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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These cookies are delicious!! I made them for my family, and we all love them!! Thank you!!
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Can I make this dough ahead of time and store it in the fridge before baking?
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Yes, just let it come to room temp before baking!
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Could I use monk fruit and coconut sugar to replace the real sugar and brown sugar for a healthier cookie.
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You can try but I cannot guarantee the result! This recipe was designed for regular sugar.
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The photo looks like there is something crystallized on top. Is that salt or sugar?
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Sanding sugar! Which is essentially just a course white sugar.
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Question, what do I need to add or remove if I don’t use the cinnamon and pumpkin pie spices? My son doesn’t like the flavor of those spices, but I am trying to hide some veggies in his foods.
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You can omit them! The flavor will just obviously be different, but there’s nothing I recommend adding in.
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We made these last year and added marshmallows for a pumpkin s’mores flavor! SO good straight out of the oven. Can’t wait to make them again, and wondering if we could make the dough ahead of time. Thoughts?
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Yes! You can keep the dough in the fridge for up to 48 hours. Just let it sit at room temperature before baking.
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I made these for the first time, i used splenda brown sugar blend to cut out the sugar and they taste great.
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What is the cream referring to in the first step?
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“Cream together” is a term for mixing butter and sugar! There is no actual cream.
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Love this recipe! Commenting to tell people to heed your warnings to not use pumpkin pie filling…it was all I had so I went with it and it was definitely not the same. The first time I made it correctly though and they were delicious!
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Do I need to squeeze out any liquid from the pumpkin?
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No, you’re just using canned pumpkin!
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Doubled this recipe and so glad I did! They came out thin, chewy with crispy edges. My family loved them, so yummy thank you!
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Love it! Thanks, Brooke!
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