These soft chocolate chip pumpkin cookies are vegan and gluten-free! Made with oat flour and sweetened with maple syrup these little cookies are perfect for a sweet snack during pumpkin season.
Who wouldn't love a warm soft pumpkin cookie to start the day? It's like having pumpkin bread condensed into a bite-sized treat. With this gluten-free recipe, you get that same soft, almost cake-like texture thanks to oat flour.
The real magic comes from letting the cookie dough rest before your scoop it. Oat flour absorbs the moisture from the pumpkin as it sits.
And, of course, no pumpkin cookie would be complete without mini chocolate chips or chunks sprinkled throughout. The combination of pumpkin spice with the melty bits of dark chocolate really seals the deal for me.
I love to make up a big batch of chocolate chip pumpkin cookies and reheat them in the microwave for a quick snack. There's no better way to celebrate fall!
Ingredient Notes
Here’s what you will need to make gluten-free vegan pumpkin cookies:
You can roast pumpkin and scoop it out to make your own pumpkin puree or for quick preparation use canned pumpkin puree. If you have any extra, use it to make pumpkin pie hummus or pumpkin protein balls!
One of my favorite pairings is maple syrup with pumpkin. It gives a touch of sweetness to the cookies without making them overly sweet. Feel free to add some brown sugar depending on your preferences.
These gluten-free pumpkin cookies were tested specifically with oat flour, another flour alternative like almond flour won't work. The oats absorbs the liquid to thicken this cookie dough. You can buy oat flour from the store or easily make homemade oat flour with a blender and sifter at home.
Whether you use mini chocolate chips, chocolate chunks, or chop up your favorite bar of chocolate, it will taste delicious in these cookies. You could also swap the chocolate for some dried cranberries or chopped nuts (or do a combination of all three!!), have fun with it!
The recipe card below includes the full list of ingredients + instructions.
How to Make Vegan Gluten-Free Pumpkin Cookies
- Mix flax egg and let gel.
- Mix dry ingredients.
- Add wet ingredients and chocolate.
- Let rest then scoop cookies.
- Add chocolate chunks.
- Bake and enjoy!
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Vegan Gluten-Free Pumpkin Cookies with Chocolate Chips
Ingredients
- 1 tablespoon ground flaxseed
- 3 tablespoons water
- 1 ½ cups oat flour
- 1 teaspoon baking powder
- 1 ½ teaspoon ground cinnamon
- 1 teaspoon pumpkin pie spice
- ¼ teaspoon salt
- 7.5 ounces pumpkin puree ½ can
- ½ cup maple syrup see notes
- ¼ cup canola oil or applesauce
- ⅓ cup dark chocolate chips see notes
Directions
- Preheat oven to 350°F. For these cookies you can bake them directly on the sheet pan or line it with a silicone baking mat or parchment paper. If you are worried about them sticking to your pan, you can spray it with cooking oil.
- Whisk together 1 tablespoon ground flaxseed and 3 tablespoons water in a small bowl to make a flax egg. Let this mixture sit for 10 minutes to gel.
- In a large bowl, whisk together 1 ½ cups oat flour, 1 teaspoon baking powder, 1 ½ teaspoon ground cinnamon, 1 teaspoon pumpkin pie spice, and ¼ teaspoon salt.
- To the large bowl, add 7.5 ounces pumpkin puree, ½ cup maple syrup, ¼ cup canola oil, and the flax egg.
- Thoroughly combined everything to form a wet dough. There should be no floury bits at the bottom of the bowl.
- Add 0.25 cup dark chocolate chips and stir again to incorporate the chocolate chips evenly throughout the batter.
- Allow the batter to rest for 10 minutes. The oat flour will absorb moisture and help the pumpkin cookies hold their shape when scooped onto the baking tray.
- Use a tablespoon-sized cookie scoop to place 20 even-sized cookie dough balls directly onto a clean baking sheet. This will help uniformly create a dome shape for each cookie. Feel free to fill up your baking sheet with as many as you can fit, because once you scoop them, these cookies will hold their shape.
- Add the remaining 0.08 cup dark chocolate chips on top of the cookies, lightly pressing them into the cookie dough. You can also dip your hands in a little water to smooth out the surface of the pumpkin cookies.
- Bake for 10 to 12 minutes or until they spring back when pressed lightly.
- Transfer pumpkin cookies to a wire cooling rack for 5 minutes before enjoying!
Notes
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* The provided nutritional information is an estimate per serving. Accuracy will vary on specific ingredients and brands used.
Chef Katie says
Looks fabulous! I'll have to add these to my menu 🙂
Maggie says
Thanks Katie! That’s awesome. I hope you enjoy them as much as we do!
Joyce says
These sound delicious! We are not vegan. Can we use eggs? If yes how many?
Maggie says
Yes you can! Use 2 large eggs in place of the flax eggs.
Kimbra M Wellnitz says
Made a double batch of these for my kids to snack on...they lasted 3 days...another win by Maggie! They all commented how they loved the texture, but given how fast they disappeared..I'm guessing the taste was also loved!
Maggie says
These don't last long around our house either! Definitely worth making a double batch. Glad they loved them!
Jan Messali says
Thanks for the great recipe. We enjoyed the Pumpkin Chocolate Chip cookies very much!
Maggie says
I am so happy to hear that! These are a favorite in our household too. Thanks for the feedback!
Sophie says
Hi Maggie
I can’t have flaxseed, could I substitute ground chia seeds instead?
Maggie says
Hi Sophie, Yes, ground chia seeds will work just fine! Enjoy!