Start by preheating the oven to 350 degrees Fahrenheit.
Next line two standard baking sheets (13x18) with parchment paper.
Now line a small bowl with a paper towel and pour in the 1/2 cup of pumpkin puree. Press another paper towel over the top of the pumpkin and let it sit to absorb as much moister as possible while moving onto the next step. Too much moister from the pumpkin and the cookies will be cakey instead of chewy.
Moving on, in a large mixing bowl add butter, brown sugar, and granulated sugar.
With a hand mixer, cream the butter and sugars together for 2-3 minutes until light and fluffy.
Add pumpkin puree and vanilla extract to the butter and sugar and mix until combined.
Find a small mixing bowl and add flour, salt, baking soda and cinnamon.
Using a fork, lightly mix the dry ingredients until combined.
Pour the dry ingredients into the wet ingredients and fold them into each other using a rubber spatula. Stop mixing when the last bit of flour disappears.
Sprinkle chocolate chunks into the dough and fold them in with a rubber spatula until just incorporated.
With a large cookie scoop (3oz), scoop the cookie dough and place no more than 4 to 5 unbaked cookie dough balls on a baking pan at a time. * I like to double scoop the dough using a 1.5 Tbs cookie scoop so the cookies don't spread as much while baking. See video for demonstration.
Then top each cookie dough ball with a few extra pieces of chocolate.
Bake the cookies for 10-12 minutes until the edges are lightly browned.
Use a cookie cutter to swirl and shape the warm cookies or use a cup that is slightly bigger than the cookies. This step is optional but if done the cookies will be perfectly circular and even more thick and chewy.
Sprinkle each warm cookies with a pinch of Maldon Sea Salt Flakes.
Repeat until all the cookies are baked.
Cool and enjoy!