Gluten Free Pumpkin Cookies
Chewy pumpkin cookies with crispy edges that are egg and gluten free. For this recipe we’ll use oat flour and flaxseed meal which gives the cookies an extra chewy texture. Pumpkin butter and pumpkin spice lend all the pumpkin flavor you’d want in a cookie.
I love my chewy pumpkin cookies so much that I want to share them with absolutely everyone. This includes anyone who is gluten-free, egg or dairy-free, or vegan. But the actual physical inspiration for these cookies goes to my daughter’s preschool teacher whose allergies would’ve prevented her from eating the originals. I reworked the recipe to replace the egg yolk, to use oat flour instead of all purpose (and for her batch I used vegan butter instead of regular dairy, although these can be made with either). We now have a cookie that’s just as flavorful and even more chewy (that’s the oat flour for ya!).
Recipe Ingredients
Butter: unsalted butter. If you’d like to make these vegan, use a dairy-free butter. In the past I’ve used the trader joes brand. Miyokos is another good vegan butter (or butter substitute).
Pumpkin pie spice: a mix of cinnamon, nutmeg, ginger, cloves, and sometimes allspice. If you are making your own, use 1 teaspoon cinnamon, ½ teaspoon each nutmeg and ginger.
Salt: fine sea salt. Halve the amount if you are using table salt.
Sugars: brown sugar (it can be light or dark) and fine granulated sugar.
Pumpkin butter: I use the pumpkin butter from trader joes but you can also make your own (recipe below).
Flaxseed meal: ground flaxseed. A reliable and popular egg substitute when mixed with water.
Oat flour: store-bought. This isn’t simply ground oats but it’s oats ground until they are a powder. Some popular options: Arrowhead Mills, Bob’s Red Mill and Anthony’s. Oat flour is naturally gluten free but some packaging will indicate there is risk of factory contamination.
Homemade Pumpkin Butter for the Pumpkin Cookies
If you don’t have access to store bought pumpkin butter, you can make your own (note, this version isn’t vegan because of the honey but you could substitute it with maple syrup to make it so):
In a medium pot combine 425g or 1 can pumpkin puree, three tablespoons of honey, 2 teaspoons pumpkin pie spice (1 teaspoon cinnamon, ½ tsp each nutmeg and ginger), 100g or ½ cup brown sugar, and 2 teaspoons apple cider vinegar or red wine vinegar. Cook on medium heat, stirring often, for about 30-45 minutes until the mix has reduced quite a bit and is shiny and thick. Store in a mason jar for 1 week in the fridge or in the freezer for up to 5 months.
How to make gluten free pumpkin cookies
Brown the butter: set a light colored frying pan over medium heat and cook the butter until the milk solids separate and turn a warm brown color. Immediately transfer to the mixing bowl so the milk solids don’t burn.
Bloom the spices: adding the spices to the hot butter will bring out more of their flavor.
Mix the flaxseed and water together: this is our egg substitute. Whisk them together in a small bowl and let the mix sit for a few minutes until it’s thickened.
Whisk in the sugars: after about 30 seconds of vigorous whisking, the mixture will turn thick.
Whisk in the flax mixture and the pumpkin butter: and give it another 30 seconds of vigorous whisking.
Stir in the flour and baking soda: until no flour bits remain visible in the dough.
Two rests:
- Cover the bowl with a tea towel and leave at room temperature for 30 minutes.
- Then, remove the tea towel and chill the cookie dough for about 2 hours in the fridge. Don’t cover the bowl during the chill.
Prep two baking sheets by greasing them and placing a sheet of parchment on each.
Portion the dough & roll in sugar: use a 2 tablespoon disher to portion the cookie dough onto the pan. With each ball of dough, roll it between your palms to smooth over the rough lines, then dip in sugar face down.
Bake: for about 12-14 minutes, until the cookies have spread quite a bit, cracked all over and have slightly golden edges. As they cool on the pan they will deflate.
Pumpkin Cookie Tips
Browning butter tips
- Use a light colored pan: this way you can see the exact color the milk solids are taking after they separate and start to brown. You’re looking for a medium brown color; not amber and not black (black means they’re burnt).
- Watch that all the bits turn a toasty brown color: often the bits where the heat is highest (usually in the center of the pan) will brown first. Keep stirring the butter and ensure all the bits turn color.
- As soon as the bits are a warm brown, remove the butter from the pan: if the butter stays in the pan, it will continue to cook and the bits will burn.
Make Ahead and Freezing Tips
If you’d like to make this dough to bake later, once you have shaped the cookies and given them a rest at room temperature, flash freeze them, uncovered on a plate or tray. Once they are firm (about 20 minutes), you can transfer them to a ziplock bag for longer storage.
Important: let the dough come to room temperature before baking.
Troubleshooting gluten free pumpkin cookies
My cookies didn’t spread or didn’t crack like yours?
These spread like mad for me so this is hard to imagine but I know strange things can happen. Not spreading could happen if the cookie dough had too much flour in it, the baking soda expired, or if the flour in the dough was over-hydrated.
Not cracking will happen to smaller cookies that spend less time in the oven. The most pronounced ‘cracking’ happens towards the end of the baking time, and for cookies that are portioned at 2 tablespoons per cookie, this starts around the 9 minute mark. If you made small cookies they will take color on the edges around 8-9 minutes and might still not have cracked.
My cookies spread way too thin and have no shape?
I can see this happening because gosh these go flat! If you’ve measured your oat flour correctly (not under measured – this is why using the scale is best), browned the butter sufficiently (browning evaporates moisture) and gave the dough enough time to rest and chill – the cookies should spread a reasonable amount for them to be thin with crispy edges and chewy centers.
My cookies are so chewy they are almost gummy!
They may have been baked too long. Baking time needs to end as soon as there is a bit of color on the edges.
My cookies are cakey and soft?
This might happen if the cookies don’t spread, see the top troubleshooting question here.
Gluten Free Pumpkin Cookie Recipe
Gluten Free Chewy Pumpkin Cookies
Ingredients
Cookie Dough
- 140g or ½ cup plus 2 tablespoons butter unsalted (use dairy free butter if you want to make the cookies dairy free)
- 2 teaspoons pumpkin pie spice
- ½ tsp fine sea salt
- 1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
- 100g or ½ cup granulated sugar
- 100g or ½ cup brown sugar
- 150g or ½ cup pumpkin butter I used trader joe’s (if you make a homemade version, the cookies will be slightly thicker and softer)
- 1 tablespoon flaxseed meal
- 1 tablespoon water
- 1 teaspoon baking soda
- 230g or 2 cups plus 2 tablespoons oat flour it’s best to measure this by scale, oat flour is naturally gluten free but some packaging may warn of cross contamination
Topping
- 100g or ½ cup granulated sugar fine or organic
- 1 ½ teaspoons pumpkin spice or a mix of ground cinnamon, nutmeg, ginger and allspice (optional)
Method
- Brown the butter: place the butter in a light colored small saucepan set over medium heat. Cook, as it melts, then begins to sputter and spit. You’ll see tiny panko-like bits at the bottom of the pan. Keep stirring and cooking, the bits will turn an amber brown then a toasty medium brown. Once they are all brown immediately transfer to a medium sized bowl.
- Add the pumpkin spice (if using) to the butter and stir. Let the butter cool for about 5 minutes. While it's cooling, mix the flaxseed and water together in a small bowl and let sit until thickened.
- Add the salt and vanilla and whisk in the sugars and whisk for 30 seconds.
- Add the flaxseed mixture and pumpkin butter and whisk until you have a smooth, silky mix.
- Add the oat flour and baking soda and stir until there are no visible flour or dry bits. Set the bowl, covered with a tea towel on the counter for half an hour.
- After those 30 minutes, remove the cover and transfer the bowl to the fridge to chill for 2 hours.
- Preheat the oven to 350 F and line two baking sheets with parchment paper.
- Prepare a sugar mixture for coating: whisk together the sugar and spices, if using, along with a pinch of salt.
- Portion the cookie dough into 2 tablespoons per cookie onto the pan, leaving 2 inches around each cookie (these will spread). Roll each dough ball between your palms to smooth it over and dip it, face down, into the sugar mixture. Roll it in the sugar to coat then return it to the pan. Repeat with all the cookies.
- Bake the cookies until they are cracked all over and have taken just a bit of color on the edges, about 12 minutes. Let cool on the pan for a few minutes until firm, then transfer to a cooling rack.
- Store leftovers in an airtight container.
Notes
Did you make this recipe?
Share & tag me on instagram @buttermilkbysam
I am so happy & pleased to find your website. Our teenager granddaughter was recently diagnosed with a gluten allergy. I had already made your Chewy Pumpkin Cookies starting last year & they have become a staple in this family. With that said, I decided to try the GF version. I absolutely think you cannot tell the difference! I have also made the GF Chocolate Chip cookies. What a gift. Two major keepers in just a few days! Can’t wait to sample more!! Thanks, bunches.