Vegan & gluten-free ultra soft pumpkin cookies filled with chunks of bold dark chocolate. Perfect cookie (not cakey) texture without a single ounce of butter–something even I thought was impossible!
I get a little sad every year around this time. The end of pumpkin season. The day after Thanksgiving, I spend the next 10 months waiting for September 1st so I can start posting pumpkin recipes again. Every year, without fail, I’m left with a handful of recipes that never made it to the blog before the season ended.
I had just about given up on pumpkin cookies. I loooove pumpkin muffins, pumpkin bread, pumpkin cupcakes–anything that is supposed to be light and cakey, the pumpkin basically works like a dream, but cookies? I don’t like my cookies cakey, and especially while trying to avoid using butter, I just thought that pumpkin cookies were an impossible task.
After seeing my girl Sally’s recipe for her pumpkin chocolate chip cookies, I was inspired to try again. It was the first pumpkin cookie recipe I’d seen where you could see just from the photos that the texture was perfect. I did a little more research and saw this recipe on Baked by Rachel. They also looked ridiculously good–and again, with that perfect cookie texture.
I was pretty sure once I got rid of the butter, there was no way I’d be satisfied, but it turns out I couldn’t have been more wrong. The texture was absolutely spot on. The edges got ever so slightly crisp, and the middle was soft, gooey, and everything I’ve ever wanted in a cookie. The pumpkin flavor shines through, and the huge chunks of dark chocolate are the perfect finishing touch. I used a sea salt dark chocolate which I would highly recommend, but any good quality dark chocolate will do. I also made a batch with bits of Heath toffee thrown in, and let me tell you, that was magnificent. You could use white chocolate, add cranberries, anything really–the dough is the perfect container for all your favorite add ins!
Vegan & gluten-free ultra soft pumpkin cookies filled with chunks of bold dark chocolate. Perfect cookie (not cakey) texture without a single ounce of butter--something even I thought was impossible!
Ingredients
- 2 1/2 cups gluten-free baking blend (or white whole wheat flour)
- 1/2 tsp baking powder
- 1/2 tsp baking soda
- 2 tsp pumpkin pie spice
- 1 tbsp cornstarch
- dash salt
- 1/2 cup sugar
- 1/2 cup brown sugar
- 1/4 cup coconut oil, melted
- 6 tbsp apple butter
- 6 tbsp pumpkin
- 2 tsp vanilla extract
- 6 oz good quality dark chocolate, roughly chopped
Instructions
- In a medium bowl, whisk together flour, baking powder, baking soda, pumpkin pie spice, cornstarch, and salt until combined. Set aside.
- In a large bowl, beat together sugars, coconut oil, apple butter, pumpkin and vanilla until combined. Add dry ingredients and mix until combined. Gently, stir in chocolate. Cover and refrigerate for 1 hour. If you leave it in longer (ie: several hours to overnight), you may need to let it sit at room temperature for a few minutes before scooping and baking.
- Preheat oven to 350. Line two large baking sheets with silpat of parchment papers. Use a small cookie scoop to transfer dough to baking sheet.
- Bake until edges are lightly golden and cookies are just set, about 10-12 minutes. Cool completely on baking sheet. Store leftovers in an airtight container for up to one week.
Notes
Recipe adapted from Baked by Rachel and Sally's Baking Addiction
These look so good. I love pumpkin with chocolate. Anything with chocolate really… 😉
Seriously. I feel the same way about peanut butter. 😉
These cookies look soon good! Pinning!
I’m slowly moving away from pumpkin and moving on to gingerbread and peppermint flavors right now. BUT these cookies will make me stay a little longer. I don’t like cakey cookies either!
I know, I’ve been eating gingerbread granola for the last month, and the other day I even got a little eggnog in my coffee (shhhh 😉 ), but I’m holding on to my beloved pumpkin at least until Thanksgiving…and then just secretly the rest of the year too. 😉
HAPPY THANKSGIVUKKAH TO ME!!!!
my sweet tooth is RAGING right now!
Haha, I bet! Feed that child some cookies!! 🙂
These look absolutely amazing, friend — a perfect texture. Thanksgiving is long gone and it’s already starting to look like Christmas around here, but I’d be willing to crack open another can of pumpkin for these gems.
Oh yeah, you guys had Canadian Thanksgiving a good month ago, right? Well if not this year, you can get your pumpkin fix with them next fall! 🙂
I love pumpkin cookies, so delicious!!
these look great, and the ingredients look easy to find! i always enjoy trying to make over dessert recipes to make them gluten free etc and taste similar to ‘the real stuff’, but some recipes have crazy ingredients that are so hard to find. thanks for posting these1
Emily you are totally speaking my language!! That is my biggest recipe pet peeve when it’s “healthy”, but includes all sorts of strange ingredients. I don’t want to have to buy anything special, and I want recipes to be accessible! Thanks friend!! <3
SO yum! What do you think was the best butter replacement, the coconut oil?
Coconut oil, apple butter, or a combination of the two is ALWAYS a winner! Every time–perfect textures!
I love the idea of throwing toffee bits in there, and congrats for pulling off the non-cakey feat! AND gluten free and vegan, must have taken some work but they certainly look awesome.
The toffee bits were soooo good–dried cranberries and white chocolate would also be amazing! Thanks lady! 🙂
oh Yum! love it- no eggs or dairy! pretty much Vegan- will Pin for later
these look awesome! And you are so right, I don’t usually like my cookies cakey either! I’ll have to try this recipe- and soon!!
I’ll be sad to see pumpkin season end too. These cookies do look like they have perfect texture! Pumpkin and chocolate is one of my favorite combos.
Me too Christin!! And pumpkin and white chocolate!
Those looks so good. As soon as I saw the one showing off the center, I hit print
Awww yay! Thanks Debi!
YUM! do you think these would work with almond meal?!
**All almond meal (instead of gluten free baking mix blend you use) Sorry should have specified!
Hey Katie, you could definitely try it, but almond meal creates a different texture than a blend, so I’m not 100% sure all the ratios will be correct. Totally worth a shot, though! If you do, let me know how it goes! 🙂
These look so good! And I absolutely adore the idea of toffee bits in them…yum!
I totally keep toffee bits in my pantry and randomly throw them in things all the time. They seriously make everything better! 🙂
I just made these cookies, and they are delicious! I actually used peanut butter instead of apple butter, and they turned out just fine.
Mia recently posted…Just Another Run
Glad you enjoyed them! Thanks for the feedback!