Soft Chocolate Chip Pumpkin Cookies (Gluten Free, Paleo + Vegan)
These Soft Chocolate Chip Pumpkin Cookies are a cakey and delicious spiced cookie that’s loaded with chocolate! If you like softer cookies, you’ll adore these gluten-free, paleo + vegan pumpkin cookies.
Soft, cakey cookie fans – are you out there?!? This post is for you! I made you some pumpkin chocolate chip cookies that are super soft, warmly spiced, and loaded with melted chocolate chunks. I think you’re really going to like them 😃.
I’m going to be totally honest, when I tasted them, I labeled these a no-go. They weren’t exactly what I was going for, which was a crispy-edged, super chewy pumpkin chocolate chunk cookie. But then…I couldn’t stop snagging pieces of them when I walked by. Always a good sign.
So I went onto Instagram Stories to ask whether you guys had any interest in seeing a softer cookie (since it’s not usually my go-to). And well, you guys responded with a resounding YES. I got so many positive responses from the soft-cooking-loving community, so I had to share it :)
I ended up bringing them to Rosh Hashana dinner with my family, and they disappeared within 5 minutes of hitting the table, despite my family generally preferring crunchy/chewy things. These are delish no matter how you slice it.
You’d never guess these pumpkin cookies are gluten-free, paleo + vegan.
The recipe uses two of my favorite go-to flours: coconut and almond. Almond flour helps provide a nice texture and flavor, while the coconut flour helps soak up the extra moisture that comes from adding the pumpkin and the flax egg.
There’s a pretty decent amount of pumpkin in here too – 3/4 cup! Which is definitely what helps them get that ultra-soft, moist, cakey texture that helps them just melllttt in your mouth. Of course, along with pumpkin, you must have the pumpkin spice crew. In these, it consists of cinnamon, nutmeg, and cloves…mmmmm.
As usual, I recommend using chocolate chunks > chunks chips for the best results. Freshly chopped chunks are always meltier because they don’t have waxes in them, like chocolate chips do, to make them hold their shape. Melty chocolate is always the winner in my book! If soft cookies are your jam, you’re going to absolutely swoon over these. I hope you’ll give them a try. Enjoy!
If you like these Chocolate Chip Pumpkin Cookies, try these Chocolate Chunk Pumpkin Blondies, this No-Bake Vegan Pumpkin Cheesecake, and these Pumpkin Spice Twix Bars!
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Soft Chocolate Chip Pumpkin Cookies
- Prep Time: 10 minutes
- Cook Time: 12 minutes
- Total Time: 22 minutes
- Yield: 18 cookies 1x
- Category: Dessert
- Cuisine: American
Description
These Soft Chocolate Chip Pumpkin Cookies are a cakey and delicious spiced cookie that’s loaded with chocolate! If you like softer cookies, you’ll adore these gluten-free, paleo + vegan pumpkin cookies.
Ingredients
- ½ cup coconut oil, melted
- ¾ cup (183g) canned pumpkin puree, make sure to use pure pumpkin, NOT pumpkin pie filling, see Notes
- ¾ cup coconut sugar
- 1 flax egg, 1 tablespoon ground flax + 2.5 tablespoons water, whisk + let set for 5 mins
- 2 teaspoons vanilla extract
- 2 teaspoons cinnamon
- ½ teaspoon nutmeg
- ¼ teaspoon ground cloves
- 1 teaspoon baking powder
- 1 teaspoon baking soda
- ½ teaspoon kosher salt
- 1 cup (96g) blanched almond flour
- ⅓ cup + 1 tablespoon (51g) coconut flour
- 1 cup (6 oz.) dark chocolate chunks
Instructions
- In a large mixing bowl, combine the melted coconut oil, canned pumpkin, coconut sugar, flax egg, and vanilla extract. Whisk until completely smooth and combined.
- Add in the cinnamon, nutmeg, baking soda, baking powder, kosher salt, blanched almond flour, and coconut flour if using. Stir until a smooth dough forms and the dry ingredients are completely incorporated. Stir in the chocolate chunks.
- Chill the dough for at least one hour, or up to 24 hours. Don’t skip this – you need to let the dough chill so the coconut oil can firm back up and make sure the cookies don’t spread too much.
- When you’re ready to bake, preheat the oven to 350ºF. Line two baking sheets with parchment paper. Using a large cookie scoop (this one is my favorite), scoop dough onto the cookie sheet, leaving 2” between cookies.
- Bake for 11-14 minutes, or until crispy on the edges and baked in the center. Store in an airtight container.
Notes
If your pumpkin is a bit watery or thin (like Trader Joe’s brand tends to be), you’ll want to add an extra tablespoon of coconut flour to help soak up that extra moisture. Libby’s and Sprouts Brand are typically thick enough on their own, but if you have it on hand, I’d recommend adding the coconut flour anyways if you want to ensure crispy edges.
Keywords: pumpkin, pumpkin cookies, cookies, vegan, gluten-free
Talk about the perfect (and extra delicious) way to celebrate the start of fall!
I certainly agree, thanks so much Casey!
These are UH-MAZING! I substituted ground up oats in place of the almond flour and didn’t have any flax seeds, so I made a chia seed “egg” instead (1TBS chia seeds + 2.5TBS water; stir and let sit for 5 mins). As Rachel mentioned, it is very important to let the coconut oil re-solidify in the fridge, but i’d you happen to forget, these are still yummy as mushy gooey cookies (or even just as safe, yummy batter)!! I will definitely be making these again!! ❤️
So thrilled to hear you’re loving them Ashley, and that they worked well with the substitutes you made. Thanks so much for sharing your feedback! :)
I must know what type of chocolate you use to get those perfect melted gooey chocolate puddles!
Hi Meriem, I used Trader Joe’s 72% Pound Plus Bar for the chunks here!
Enjoy Life brand dark chocolate (vegan) chunks are amazing, too! You can get these Whole Foods and Sprouts! Happy baking!
Oh gosh, these cookies are making me drool currently, Rachel! LOVE all that cakey pumpkin goodness! I’ll take your whole batch of these fall beauties. :) :)
Thank you so very much Sarah!
Do you think I could sub out the coconut flour and use tapioca instead? Would the ratio be the same? I love your stuff BTW!
Hi Jen, thanks for the love! Unfortunately coconut flour is super uniquely absorbent and can’t be subbed out for anything else. I’d recommend getting your hands on some – it’s not too expensive and a little goes a long way, so it should last you a while. Enjoy!
oh ya I do have it!! But hubby is averse to anything coconut and is like a sniffer dog and can taste a tsp of it in like a two dozen batch of cookies!! :) Ooh well more for me and the kids! haha
Oh man that’s crazy he’s so sensitive! You could try using an extra 1 1/4 cups of almond flour in place of the coconut flour, but I haven’t tried it so I can’t guarantee your results!
Can I use chickpea flour as a sub here?
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Hi Holly, I’ve never used chickpea flour before so I’m not sure what the properties are or how it will perform in this recipe. You’re welcome to try it but I can’t make any guarantees that it will be successful.
Hi Rachel
We don’t have canned pumpkin in my country. May I just roast or steam some and then puree it?
Thanks for your healthy and delicious legacy X
Hi Catarina, yes that should certainly work! If it seems watery though, I’d recommend letting it sit in a fine mesh strainer to strain out some of the excess moisture before proceeding with the recipe. Enjoy!
These look so good! I have been making all the paleo + vegan pumpkin goodies this weekend…I’m thinking I need to keep the theme going with these! I wanted to check out which cookie scoop you like but I don’t see a link…Is there a certain one you like? Thanks! :)
Hi Amanda, it’s on my Shop page but I’ve also affiliate linked it for you here: http://amzn.to/2fKM3b5 (I used the medium size here).
Can I sub the flax egg for a real egg?
I haven’t tried it but that should be just fine, hope you enjoy them Mary!
I made these last night and the flavors were ON POINT! I replaced the 3 spices with equal parts homemade pumpkin pie spice and brown sugar instead of coconut sugar (I mix organic white with molasses for the richest flavor).. baked them for 10 minutes, flattened a little with a spatula, then baked for 3ish more minutes. They’re super soft and cakey, but honestly.. who doesn’t love cake for breakfast ;) Thanks for sharing this great recipe!
Yay I’m so thrilled you’re enjoying them!! Cake for breakfast definitely isn’t a bad thing :)
These did not work for me :( I did add the extra tablespoon of coconut flour and let them sit in the fridge for 6 hours, but they’re too wet. I cooked them a full 30 mins and the centers are still wet. The flavor is nice though!
Hi Melanie, sorry you had trouble!! Did you pumpkin puree seem particularly wet? That is most likely the issue, I always use pretty thick pumpkin puree. You can always try stirring in a couple extra tablespoons of coconut flour if it doesn’t seem cookie dough-like.
Hi! Can I sub the coconut oil for almond butter and then use honey instead of sugar?
Using honey for the coconut sugar will make the cookies too soft, especially with the pumpkin so I wouldn’t recommend that. I haven’t tried almond butter instead of coconut oil but it might work, can’t make any guarantees though!
How many cookies does this recipe yield?
sorry just seeing 18
Can I use bobs gf all purpose flour mix instead of the coconut flour?
Hi Sam, coconut flour is very uniquely absorbent so it’s hard to sub anything 1:1 for coconut flour. I’d recommend using between 1/2 cup and 3/4 cup of GF AP flour instead of the coconut flour, but since I haven’t tested that way, I can’t make any guarantees!
I made these this afternoon with just a few adjustments. They are delicious!! Instead of the Almond flour, I used Bob’s GF Baking Flour. For the sugar I used 1/2 coconut sugar and 1/2 Lankato Monkfruit Sweetener (sugar substitute). I want to try them with the almond flour next time! Thanks for sharing!
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So glad you’re enjoying them, Julie! Thanks for the feedback :D
Loved these! Thanks for the recipe!
So glad you’re enjoying them!! Thanks for the feedback, Diana.
We love these! I’ve made these pumpkin cookies a whole bunch of times – I don’t even remember how many times, but they’re always a hit!! So so good.
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So glad you’re loving them, Diane!
I just have a quick question… can you substitute a regular egg for the flax egg?
Hi Melissa, yes absolutely!
Do you know if this dough would freeze well (and bake from frozen) or stay refrigerated for a week or so? I like to make a full batch and then freeze most of it, baking just enough to eat at a time! Or sometimes I’ll refrigerate and just bake 4 at a time each night for me and my husband to have fresh cookies every night (works well with your paleo choc chip recipe).
Hi Maddie – yes absolutely!! You can totally scoop into dough balls, freeze, and then bake :) I’d press the dough down a bit before freezing so it’s in more of a disc shape. This will help it bake up more easily since these cookies don’t spread a ton.
Hi! I have to use olive oil for these instead of coconut oil…any suggestions for this substitution?
Hi Lily, my only concern is that they may not firm up in the same way since coconut oil firms up and olive oil doesn’t. You can try but if something goes wrong, that’s likely why!
Is there a best gf flour to substitute for almond flour? I cannot have almonds due to a sensitivity. Thanks!
An all-purpose gluten-free flour or oat flour should work well here.
I made them and refrigerated the dough 2 days. When I baked them they all melted together into one. All goo. I rechecked the ingredients and amounts . The only thing I can guess is I I ground almonds for my flour… the dough was great. Any suggestions?
Hi Julie, I’d guess the almonds were the thing here – I use a very finely ground almond flour, and home-ground flour generally won’t get as fine, so it won’t absorb the liquid ingredients as well or keep the right structure. I’d recommend trying with store-bought almond flour instead :) glad the dough tasted good and hopefully, the cookies did too, even if they didn’t look like cookies! :)
Made a batch of these along with Bakerita’s Oatmeal-Chocolate Chip Crumb Cake to take to a potluck with friends. Got rave reviews from everyone and had many asking for the recipes. Thank you for making gluten-free/dairy-free/vegan/refined sugar-free desserts so absolutely delicious, Rachel! It’s so fun baking with your recipes!
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