Soft Pumpkin Cookies Recipe | Gluten Free, Dairy Free Fall Recipes

Happy Fall Y’all! Fall is just about here, finally! The Virginia air is getting crisp and it feels like pumpkin season! What better way to start pumpkin season than to make my favorite, soft Pumpkin Cookies! My mom’s made this recipe since I was a kid, but I swapped the ingredients to make it gluten free, dairy free, and refined sugar free. I wouldn’t say they’re “healthy”, but they’re healthier than the original recipe. (If you like fall recipes but you’re not into pumpkin, check out my Apple Crisp recipe!)

Let me just bring this up for a second before getting onto the recipe. Not everything that is gluten free is healthy! There’s a very common misconception that gluten free is healthier. It can be if you’re eating mostly fruits, vegetables, healthy gluten free grains (like quinoa), and healthy proteins. But if you’re eating gluten free pancake mix, gluten free dinner rolls, gluten free cookies, gluten free cereal, etc., those foods are actually higher in carbs (most of the time), than their gluten filled counterparts.

Now that that’s addressed, let’s talk Pumpkin Cookies!

(FYI, I already posted this recipe in my Facebook Group, which is where I post all I recipes normally. So if you love healthy recipes and gluten free desserts, join here.)

The original recipe was HUGE, so before swapping anything, I split the recipe in half. I’m also using 3 different gluten free flours. I’m using part almond flour, part oat flour, and part all-purpose gluten free flour. (The all-purpose gluten free flours are normally a higher glycemic index due to the kinds of flours used in the mixture. That’s why I do more than half with the almond/oat flour mixture…it’s healthier.) You can use only all-purpose if you want though. It shouldn’t affect the recipe.

Let’s get started!

This recipe makes about 20 cookies. You’ll need…

1 ¼ cups + 2 tbsp Gluten Free Flour (I did ¼ cup Almond Flour, ½ cup Gluten Free Oat Flour, and ½ cup + 2 tbsp Gluten Free All-Purpose Flour.)

½ tsp Baking Soda

½ tsp Baking Powder

½ tsp Ground Cinnamon

¼ tsp Nutmeg

¼ tsp Salt

¾ cup + ½ tbsp. Coconut Sugar/Organic Raw Cane Sugar (I did ¼ cup Raw Cane Sugar, the rest Coconut Sugar)

½ cup softened Coconut Oil (you can use butter if you’re not dairy free)

½ cup Pumpkin

1 small egg (or ½ large egg)

½ tsp Vanilla

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First things first: Preheat the oven to 350°F

Combine the flour, baking soda, baking powder, cinnamon, nutmeg, and salt in a small bowl.

In a large mixing bowl (This one’s my favorite), cream together the sugar and coconut oil (I used a hand mixer for this.) Then, add the pumpkin, egg, and vanilla to the sugar/oil mixture.

Next, stir the flour mixture into the liquid mixture. The dough should be really soft, almost like cake batter.

Drop spoonful’s of the dough onto the cookie sheet and bake for 15 minutes.

That’s it! Super easy, tasty, and it will make your kitchen smell like fall! Let me know if you give these a try…I’d love to hear how you like them! Enjoy!