I can’t stop baking vegan pumpkin recipes, like my Pumpkin Oatmeal Pancakes, No-Bake Pumpkin Cookies, or Vegan Pumpkin Pie, I love the smell of pumpkin pie spices in my house, and these cookies hit the spot.
Why You’ll Love These Cookies
They are naturally:
Egg-free Dairy-free Nut-free option Gluten-free option
Ingredients and Substitutions
All you need are simple wholesome ingredients:
Canned Pumpkin Puree – You can also use homemade pumpkin puree but often, it’s a bit wetter than canned puree, so you may want to pat dry the puree with absorbent paper before using it in this recipe. Vegan Butter Almond Butter or tahini or more vegan butter if preferred, but I found the combination of vegan butter and nut butter much tastier. All-Purpose Flour Salt Baking Soda and Baking Powder Cinnamon and Pumpkin Pie Spices Sugar and Brown Sugar – The combination of these two kinds of sugars contributes to the perfect texture of the cookies. Ginger Vanilla Extract Cinnamon
How To Make Vegan Pumpkin Cookies
It’s super easy to make these chewy dairy-free pumpkin cookies this Fall season. Add the vegan butter, almond butter, canned pumpkin puree, vanilla extract, sugar, brown sugar, cinnamon, ginger, and pumpkin pie spices to a stand mixer. Beat on medium speed using the paddle attachment, or you can use an electric beater. Beat until the sugar is incorporated in the butter and the mixture looks creamy, smooth, and flavorsome. In another bowl, whisk the remaining dry ingredients: flour, salt, baking soda, and baking powder. Finally, gently incorporate the dry ingredients on the low-speed setting until a cookie dough forms. At this stage, feel free to stir in 1/3 cup of your favorite vegan dark chocolate chips to make vegan pumpkin chocolate chip cookies. Remove the dough from the bowl, form a large ball, and wrap it in plastic wrap before chilling it for any time between 30 minutes and overnight. The longer, the tastier. This step gives time to the spices to flavor the dough, and the cookie texture will be better as cold control the spread of the cookies on the baking sheet. Preheat the oven to 350°F (180°C). Line two baking sheets with parchment paper and lightly grease the paper with olive oil. Scoop about two tablespoons of cookie dough, roll into a ball between your hands, and place on the baking sheet. Keep a thumb space between each cookie ball. They won’t spread in the oven, but this makes it easier to press them down and remove them from the oven. Use your hand or the back of a spoon to press the cookies onto the baking sheet. The flatter you press them, the less soft and moist they are in the center. I prefer to press the cookies slightly to keep them moist in the middle. Bake the vegan pumpkin cookies at 350°F (180°C) for 12 to 14 minutes or until golden brown on the top and sides. These cookies are pretty soft and fragile just after baking, so keep them for 10 minutes at room temperature on the cookie sheets. Then, slide a spatula under each cookie to gently release and transfer it to a cooling rack. Let them cool down at room temperature for a few hours to enjoy their full flavor. When the pumpkin cookies are cold, you can eat them plain or add frosting on top. To frost your pumpkin cookies, you have a few options. You can use my vegan royal icing, made of 2 simple ingredients.
Powdered Sugar Almond Milk
Or, you can also use a cashew frosting or keep them plain if preferred.
Storage Instructions
These cookies store very well at room temperature in an airtight container. You can keep them fresh in the box for 5 to 6 days. You can also freeze the pumpkin cookies for up to 1 month in zip-lock bags or airtight boxes.
Allergy Swaps
If you have food allergies to the ingredients used in this vegan cookie recipe, you can pick some of the options below.
Gluten-Free – Gluten-free all-purpose flour blend can replace wheat flour as long as your blend contains gum and it’s a 1:1 flour substitute. Nut-Free – You can skip the almond butter for more vegan butter, tahini, or sunflower seed butter as a nut-free option. Sugar-Free – Sugar-free crystal sweeteners like allulose or erythritol will work well to make sugar-free pumpkin cookies. Flour Swaps – This recipe won’t work with almond or coconut flour. It works with all-purpose flour, white wholewheat flour, or white spelt flour.
Below are my answers to the most common questions about this recipe.
More Vegan Pumpkin Recipes
Below are some more vegan recipes to try this Fall season.
