Gluten Free Pumpkin Cookies
These chocolate chip gluten free pumpkin cookies are the ultimate Fall recipe. They’re vegan, soft and chewy with tons of chocolate chips and plenty of pumpkin spice. Plus, they’re made in one bowl and require no chill time!
I may be going a little overboard this pumpkin season so I hope ya’ll are ok with that! These gluten free pumpkin cookies were a last minute addition to my list this year, but they’re definitely a good one.
These cookies are studded with chocolate chips, perfectly chewy, loaded with pumpkin spice, canned pumpkin puree and made in one bowl. Plus, they’re naturally vegan and can easily be made refined sugar free. They’re made with just a few simple ingredients you probably already have on hand.
With perfectly crisp edges and soft and gooey centers, these cookies aren’t cakey like other pumpkin cookies. They’re perfect for Fall and in and out of the oven in about 30 minutes!
These gluten free pumpkin cookies do not require chilling, but generally, if a recipe tells you to chill the dough, you’ll want to do that! Try my gluten free gingerbread cookies or gluten free pumpkin cinnamon rolls next!
Before we get started
- Room temperature butter is best, but if you forget to take it out on the fridge, you can microwave for about 20 seconds.
- Careful not to over bake as the cookies will get dry.
- Be sure to use pumpkin puree and not pumpkin pie filling.
How to make gluten free pumpkin cookies
In a medium mixing bowl, add the butter and both sugars and cream together with an electric mixer until well combined.
Add in the pumpkin and vanilla and beat together.
Add in the dry ingredients aside from the chocolate chips and beat together until a dough forms. Fold in the chocolate chips.
Line a baking sheet with parchment paper and scoop a heaping 2 tablespoons of dough spaced a few inches apart. You can make the cookies smaller if you prefer!
Bake for 13-18 minutes or until slightly golden brown on the edges. They will firm up quite a bit as they cool, so avoid leaving them in for too long if you like them soft and gooey in the center.
Sprinkle on a few extra chocolate chips on top as soon as they come out of the oven. Let cool for at least 30 minutes before enjoying! Try my maple pecan cookies next!
Ingredient swaps
FLOUR. I used the Bob’s Red Mill 1:1 Baking flour, which I recommend here! If you use a different blend, just make sure it has xanthan gum.
Unfortunately, I do not recommend almond flour. You definitely need to stick to either gluten free all purpose baking flour for this recipe. If you want to use almond flour, I’d suggest my vegan pumpkin cookies which use almond and oat flour.
BUTTER. You can use dairy free or regular butter here. Since there is no egg in these cookies (the pumpkin does the binding), dairy free butter will make these vegan!
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PUMPKIN. Any canned pumpkin puree will work, just be sure it is pure pumpkin and not pumpkin pie filling. Same with in my gluten free pumpkin pie!
SUGAR. A mix of white and brown sugar will of course sweeten but also give the perfect mix of a chewy center and crispy edges. You can sub the brown sugar and white sugar for coconut sugar if you prefer. The cookies will be a bit darker in color and have a slightly different flavor, but still delicious!
The edges will also not get quite as crisp, since white sugar encourages a crispier cookie and brown sugar encourages a soft texture.
CHOCOLATE. Mini chocolate chips, regular or a chopped up chocolate bar all work here! I like semi-sweet, but anything goes.
Is the texture cakey?
Using pumpkin in cookies can be tricky because it’s notorious for making them cakey instead of crispy yet chewy.
These gluten free cookies do get slightly crispy on the edges, but not as much as a traditional chocolate chip cookie would because of the pumpkin.
They’re not cakey, the centers will be gooey and chewy if you bake them for a short time, but if you prefer them slightly crispier, simply bake for longer!
How to store and freeze
Once prepared, these gluten free pumpkin cookies will keep for about 3 days in a container at room temperature. They can get a bit soft, which is just the nature of pumpkin! You can reheat them in the oven to try to get some of the original texture back.
You can also freeze them! To do so, let the cookies cool completely, then transfer to a freezer safe bag and freeze for up to 1 month. Reheat at 300 Fahrenheit until warm through the center.
You’ll also love…
- Gluten Free Pumpkin Bread
- Pumpkin Pie
- Pumpkin Pasta
- Sweet Potato Muffins
- Chocolate Peppermint Cookies
Be sure to leave a comment and rating down below if you try this recipe! Subscribe to my newsletter and follow along on instagram for more recipes and updates!
Gluten Free Pumpkin Cookies
by: claire cary
Ingredients
Wet
- ½ cup room temperature butter dairy free or regular
- ½ cup light brown sugar
- ¾ cup white sugar
- ½ cup pure pumpkin puree
- 2 teaspoons vanilla extract
Dry
- 2 cups gluten free all purpose baking flour
- 1 teaspoon baking soda
- 2 ¼ teaspoons pumpkin pie spice
- ¼ teaspoon cinnamon
- ¼ teaspoon salt
- 1 cup chocolate chips
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 350 degrees Fahrenheit.
- In a medium mixing bowl, add the butter and both sugars and cream together with an electric mixer until well combined.
- Add in the pumpkin and vanilla and beat together.
- Add in the dry ingredients aside from the chocolate chips and beat together until a dough forms.
- Fold in the chocolate chips.
- Line a baking sheet with parchment paper and scoop a heaping 2 tablespoons of dough spaced a few inches apart. You can make the cookies smaller if you prefer!
- Bake for 13-18 minutes or until slightly golden brown on the edges and matte in the center. They will firm up quite a bit as they cool, so avoid leaving them in for too long if you like them soft and gooey in the center.
- Sprinkle on a few extra chocolate chips on top as soon as they come out of the oven.
- If they didn’t spread as much as you would have liked, take the cookie tray and slam it down a few times on the oven rack, which will encourage spreading.
- let cool for at least 30 minutes before enjoying!
Notes
Comments
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Hello,
Could I use gluten free oat flour instead? I don’t seem to have much luck baking either GF flour. Thanks!-
I don’t recommend that here! GF all purpose flour will work best.
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Perfect fall flavors! Just what I was in the mood for but now I have to control myself from eating too many at once;)
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Haha I know the feeling! So glad you loved them!
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In the photos it looks like sea salt may be sprinkled on top. Do you recommend doing this?
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Totally optional, but you can!
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Just made these as an after-thanksgiving treat to help me get rid of the remaining pumpkin puree from the holiday, and oh my goodness these turned out AMAZING! I ended up using regular flour but they turned out so delicious and were so easy to whip together. I also loved that this was an eggless recipe! Adding these cookies to my holiday baking collection!
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Perfect, thank you Rachel!
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Can you sub almond flour instead of GF?
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No that won’t work here!
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Hi!! Can coconut sugar sub for the brown sugar? Not sure if it’ll ruin the recipe or not for these.
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You can, but the color will be a bit darker!
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I made these but only had 1/3c of pumpkin left and they still came out delicious!!!
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I doubled the recipe to take to a party. Unfortunately the bitter taste of baking soda ruined the cookies.
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Hi! I don’t need gluten free and don’t carry the alternative flours. Can I sub wheat flour in for this recipe? For most of your recipes at the same quantity? Thank you! These sound amazing!!
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You can sub for regular all purpose flour in most recipes! I can’t test them myself this way, but should be fine.
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I swapped the pumpkin puree for Trader Joe’s pumpkin butter and they were absolutely amazing! Next time, I will add 1 tsp more pumpkin spice to make them extra pumpkin-y. Thanks for the recipe!
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Love that idea! Thanks Haley!
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There isn’t any eggs in the recipe?
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No, the pumpkin takes care of that!
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Thanks! These are some of the best cookies I have ever tasted!
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Thank you, Jen!
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Can these be left at room temperature after baking? I left them in a container overnight and now there’s what looks like mold (white, fuzzy) near the chocolate chips, but I’m not sure if it’s that or the chocolate blooming.
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They should be fine at room temperature, but I’d leave the lid of the jar slightly open so they can breathe a bit!
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This is one of my favorite eatwithclarity recipes and I shamelessly make it throughout the entire year. So good!
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You’re the best Krista K!
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I had a bunch of cans of pumpkin and wanted to make something a bit different. These cookies were excellent and really easy to make. I added a little more cinnamon and put some maple cinnamon sugar on top. Will definitely be making them again! Thank you!!
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Yum! Love the maple cinnamon sugar idea!
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hi i mostly have a question prior to making the cookies — it says to add cream in the instructions but it doesn’t include cream in the recipe
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You don’t add any cream, you “cream” the butter and sugars together. A mixing technique, not an ingredient!
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Mine are very puffy. Is there something I may have done wrong?
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Make sure you measure the flour correctly. If you have too much they can be puffy/not spread properly!
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These are SO flavorful and perfectly chewy! Love!
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