Recipe Review

I Made Taylor Swift’s All-Time Favorite Pumpkin Chocolate Chip Cookies — and They’re as Good as Promised

published Oct 6, 2024
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Taylor Swift Pumpkin Chocolate Chip Cookie.
Credit: Kris Osborne

As a Swiftie, mom of a Swiftie, and enthusiastic baker, I couldn’t resist the opportunity to try one of Taylor Swift’s favorite cookie recipes. One of the singer’s most hyped fall recipe favorites is the Food Network’s pumpkin chocolate chip cookies. It has been making the rounds for a while now, and with fall vibes in the air, it was time to give it a try.

Get the recipe: Taylor Swift’s Favorite Pumpkin Chocolate Chip Cookies

Credit: Kris Osborne

How to Make Taylor Swift’s Favorite Pumpkin Chocolate Chip Cookies

Start by preheating your oven to 350°F and lining several baking pans with parchment paper. While the oven is coming to temperature, cream two sticks of softened butter with a stand or hand mixer until smooth. Next, add white and brown sugar and mix until it’s light and fluffy, like a delicious, edible cloud. You’ll add the eggs one at a time, mixing well after each addition. Then comes the vanilla extract and the star of the show, the pumpkin puree. Adding the moist puree might make the mixture break here, but trust the process. It will all come together.

In a separate bowl, whisk together your dry ingredients. You’ll need flour, baking soda, salt, and all the warm, cozy spices — cinnamon, ginger, nutmeg, and cloves. Add this mixture to your wet ingredients in thirds, mixing until it’s just combined. Finally, fold in two cups of dark chocolate chips. The original recipe calls for milk chocolate chips, but “Taylor’s Version” opts for dark, and who am I to argue with the Queen of Pop? Scoop the dough onto your prepared baking sheets and pop them in the oven for about 15 minutes. When they’re done, let them cool on the sheet for a couple of minutes before transferring to a wire rack. And voilà! You’ve just baked Swift’s favorite fall cookies.

My Honest Review

These cookies are soft, which works well with the pumpkin flavor. I’m not usually a fan of cake-like cookies, much preferring those with a chewy center and crispy edges. But this is a cake-style cookie that I can get behind. The pumpkin and spices are festive but subtle; they’re not very sweet, and dark chocolate adds a rich, slightly bitter note that brings everything together. It’s a flavor combination that Taylor Swift could probably write a song about if she ever runs out of love stories to tell. Also, the recipe makes a ton of cookies — about 60! So unless you’re baking for a listening party, you might want to freeze half or be prepared to share with your neighbors. Because they make such a large batch, I plan to make them for a school bake sale. With this batch, I’ve given some to my neighbors and popped some in my freezer for my daughter’s lunchbox treats. 

Credit: Kris Osborne

Tips for Making Taylor’s Favorite Pumpkin Chocolate Chip Cookies

  • Room temperature is everything. Make sure your butter and eggs are at room temperature. It’ll make mixing the batter easier and result in a better, cakey texture.
  • Don’t be skimpy. The blend of cinnamon, ginger, nutmeg, and cloves gives these cookies their signature fall flavor, so don’t skimp on the spices. In fact, when I make these again, I think I might even double them. Feel free to adjust to your taste, but don’t be shy with them at all!
  • Get chunky with it. While the recipe calls for chocolate chips, I think using chocolate chunks and/or chopped dark chocolate would be even better. A combination of both would create these delightful pockets of melty chocolate throughout the cookie.
  • Watch the 2-minute mark. The chocolate chips will sink into the dough when baked, which is fine. But if you want to see chocolate on the tops of your cookies, take them out after two minutes of baking and quickly sprinkle extra chips or chunks on top before popping them back in the oven to finish baking.
  • Add flaky salt. I added Maldon salt to half of the cookies as soon as they came out of the oven, and they were decidedly better. Besides, who doesn’t love a sweet-salty cookie finish?