅔ cup dark brown sugar, 2 tbsp granulated sugar
Add egg yolks, blotted pumpkin, and vanilla extract. Mix until combined.
2 large egg yolks, 2 tsp vanilla extract
In a separate bowl, whisk flour, baking soda, salt, and spices. Fold dry ingredients into wet until just combined. Avoid over mixing. Stir in chocolate chips or chunkss
1 & 3/4 cup all-purpose flour , ½ tsp baking soda, 1/2 tsp salt, 1 tsp pumpkin pie spice, 3/4 cups semisweet or dark chocolate chips/chunks
Scoop about 2 tbsp dough per cookie onto parchment-lined baking sheet.
Bake 9-10 minutes, until edges are set but centers look soft. If you want more of a wow factor, add in some extra chocolate chips or chocolate chunks to the top of your cookies as soon as they come out of the oven.
Let cookies sit on the baking sheet for 5-10 minutes before transferring to a wire rack.
Notes
Blot to a number, not by feel. Start with about 115 g of pumpkin puree and press it between paper towels until the scale reads 70 g. That is roughly a 40% water loss, and it is the single thing standing between chewy and cakey. No scale? Blot until the puree holds its shape on the towel and stops leaving a wet ring.Browned butter loses weight. Three quarters of a cup goes into the pan and about 145 g comes out once the water has cooked off. If you come up short, top it up with a little plain melted butter to hit 145 g rather than browning more.Storage. Airtight at room temperature 3 to 4 days, refrigerated up to 1 week, frozen up to 3 months.