These soft gluten free pumpkin cookies are a real treat any time of year! I made this recipe healthier by using less sugar and more whole-grains! And as an added bonus, they are vegan too, meeting many allergy needs in one fell swoop!
Anyone who has followed me for any length of time knows how much we adore pumpkin in all of it forms.
When the fall rolls around, we have a veritable pumpkin frenzy! I madly bake up all our garden’s winter squash and pumpkin bounty for our version of liquid “gold:” squash puree.
With our first batch made, I am quickly transported into heaven and remember how MUCH better this goodness is versus the canned variety we have to rely on half of the year.
This is when ALL my kids goo goo ga ga over all pumpkin treats…even my pumpkin averse eldest.
A little secret about fresh puree: it is much milder and sweeter than the canned varieties and so even pumpkin averse people can take a liking to it…the flavor is soft and delicate and not at all over powering. I will be darned if I can figure out why the canned tastes so vastly different! Not all squashes are worth baking up however, please read my post on how to bake your own pumpkin or winter squash to learn all about selecting a delicious one!
Here is a cookie perfect for wholesome snack. Add any goodies of your choice: we prefer chocolate and cranberries! If you like a spicier cookies, add some pumpkin pie spice in! Sweet, moist and perfect.
Tools for making the best gluten free pumpkin cookies:
- I use a cookie scoop for consistency and to keep my cookies from getting mammothly huge…I guess I tend towards giant cookies by nature. However, I know my one cookie is really 3 or four appropriate sized cookies, so the cookie scoop helps with consistency AND the batch goes further!
- Also, I love using my baking mats. I just received these two new ones, only $16 for two! They rock, and nothing sticks to them!
Want more gluten free fall recipes? Here are a few you can check out:
- This gluten free pumpkin cake has an amazing caramel frosting that is nothing short of decadent!
- With simple ingredients, these amazing paleo vegan pumpkin snickerdoodles are wholesome AND delicious…and even have a keto option!
- I love to kick my morning off with a nutrient dense smoothie! This pumpkin cranberry smoothie is a combo of fall’s best flavors!
- These spooky spider cookies would be a hit on any cookie tray…and they are TOO cute!
Frosted pumpkin cookies?
This would be amazing with the maple frosting found in my gluten free dense and chewy pumpkin cookies, or the caramel frosting on my pumpkin cake !
Using fresh pumpkin puree in this recipe:
The only huge variable in this recipe is the pumpkin puree…and there is no way around this!
Every can I open can be different, and every pumpkin I puree has it’s own flavor and water content.
So, don’t be afraid to start with just ONE cookie in the oven as a test. A crumby dry cookie means too much flour or you cooked it too long, and a cookie falling flat is not enough flour.
Adjust flour as needed, or add more pumpkin if you need some more moisture.
Gluten Free Pumpkin Cookies Recipe:
If you try these tender gluten free pumpkin cookies, be sure to come back and leave a comment!
Soft Pumpkin Cookies - Gluten Free & Vegan
Ingredients
- 1/2 cup palm shortening, coconut oil, or vegan butter, or any mix of these
- 3/4 cup palm sugar or brown sugar
- 1/2 cup fresh pumpkin puree see link above for how to make: MINE ALMOST POURS, if you are using a variety that is super stiff and dry, it contains less water
- 2 teaspoons vanilla extract
- 1 teaspoon cinnamon
- 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
- 1/2 teaspoon baking powder
- 1/2 teaspoon sea salt
- 1/2 teaspoon guar gum
- 1/3 cup tapioca flour if your pumpkin puree is very soft and pourable, you made need to add an additional 1/4-1/3 cup here, do a test cookie to be sure!)
- 1/3 cup sorghum flour
- 1/3 cup brown rice flour
- 1/2 cup chocolate chips, raisins, or cranberries (or more to taste)
Instructions
- Preheat your oven to 350 degrees.
- In a bowl of mixer, beat the fat and sugar until creamy.
- Add in the pumpkin and vanilla.
- With the mixture still running, sprinkle in the cinnamon, baking soda, powder, salt, and guar gum.
- Continue with the flours.
- Beat well, and then reduce the speed and mix in the chocolate chips as preferred.
- Using a scant tablespoon, drop the stiff and sticky dough onto a cookie sheet. These cookies do not spread or move much, so they can be quite cozy together on the sheet.
- With damp fingers, slightly press the cookies down to flatten to a uniform depth.
- Bake for about 8 minutes, remove and let cool for a few minutes before transferring to a cooling rack. They will look barely done...that is ok, you don't want to over-bake these little morsels!
Nutrition
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I love how these look – that chubby cookie look, yum! Do you think these will work fine with white rice flour? I think so; I’m going to try them that way because it’s what we use. Thank you!
So soft and delicious! The taste of autumn!
I am vegan and these cookies look delicious. I am definitely going to make up a batch or two for Christmas with some of the organic pumpkins we grew this year.
I made these with an all purpose gluten free flour blend and a mix of raisins and pecans. The pecans are especially delicious as an addition. These are incredibly delish, I’m not gluten free but made them with a friend and I don’t want to stop eating them! They are soft. I like to eat them stright from the freezer, gives them a bit more density and chewiness. 😉
I like to eat them that way too Haley!! Thanks for sharing your feedback!!
These cookies are fabulous!! I can’t believe they taste so good and are allergy-free… Thank you for sharing / posting such a great recipe!!
You’re welcome Renee!!
OMG! I just made these cookies and they were delicious!
Great Dayla, thanks for the feedback!
Thanks Cristine, I ma glad they made you look so good!! I love success!
I am not a baker by any stretch of the imagination, yet this recipe caused my ~13 year old baking daughter to say “AMAZING” and ask for seconds. I marked this on the calendar as a moment in time for myself AND the recipe…..cannot rave enough about the taste.
I have rice flour& almond flour, can that work instead of other flours?
So can I use an egg instead of guar gum??
I have everything else for gluten free.
Hi Bibi! I would try something like my pumpkin snickerdoodles with chocolate chips if you have no guar or xanthum gum…that is essential in most gf baked goods. If ypy have only rice and almond, just go all almond like in the snickerdoodle! Let me know of i misunderstood you!
Thanks for a great recipe! I didn’t need vegan, so played with removing the guar gum and adding an egg, and baking it as bread. Pumpkin and chocolate chips are always my favorite combo for fall.
These were excellent. I used 1/2 coconut oil and 1/2 earth balance butter. Also used stevia and maple syrup in place of coconut sugar, only using .25 cup of maple syrup. THey were a bit salty straight from the oven, but over the course of the next day I couldn’t stop eating them.
Thanks Maria, tis the season for all things pumpkin in this house, and the kids always love these too! I appreciate your feedback!
Even the non-vegans and those who can eat everything, not me – I can eat air – loved them! Thanks, Diva!
I made these cookies this week end. I was going for the gluten free part so I used real butter. My brown sugar was hard so I used raw honey. I also used canned pumpkin. I added extra flours to compensate. I also put chocolate chips and dried cranberries. My mother didn’t care for the contrast in taste. But my friend who needs gluten free didn’t mind. All in all I call it a success. I made a double batch and my friend kept them all. Now I will have to make more for another friend who needs gluten free.
I just made these cookies and they taste awesome! However, they are super crumbly and they fall apart when you barely touch them. Did you have a similar result?
Hi Adria…when I was testing this recipe, I was using homemade puree. My guess is your was drier w/ less water so you will need to add additional moisture (pumpkin puree)…or at least 1/4 less flour next time (I refer to this in the post, this is the super tricky part about cookies w/ pumpkin puree..quick breads are more forgiving!!). Freeze the cookies up if they are crumbly….they are good just out and wont annoy you with the crumbles! Sorry about that!
I have white rice flour, brown rice flour, potato flour and tapioca flour but no sotghum flour. What can be used for sorghum with similar results?
Hi Beth! Just use a 1/2 cup rice flour, should work great!
Beth, I made these cookies using 1 cup of the america’s test kitchen gluten-free flour blend (rather than the three flours Tessa used) which happens to use the flours you have on hand: https://www.cooksillustrated.com/recipes/7854-americas-test-kitchen-gluten-free-flour-blend
They turned out great!
Could you make these using coconut flour? I am new to baking anything gluten free and only have coconut flour.
Hi Annabel! Coconut flour is a grain free flour totally unique in it’s properties and baking behavior, it almost always needs eggs to work too. It is one of the few flours for which there is not many good substitutes. So for this purpose, coconut will not work…if you plan on baking gluten free, you will have to pick up a few flours..let me know if you want some help in figuring out which ones ( I also have a gf flours page you can check out for info and ideas)
I love pumpkin this time of the year (and anytime actually) these cookies are aawesome!
Perfect timing on these! I am baking a bunch of squash and pumpkins tomorrow. Can’t wait!
Tessa, your cookies look yummy! You had me at chocolate and I adore anything with pumpkin!
Mmmm, these look so good. Pumpkin and chocolate are definitely my favorite fall treat combo. I’ve always wanted to make fresh pumpkin puree. Need to check out your method!
I just love soft cookies! These look delightful and perfect for fall!
What a beautiful little cookie!
My daughter would love a baking day like this ~ especially when it’s a rainy day today… 😉
xo ella
Hi Tessa,
These look incredible. I can’t wait to make! I recently saw a recipe for pumpkin chocolate chip cookies on Pinterest and thought…”one day I will experiment.” But I think you have a perfect recipe here that combines that lovely pumpkin and chocolate flavor. Great job! As always, you are such a baking inspiration.
Hugs,
–Amber