Hey there internet friends. I cannot tell you how much I love Sundays for catching up on things (including making pumpkin chocolate chip cookies)! Sometimes you just need it, you know?. I was able to do a little recipe development, laundry, cleaning and of course sit down and finally edit and write this post.
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But first, how was your weekend? On Friday, Tony and I attended a surprise party then celebrated our 1 year anniversary on Saturday thus we were busy, busy, busy! I got him a new TV and he brought me to Starved Rock, a beautiful national park in Illinois with miles of trails. We ended up hiking most of the day, something that he knows I absolutely love. I can’t believe we’ve been dating a year! Love really does surprise you when you least expect it to.
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Before I get super sappy and make myself cry blabbing over love and romance – we must talk cookies, because sometimes they can be just as wonderful.
It’s been a while since you’ve seen an indulgent cookie from me. My bad guys. In fact, many of you have emailed requesting pumpkin cookies and so of course I’m bringing you one to put in your recipe books and keep forever and ever. NUTELLA STUFFED PUMPKIN CHOCOLATE CHIP COOKIES.
Pumpkin lovers, this one’s for you.
First I must tell you that it is INCREDIBLY difficult to make a chewy pumpkin chocolate chip cookie. It is actually one of the most frustrating things when all you want is a regular cookie to have a little pumpkin flavor (which by the way I could totally do with pumpkin spice but then would feel like a cheat because the cookie wouldn’t actually contain any REAL pumpkin). So I made a few batches of these just to ensure that everything was perfect and that you wouldn’t get a big old soft cake cookie like most other pumpkin cookie recipes out there.
This recipe is chewy, rich, brown buttery and full of pumpkin flavor. And wait, it’s STUFFED with nutella too! I know I may have gone a little overboard but the holidays are coming and it’s time to indulge a little.
There are so many tips and tricks for this recipe and I really want to explain all of them so let’s do this! I figured you’d have some questions so I thought I’d start by answering them right here:
Why do you only use an egg white? Can I use the entire egg? Pumpkin is mostly water and therefore it is full of moisture. Using the egg white helps to dry it out a bit, bind the cookie to keep it together and also assists in producing a chewy result. The pumpkin itself also helps to bind the cookie so using the entire egg is unnecessary. Please know that if you do use the entire egg, you are adding more fat to the cookie (from the yolk) and as a result you will have cakey cookies.
Do I have to brown the butter? What does it do? Yes you should! The brown butter adds a rich caramel flavor and I believe it also adds to the cookie’s texture. I’ve noticed that it keeps the cookies soft in the middle but produces a nice crispy edge. Brown butter is the only way to go. If you haven’t browned butter before, I have created a super easy tutorial for you here!
Can I use a different kind of flour for this recipe? Sure! You could try white whole wheat flour or whole wheat pastry. If you’re gluten free I recommend an all-purpose gluten free blend flour (King Arthur has a nice blend). Please don’t use coconut flour or almond flour, the result will not be the same!
Do I really have to refrigerate the cookie dough?! Absolutely. This is a critical step. First off you’ll need the dough to be cold in order to easily stuff it with nutella. Otherwise your hands will be a completely sticky mess since this dough contains more moisture. If I’m in a hurry I usually put the dough in the freezer for 30 minutes. You can also make the dough 24 hours in advance.
The nutella is a mess! How do I make it easier to make these cookies?! I got this question a lot when I first developed my nutella-stuffed brown butter chocolate chip cookie (AKA BEST COOKIE EVER). There are a few options; you can chill the nutella or put it in the freezer or many readers place nutella drops on parchment paper then freeze so that it’s super easy to put them in the middle of the dough. It’s up to you, but this is a great tip if you know that you will be making them ahead of time.
Can I double the recipe? I haven’t tried this, but I’m guessing it would work just fine. You might want to stick to just 1 egg white versus putting two in though.
Here’s a picture of how I normally stuff the cookies. Mmmmmm don’t forget a spoonful of nutella for your face.
I hope these pumpkin chocolate chip cookies are a hit at your house this year and that you can enjoy them for years to come. If you make the cookies, remember to tag #ambitiouskitchen on Instagram. xoxo!
More cookie recipes you’ll love:
The Best Brown Butter Chocolate Chip Cookies You’ll Ever Eat
Chocolate Dipped Brown Butter Tahini Cookies
Pumpkin Oatmeal Chocolate Chip Cookies
Nutella-Stuffed Brown Butter + Sea Salt Chocolate Chip Cookies {my favorite cookie ever}
Old Fashioned Iced Brown Butter Oatmeal Cookies
Ambitious Kitchen
Cookbook
125 Ridiculously Good For You, Sometimes Indulgent, and Absolutely Never Boring Recipes for Every Meal of the Day
Brown Butter Nutella-Stuffed Pumpkin Chocolate Chip Cookies
Ingredients
- 1/2 cup butter
- 1/2 cup brown sugar
- 1/2 cup granulated sugar
- 1 teaspoon vanilla
- 1 egg white (NOT THE FULL EGG)
- 1/4 cup pumpkin puree
- 1 1/2 cup all purpose flour
- 3/4 teaspoon baking soda
- 1/4 teaspoon salt
- 1 1/2 teaspoons cinnamon
- 1/4 teaspoon ginger
- pinch of nutmeg
- pinch of cloves
- 1 cup chocolate chips
- 1 small jar of nutella (you use about 15 teaspoons), chilled
Instructions
- Make your brown butter: melt butter in a saucepan over medium heat. The butter will begin to foam. Make sure you whisk consistently during this process. After a couple of minutes, the butter will begin to brown on the bottom of the saucepan; continue to whisk and remove from heat as soon as the butter begins to brown and give off a nutty aroma.
- Immediately transfer the butter to a bowl to prevent burning (make sure you scrape all of it out of the pan - every last drop!). Set aside to cool for 5 minutes.
- With an electric mixer, mix the butter and sugars until thoroughly blended. Beat in the egg white, vanilla and pumpkin puree until well combined.
- In a separate medium bowl whisk together flour, baking soda, salt, cinnamon, ginger, nutmeg and cloves.
- With electric mixer on low speed, slowly add in flour and mix until just combined. Gently fold in chocolate chips.
- Place plastic wrap over bowl and refrigerate dough for one hour so that the flavors meld together and the butter has a chance to solidify a bit. Alternatively you can place plastic wrap over the dough and place in your freezer for 20 minutes to speed up the process. Either way you want the dough to be fairly cold so that that it's easier to work with and stuff with nutella.
- Once dough is chilled, make your dough balls: measure about 1 1/2 tablespoons of dough and roll into a ball. Flatten the dough ball very thinly into the palm of your hand. Place 1 teaspoon of chilled nutella in the middle and fold dough around it; gently roll into a ball -- it doesn’t have to be perfectly rolled! Make sure that the nutella is not seeping out of the dough. Add more dough if necessary.
- Place dough balls on cookie sheet, 2 inches apart and flatten with your hand just a tiny bit!
- Once ready to bake, preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Bake for 11-13 minutes or until cookies are golden brown around the edges.
- Cool on baking sheet for 5-10 minutes then remove and transfer to wire rack.
I loved nutella stuffed chocolate chip cookies but way to take it up a notch for the season with pumpkin!
Sounds delicious. By the way, I meant to congratulate you on your recent life decisions. A move to Chicago sounds like a really big change but fabulous. Good luck! Happy anniversary. Glad your relationship is going well. Thanks for all the yummy recipes!!
These cookies have all of my favorites! Love it!
Thanks Gaby! xo
I’m going to the lazy version of this today. Thanks for the idea!
I cannot wait to try these Monique! It is so hard to make a chewy pumpkin cookie! I made pumpkin oat flour chocolate chip cookies this evening and they were deelish but very soft (not like your typical decadent chewy cookie!). I can’t wait to try your recipe – they look divineeeeeeee!! Pinned 🙂
I think I just fell in love. Me + this cookie forever.
These look fantastic! I love the pumpkin/nutella/brown butter combo. How can you go wrong with any of these delicious things?!
If we double these should we double the egg white or stick with just one?
If you double the recipe, you’ll want to double all the ingredients!
Everything in this cookie screams deliciousness 😀
These are even better than the original!
These are perfect all around. Chocolate chips, Nutella AND pumpkin… girl you hit this one on the nail! Congrats on your 1 yr. anniversary – that’s so cute.
The Nutella dripping out of these is making me DROOL!! These look like cookie heaven, pinned!
And she’s done it again. Cookies + pumpkin = my downfall.
Congrats on the one year with Tony! Squealing with excitement for you two over here
These cookies look crazy good! Love the Nutella filling!
I just made these without the Nutella filling and I have to say they may be the best cookies to ever come out of my kitchen! I would never have thought to use just the egg white. Thanks!!
Fabulous! So glad you liked them Sara. 🙂
Amazing stuff.. mouthwatering…can’t wait to try. Thanks a ton for this wonder..!
Also, would want to know how long can the cookies be stored in an airtight container? Just worried coz Nutella is involved..
Love the taste, but they turned out waaaayyy too greasy. Next time, I’ll have to use a lot less butter.
Well, I’m a sucker for anything pumpkin and am TOTALLY late to the game on commenting… but pumpkin is good year round, right? (Let’s just agree that it is, and I’ll go ahead and bake some of these cookies soon because they look too good to wait until this autumn!)
Do you think browning vegan butter would have the same effect? These look delicious so I’m hoping I can make a dairy free version!
these are perfection!
These cookies are amazing and well worth the effort. I’ve made them a few times with different gluten free flour blends and they’ve turned out great each time. Browning the butter is SO worth the effort and the pumpkin keeps them so soft. My least favorite part is dealing with the Nutella. Dropping generous teaspoons of it onto a plate, then freezing them for 5-10 minutes makes it easier to work with. Go make these cookies, they are amazing!!
So happy to hear that Nicole! And great tip with the Nutella. YUM.
PLease tell me that i can make these cookies vegan! They look amazing! I already have a vegan ‘nutella’ but how can i substitute egg yolk?
Unfortunately I can’t recommend a vegan sub for these cookies especially with the egg and brown butter – so sorry! You can find all of my vegan desserts here.