These cookies are nothing short of amazing…in my humble opinion that is!
I had a discovered the original recipe in “Vegan Cookies Invade Your Cookie Jar,” I just love this book and I learned a lot about vegan baking from these ladies (Isa Moskowitz and Terry Romero). If you have never enjoyed one of their vegan cookbooks, you’re missing out!!
The secret to a dense and chewy gluten free vegan pumpkin cookies
I needed to make these gluten free, and in doing so, I succeeded in keeping the same dense cookie texture that I love.
Many pumpkin cookies are very cakey because there is so much moisture in the pumpkin: it makes a cakey result inevitable. By cooking some of that water out, you get dense cookie goodness…so worth the extra step!
If you love pumpkin as much as we do, dive in….these are worth the extra step!
Can I use fresh pumpkin or squash puree?
YES! It is what I do most often!!
If you would like to try making your own pumpkin or squash puree, please refer to this post for how to bake your own squash or pumpkin.
Additional gluten free recipes with pumpkin?
Do you love pumpkin as much as we do? I have a ‘pumpkin’ tag and you will see ALL my pumpkin recipes!! There are loads, sweet and savory alike!!!
- Pumpkin Oat & Hemp Muffins
- Paleo Pumpkin Bread
- Creamy Pumpkin Soup – Whole30
- Keto Pumpkin Bread @ Cassidy’s Craveable Creations
- Pumpkin Pie Bars @ Allergy Free Alaska
Gluten Free Vegan Pumpkin Cookies Recipe:
If you try these addicting fall cookies, be sure to come back and leave a comment below
Dense and Chewy Pumpkin Cookies - Gluten Free & Vegan
Ingredients
- 1 cup pumpkin puree
- 1/2 cup palm shortening (rainforest safe) , coconut oil would work too, or vegan butter
- 1/2 cup organic sugar
- 1/2 cup brown sugar or palm sugar
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- 1 cup gluten free oat flour
- 3/4 cup tapicoa flour
- 1/2 cup brown rice flour
- 1 teaspoon guar gum or xanthan gum
- 1 teaspoon cinnamon optional
- 1/2 teaspoon sea salt
Optional add in's
- raisins, cranberries, dark chocolate chips, white chocolate chips (for those who can do dairy), pumpkin seeds, or chopped & toasted nuts.
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
- Cook the canned pumpkin over a low simmer until reduced to about a 1/2 cup, about 20 minutes or more. The pumpkin should be steaming and bubbling lightly as you gently heat it to evaporate some of the water to condense it, stir it occasionally. Cool.
- Cream the shortening and the sugars in a mixer until creamy.
- Beat in vanilla and the cooled pumpkin.
- Sprinkle in the flours, guar gum, cinnamon, and salt and beat until well blended.
- Mix in any additional add in's at this point if desired. The dough should be very stiff and dry feeling. You should be able to easily pick up a chunk and gently roll it into a ball without it sticking to your hands. If you need to, add in some more flour to make this happen, 2 tablespoons at a time, any of the flours from above will do!
- Place golf-ball size balls of dough on a parchment or Silpat lined cookie sheet. Use your hand to gently press the tops down slightly, these do not rise or fall much!
- Bake for 12 minutes until turning just golden around the edges. You want to just lightly under-bake these, and let them cool and set out of the oven to keep the texture perfect! The texture is best with these when there are completely cool!
- If you'd like to top with icing, mix 1/2 cup powdered sugar with 1 tablespoon melted Earth Balance. Add just enough milk (1-3 teaspoons) of any variety to make a thick icing to dollop on top of the cookies, it should not be thin, and should stay put when placed on top of the cookie!
Nutrition
Pumpkin cookies that are actually chewy? I thought that was impossible! Awesome job. 😀
Delicious chewy pumpkin cookies, yes pumpkin and chocolate chips does wonders thanks for sharing with Hearth and Soul blog hop. pinning.
These cookies look amazing! Love chewy and dense cookies – they’re my favorite 🙂
I tried these yesterday – good flavour, but almost hockey puck dense, not chewy. I noticed there wasn’t any baking powder / soda in these either – is that correct?
Hi Sarah, no, no leavening, that’s what gets them dense. I am guessing maybe yours were cooked a bit long if the were hockey pucks (bummer, so sorry!). These cannot be over-baked…sometimes gf baking is really particular like that. Let me know if I can help or answer any more questions for you….did you use canned pumpkin or fresh?
Thank you for your submission on Nourishing Treasures’ Make Your Own! Monday link-up.
Check back tomorrow when the new link-up is running to see if you were one of the top 3 featured posts! 🙂
Tess, once again you have made an amazing treat! Thanks for sharing with Natural Living Monday! I hope you join us again this week!
This is such a great recipe, Tessa! I’m featuring this at Whole Food Fridays this week!
Hugs,
Megan
Hey Tessa! This was one of the most popular submissions on HVF this week, congrats! Hope you’ll join us again tomorrow 🙂
These look so amazing! I have pinned it to make later! Thank you!
Of course Angie, be sure to stop back with your experience! I love learning from others!
Yum, great recipe!!
Katie
http://www.funhomethings.com
Oooo these are makin’ my mouth water… I REALLY love pumpkin anything. These cookies are as good as baked. 😉 Thanks for sharing!
Please let know how they turn out Gabriela!
This combination sounds amazing!!! 🙂 I have it tweeted and pinned!
These look so good. They would be perfect for my nephews upcoming birthday party. He is on a gluten-free diet. Thanks for the inspiration!
Tessa, these look delicious! I imagine they are just as you described, dense and chewy…my favorite! I’ll have to try the ‘with gluten’ version though, as I do not tolerate gums well. :-/ Thank you for posting!
You always have such amazing recipes! Thanks for linking up to Healthy 2Day Wednesday, and come back next week to see if you were featured.
Your pumpkin cookies look so delicious. What a lovely fall treat! It’s fantastic they are suitable for gluten free and vegan diets as well.
Hi, I’m stopping in from the Healthy 2day Wednesday link up and I think these sounds awesome! We’re GF and mostly DF (my son) so I don’t have very many great cookie recipes. Thanks!
Hi Shari, welcome! I DEFINITELY have LOADS of cookies for you on my site, all gf and vegan, so you are in luck…we are kind of cookie monsters in this house!
Tessa, these cookies will be made in the gfe house and soon!! Love the oat flour in these. It’s perfect to balance the moisture of the pumpkin. Yummy on all the ingredients really!
xo,
Shirley
Thank you Shirley, hope you love them, would love to hear your feedback!
These look delicious! I love pumpkin cookies. I can already taste them! Thanks for sharing on Crazy Sweet Tuesday!
Bought my pumpkin, I'm making these this weekend! :-)Yumm!
@ Laura, I am so glad all the tweaks worked out so well! It's nice to know i am not the only one who likes my recipes and that others can use them successfully! Thanks for stopping by.
I used millet flour instead of oat, doubled the cinnamon to cover the "millety" flavor & they were fabulous. I also subbed chia gel (1 1/2 tsp ground chia + 3 tsp hot water) for the guar gum as we're trying to get rid of gums. They were delicious. I brought them to church & EVERYONE (even the non-GF folks) devoured them.
@ Allergic Adventures: brown rice flour or millet would be good substitutes! Please let us know, it would be good for other readers as I know oats can be hard for many!
these sound great- my son can't have oat flour, but I'm going to play with it a little bit & I'm sure they'll still taste great!!
I agree..they ARE dangerous! Enjoy!
Isa and Terry are evil. All their recipes translate to GF without a hitch. You are evil too for doing all my GF work for me. Now they're way, way too easy to make. 🙂 Yum!
These look delicious — I'm afraid to make them because I suspect I'll eat the whole batch in one sitting 🙂 Thanks for coming to the Allergy Friendly Lunchbox Love Party. Can't wait to see what you bring for lunch tomorrow!
Lisa @ Allergy Free Vintage Cookery
I haven't used oat flour much, but I do have a little on hand. These cookies look lovely, and I do enjoy a chewy cookie. Thanks for participating in Gluten-Free Wednesdays!