Frosted Vegan Pumpkin Cookies
These vegan pumpkin cookies are soft, perfectly sweet with just the right amount of pumpkin. Not to mention they’re vegan, gluten free, surprisingly healthy and will get your house smelling like pumpkin pie!
These vegan pumpkin cookies took about 7 tries to get right, lead to a whole lot of frustration, retests and sugar comas, but ohmygosh was it worth it!
They are incredibly soft (just the way cookies should be!), easy to make, and can easily be made refined sugar free. They have an almost muffin like texture that I absolutely love, similar to my gingerbread cookies.
I may or may not have eaten 5 of these in one day and finally reached my maximum on the pumpkin for this season. Pumpkin pasta, pumpkin oatmeal, now vegan pumpkin cookies.
I opted to make a cream cheese frosting for these cookies, but you can also add chocolate chips or just leave them plain if you prefer! Try my chocolate chip pumpkin cookies next!
Why you’ll love this recipe
- Soft & chewy
- Gluten Free
- Vegan
- Fresh pumpkin flavor
Key Ingredients
These vegan pumpkin cookies are made with a simple blend of oat flour and fine almond flour plus pumpkin puree (of course), coconut oil, and spices like cinnamon, nutmeg, cloves, and ginger.
This recipe does not call for traditional pumpkin spice, but instead uses the spices that pumpkin spice is comprised of- cinnamon, nutmeg, cloves and ginger.
All pumpkin spices vary in their amounts of each spice, so I wanted to keep it consistent and just use the spices on their own.
They’re sweetened with brown or coconut sugar and a hint of maple syrup which makes them refined sugar free (without the additional frosting on top).
They have an almost cake like texture, especially if you don’t flatten them too much before baking so they stay nice and thick. Long story short: these soft, healthy vegan pumpkin cookies are a dream.
How to make pumpkin cookies
MIX WET. n a large mixing bowl, combine the pumpkin puree, coconut sugar, coconut oil (not melted), maple syrup, and vanilla.
Use an electric mixer to beat until everything is well mixed and the coconut oil is completely broken up.
MIX DRY. In a separate bowl, combine all of the dry ingredients and whisk together. While the electric mixer is on, slowly pour the dry ingredients into the wet, beating the whole time.
WANT TO SAVE THIS RECIPE?
Enter your email below & we’ll send it straight to your inbox. Plus you’ll get great new recipes from us every week!
Mix just until the dry ingredients are well incorporated, but careful not to over mix.
SCOOP. Use a cookie scoop or a spoon to measure the dough into 1.5 inch balls. Use your hands to form into a cookie shape (see above photo).
BAKE. Place on a baking sheet lined with parchment paper and bake for 15-18 minutes. 15 minutes will yield a perfectly soft cookie, but all ovens are different so be sure to keep an eye out!
They will continue to harden as they cool, so it’s best to take them out of the oven when they’re still pretty soft.
FROST. Beat together all ingredients for the frosting until smooth. Start with 2 cups of powdered sugar and add an extra 1/2 cup if you’d like to make it thicker.
Do they keep?
Once prepared, these vegan pumpkin cookies will last for about 3-5 days. They keep best on an uncovered plate, or just lightly covered with foil.
They tend to get a bit mushy if kept in an air tight container (this speaks to the fresh ingredients!), so if you keep them in a container, just keep the lid slightly ajar for best results.
You can also freeze these cookies before frosting! Just let them cool completely, then transfer to a freezer safe bag or container for up to 1 month. Reheat in the oven at 300 Fahrenheit until arm through the center, then frost as desired.
Why didn’t they spread?
These cookies will not spread considerably while baking, so be sure to flatten them out before baking so they get all crackly and delicious on top.
I suggest using a medium cookie scoop to measure the dough, roll into a smooth ball, and place on parchment paper.
Take a second piece of parchment paper and put it on top of the ball and use the bottom of a flat cup to flatten into about 1/2 inch disks.
You can also just use your hand, but the dough will be sticky so it helps to very lighten dampen your fingertips first.
Try these next!
- Paleo Chocolate Chunk Cookies
- Healthy Chocolate Chip Cookies
- Gingerbread Cookies
- Gluten Free Pumpkin Muffins
- Vegan Pumpkin Pie
Follow along on on instagram and subscribe to my email list for more recipes and updates. Leave a comment and rating below if you try this recipe and let us know how it turns out!
Vegan Pumpkin Cookies
by: claire cary
Ingredients
Cookies:
- 1 ½ cups oat flour
- 1 ½ cups fine blanched almond flour
- 3 tablespoons melted coconut oil
- 2 tablespoons maple syrup
- ¾ cup light brown sugar can sub for coconut
- ⅔ cup pumpkin puree
- 2 teaspoons vanilla extract
- 1 tablespoons cinnamon
- 2 teaspoons ground ginger
- 1 teaspoon nutmeg
- ¼ teaspoon ground cloves
- ½ teaspoon salt
- 1 teaspoon baking soda
- 1 teaspoons baking powder
Frosting
- ¼ cup vegan butter
- 4 ounce vegan cream cheese
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- 2- 2 ½ cups powdered sugar
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 325 degrees Fahrenheit.
- In a large mixing bowl (or bowl for a standing electric mixer), combine the pumpkin puree, coconut oil, sugar, maple syrup and vanilla.
- In a separate bowl, whisk together all the dry ingredients. Be sure to spoon and level the flours into the dry measuring cup, don’t scoop right from the bag.
- Combine the wet with the dry and beat just until the dry ingredients are well combined, but careful not to over mix. Use a wooden spoon to finish mixing and make sure all of the flour is well incorporated.
- Use a cookie scoop or a spoon to scoop about 1.5 inch balls.
- Flatten slightly into a cookie shape, about 1/2 inch thick. They will spread, but not a ton, while baking.
- Place on a baking tray lined with parchment paper and bake for 15-18 minutes. 15 is ideal in my oven, and keep in mind they will continue to harden as they cool.
- Let cool completely.
- Beat together all ingredients for the frosting until smooth. Start with 2 cups of powdered sugar and add an extra 1/2 cup if you’d like to make it thicker.
Notes
Comments
-
Best cookies ever! Definitely the favorite now in our house 💛🙏🌿
-
These are the best cookies ever!
No one can believe they are vegan and gluten freeI’m grateful to you because I have gluten and dairy intolerance. Good recipes are really important because if feel deprived, I tend to eat foids with dairy or gluten and then I swell and feel ill. These cookies are fantastic so your expertise is helping to keep me healthy✨🙏✨
I sub honey instead of the other sweeteners, and the cookies come out great!
Thank you thank you thank you ✨🙏✨🙏✨💫💫💫-
Amazing, so happy you enjoyed these!
-
-
Fabulous recipe! Fall/pumpkin cheesecake in a cookie!
I added a teaspoon of cardamom for some additional warmth. Turned out delicious.-
YUM! Love the addition of cardamom.
-
-
Is there something I can use to sub almond flour?
-
Your best bet is to sub for more oat flour!
-
-
I totally used pumpkin spice blend! Amateur over here baking with 4yr old toddlers lol
-
I love using a blend of oat flour and almond flour in baking and so I was drawn to trying to this recipe. It was as delicious as it looks! The abundant amount of spices in this recipe really makes it special. So much flavor!! These cookies are delicious cold, so I kept ours in the fridge! Definitely try them!
-
Love keeping these in the fridge too! So glad you enjoyed them.
-
-
These look delicious but I am looking for a vegan recipe and these are made with butter and cream cheese. Not sure why the recipe says vegan when there isnt even an option for vegan icing?
-
If you read the post it mentions using vegan butter and vegan cream cheese!
-
-
These sound delicious! Will get a similar result by using only oat flour? Thank you!
-
You can try, but the cookies may be a bit drier because almond flour adds so much moisture!
-
-
They look yummy 🙂 but I noticed the icing is not vegan…
-
It is, I used dairy free cream cheese and butter to make it vegan!
-
-
Best pumpkin cookies I’ve ever had! Even my family members who “don’t like pumpkin” loved these.
I agree with your note that these are best stored uncovered. Storing in a sealed container made them a bit mushy.
I don’t have a cookie scoop, so I used a round tablespoon to scoop the dough and balled them with my hands. I found it helpful to wash my hands every 3–5 cookies because they get sticky with this method.
I’ll definitely be making these again. They are perfect for fall!
-
I’m so happy to hear that!! I agree washing your hands every few cookies is helpful, the dough is definitely sticky!
-
-
Do these cookies freeze well?
-
I haven’t tried it, but I think they would end up getting too crumbly when they defrost, so I don’t recommend it!
-
-
So you specifically say not o melt the coconut oil, but he recipe calls for MELTED coconut oil. Please clarify!
Planning to make these today. My daughter is vegan.-
Hi Tracey, sorry for the confusion, this post is in the process of getting updated! You do want to melt the coconut oil.
-
-
I made these cookies and I was extremely careful to measure and combine all the ingredients. These dough would not stick together and form balls with the small ice cream scooper. What can I add to the dough to moisten it up to form together and not be crumbling apart?
-
Hi Sandy, sorry they didn’t work out! Were they not sticking together because the dough was too wet or too dry? If measured properly, these should very easily form into balls, and be very moist. My guess is you accidentally used too much flour, so I’d suggest adding more pumpkin or oil if that happens again.
-
-
the best Cookies I ever had! I could eat them every day!
-
Such delicious and soft cookies! Might have them
for breakfast!
leave a comment and rating