Looking for a quick and easy fall dessert? Look no further! 3-Ingredient Pumpkin Chocolate Chip Cookies require–you guessed it–just 3 common pantry ingredients. You can whip these up in no time!
3-Ingredient Pumpkin Chocolate Chip Cookies With Cake Mix
These pumpkin chocolate chip cookies may not look like much, but to quote Love Actually, “To me, you are perfect.” That’s because these perfectly imperfect cookies have a wonderful secret: they’re made with only THREE ingredients!
You guys know I’m the queen of complicated from-scratch recipes that take way too long, but sometimes a girl has a craving and just needs cookies, stat! And when that craving strikes, I’m not about to sit around waiting for butter to come to room temperature or dough to chill. I’m all about instant gratification.
If you need more pumpkin chocolate chip inspiration, check out my Pumpkin Chocolate Chip Bread, Pumpkin Chocolate Chip Bars, Pumpkin Chocolate Chip Cookies and Pumpkin Chocolate Chip Cake!
I posted a different pumpkin chocolate chip cookie recipe last week. That one was more of a traditional chocolate chip cookie, with crisper edges and a soft center–more like a regular cookie with a bit of pumpkin flavor.
In comparison, these cookies have a stronger pumpkin flavor, and a cake-like texture. If you’re a fan of soft, puffy cake cookies, then this is the recipe for you! Here’s how simple they are to make:
How to Make 3-Ingredient Pumpkin Chocolate Chip Cookies
All you need to make these cookies are a boxed cake mix, a can of pumpkin puree, and chocolate chips.
- For the cake mix, I recommend spice cake mix–I used Duncan Hines brand. If you can’t find spice cake, you can use any neutral cake mix (vanilla/white/yellow/etc) and just add a few teaspoons of pumpkin pie spice to the mix.
- Make sure you pick up a can of pure pumpkin puree, not pumpkin pie filling.
Start by sifting the cake mix into a large bowl. Mixes often develop clumps as they sit in the box, and if you don’t sift it before beginning, it’s going to take a lot of stirring to get the little lumps of floury mix to integrate into the dough. Save yourself some time and just sift it first!
Add the pumpkin puree to the cake mix, and stir until all of those aforementioned lumps of flour are gone, and the mixture is a thick, sticky dough.
Add as many chocolate chips as you think it needs, then add another handful for good measure. I like to use semi-sweet chips in almost all of my baking, and these cookies are no exception. Bittersweet chips would be great too!
Scoop the dough in generous tablespoons on a baking sheet, then press 2-3 chips into the top before they go into the oven. This will give you those picture-perfect melting chocolate chips on top of the cookies! Then bake & cool. While you wait, check out this delicious Halloween Red Velvet Hot Chocolate recipe and then devour your cookies!
3-Ingredient Pumpkin Chocolate Chip Cookie Variations
There are so many ways you can play with this recipe! Instead of cookies, scrape the dough into a 9×13 pan and make pumpkin chocolate chip cookie bars. Or omit the chocolate chips and use the dough to make whoopie pies! You can also experiment with different mix-ins, like nuts, butterscotch chips, toffee pieces, chopped candy bars, white chocolate chips, and much more!
🎃 More Pumpkin Desserts
- Pumpkin Bread Truffles
- Pumpkin Fudge
- Pumpkin Cookie Bars
- Pumpkin Hot Chocolate
- Pumpkin Marshmallows
- Patterned Pumpkin Roll
- Pumpkin Pound Cake
- Pumpkin Spice Cupcakes
Pumpkin Spice Cheesecake
Pumpkin Pie Mousse Cups
3-Ingredient Pumpkin Chocolate Chip Cookies
Ingredients
- 1 box spice cake mix, or other flavor
- 15 oz canned pumpkin puree, not pumpkin pie filling
- 16 oz semi-sweet chocolate chips
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 350 F, and line your baking sheets with parchment paper.
- Sift the cake mix into a large bowl.
- Add the can of pumpkin puree, and stir well until the cake mix is moistened and there are no small flour lumps left in the dough.
- Add the chocolate chips and stir them in as well, reserving a handful of chips.
- Scoop the dough by generous tablespoons out onto the baking sheets, leaving a few inches in between. Press 2-3 reserved chocolate chips on top of each cookie dough ball.
- Bake the cookies at 350 F for 13-16 minutes, until they’re puffed and the center has lost the raw shine and just started to show cracks. They won’t darken much so don’t look to the color as an indicator of when they are done.
- Cool completely on a wire rack, then serve!
Measuring Tips
Our recipes are developed using weight measurements, and we highly recommend using a kitchen scale for baking whenever possible. However, if you prefer to use cups, volume measurements are provided as well. PLEASE NOTE: the adage “8 oz = 1 cup” is NOT true when speaking about weight, so don’t be concerned if the measurements don’t fit this formula.
Want to learn more about baking measurements and conversion?
Hi! Loved these cookies but curious about the nutrition, the carbs/fats/protein are based per cookie? about how big are each cookie if this makes 36? I ended up getting about 14 cookies (3 inch wide)
Hello Heather, the yield is based on using 1 tablespoon scoop for each cookie. The nutrition information can be found (for this yield) at the bottom of the recipe card. Keep in mind the nutrition information would be more if you are making larger cookies.
These are amazing, and I love that they are eggless!
Hi Amanda! So glad you enjoyed them. It can be hard to cook without eggs. Glad this recipe came in handy. All the best!
These are a favorite for our kid with an egg allergy! So easy to make and freeze.
So glad you enjoy this recipe! Thanks for sharing a comment Amanda! I hope your special kiddo will get to enjoy these all season long.
rubbery and sticky. Unfortunately the texture did not improve with additional bake time and cooling. I feel like I wasted good ingredients for nothing I can consume.
I was so excited for these! They were easy to make and smell like absolute heaven! Unfortunately the texture is just…odd. They’re spongy and moist and sort of rubbery which is weird. Such a shame because the flavor is awesome!
I’m sorry, but I feel strongly that calling this a “3 ingredient” dessert is extremely misleading. Cake mix is a conglomerate of ingredients, and for those of us looking for simpler, healthier options, this just straight up does not count.
Hi Eric, I understand your point and am sorry if you feel misled. I think it can go both ways. The focus of this site is dessert recipes for the busy home cook, so “3-ingredient” refers to the simplicity of needing to get just 3 ingredients from the store, and in that context, I feel the name is accurate.