Vegan Pumpkin Cookies
This recipe for spiced, soft pumpkin cookies is incredibly easy, delicious, and packed with magnesium.
Flavor Notes
pumpkin | toasted cashew | cloves
Pairing suggestions
friday afternoons | classrooms | lattes
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Ingredients for vegan pumpkin cookies
- Pumpkin puree: I strongly advise purchasing a non-BPA lined can of pure pumpkin puree like this, if possible.
- Cashew butter: I like to roast and grind the cashews at home, but you can also purchase cashew butter. It replaces butter or oil as the fat in these cookies, and it contributes a lovely, slightly sweet flavor.
- Coconut sugar: to keep these cookies refined sugar free. Coconut sugar has a nuttier flavor than traditional cane sugar, and it is slightly darker, more like the color of brown sugar. You can use cane or brown sugar instead, but I do not recommend substituting a liquid sweetener here. Pick up my favorite brand on amazon with this link.
- Molasses: my favorite ingredient for these cookies is the dash of molasses – it replaces the egg in this cookie recipe and it gives the cookies a more fall spiced flavor.
- Vanilla extract: hard to find a dessert that doesn’t taste better with this ingredient!
- Gluten free 1:1 baking flour: I use bob’s red mill almost exclusively, but there are several other options out there with good reviews. If you aren’t sensitive to gluten, go ahead and swap in an equal measure of all purpose flour. You could also use oat flour, but it will result in a more crumbly cookie.
- Pumpkin pie spice: I kept it simple and used a premade pumpkin pie spice blend. If you want to make it from scratch, see the note below.
- Salt: to round out the flavor profile.
- Baking soda: just your typical leavening agent!
Pumpkin spice sugar coating
These cookies get rolled in a layer of pumpkin spiced sugar before going in the oven. I used coconut sugar with pumpkin pie spice because both ingredients are already in the cookie recipe, but you can use cane sugar instead of coconut sugar if you’d prefer!
How to make vegan pumpkin cookies
Step 1: make the cashew butter (or purchase it here)
Step 2: combine the wet ingredients
Step 3: whisk the dry ingredients
Step 4: fold the dry ingredients into the wet
Step 5: shape into balls and roll in cinnamon sugar
Shaping the pumpkin cookies
As these cookies bake, they develop a wonderful crackle texture around the sides. They stay mounded – not too much spread.
If you want flatter cookies, you can press them toward the last couple minutes in the oven or immediately after removing from the oven. Simply take a flat-bottomed item (like a drinking glass) and gently press each cookie to flatten. Watch for the cracking sides – just be careful not to break the cookie by pressing it too thin.
This recipe really doesn’t need much flour because of the structure we’re getting from the cashew butter and molasses. Don’t overdo it on the flour – 3 tbsp is truly all that you’ll need! Such a game changer.
Step 6: bake at 350 for ~9 minutes and enjoy!
Recipe Card
Vegan Pumpkin Cookies
Equipment
- 1 large baking sheet
- 1 Spatula
- 1 sheet of parchment paper
- 2 medium bowls
Ingredients
Pumpkin cookie dough
- ½ cup cashew butter homemade or store bought
- 1 tbsp molasses
- ¼ cup pumpkin puree
- ¼ cup coconut sugar
- 3 tbsp 1:1 gluten free baking flour I used Bob's Red Mill
- ¾ tsp baking soda
- ½ tsp vanilla
- 1 tsp pumpkin pie spice
Pumpkin spice sugar coating
- ¼ cup coconut sugar
- 1 tsp pumpkin pie spice
Instructions
- Start by preheating the oven to 350 and lining your baking sheet with parchment paper
- Roast at least 16 oz of cashews until fragrant, then blend into a smooth butter with a high speed food processor. Reserve ½ cup of the homemade cashew butter for recipe. OR measure ½ cup of store bought cashew butter.
- Add the cashew butter, pumpkin puree, molasses, vanilla, and coconut sugar to a medium bowl and mix well.
- Add the flour, baking soda, salt and pumpkin pie spice to the wet mixture and fold together.
- Make the pumpkin spiced sugar coating. In a shallow, wide bowl, add the coconut sugar and pumpkin pie spice and shake side to side until combined.
- Roll the dough into balls using your hands, then drop each ball in the sugar coating before arranging on the baking sheet. You should have 11 small cookies.
- Bake the cookies at 350 for 9 minutes. If desired, gently flatten the cookies around minute 7 using a flat-bottomed glass (without removing them from the oven). See blog post for details on shaping these cookies.
- Let cool for 5 minutes (or as long as you can wait) and enjoy!
Are you inspired to try this recipe? Let us know how it goes in the comments!
