Simple frosted vegan pumpkin cookies: made with one bowl in under an hour | Gluten Free + Dairy Free
Vegan Pumpkin Cookies
If you plan on doing any baking with kids this year I would highly recommend you make these!
They’re
- incredibly easy to make
- requires only one bowl
- and are a great dairy/egg free treat for anyone with food allergies.
I adapted this recipe from Minimalist Baker – you can always count on Dana for great recipes! The original sugar cookies weren’t gluten free, so I played around with a couple of things so that it could work with gluten free flours.
While I personally love the pumpkin pie spice in this frosting, these cookies are also really great without anything added to them. If you want to ditch the frosting, but still want that pumpkin pie spice you can always just mix the spices in the dough and leave it there.
After you take these cookies out of the oven, please try to resist the temptation to pick these up too early. They harden on the baking sheet as they cool down. If you try to pick them up too early there is a good chance they’ll fall apart on you. Just let them sit and cool and you’ll be good to go!
I promise – these cookies are worth dancing over!
Vegan Pumpkin Cookies
Simple frosted vegan pumpkin cookies: made with one bowl in under an hour | Gluten Free + Dairy Free
Ingredients
Cookies
- 1/2 cup vegan butter
- 1/2 cup white granulated sugar + more for topping
- 1/4 cup + 2 tablespoons brown sugar
- 1/4 cup pumpkin puree
- 1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
- 1 1/2 cups gluten free all purpose flour + more for rolling
- 2 teaspoons pumpkin pie spice
- 1 teaspoon xanthan gum - only add if your flour doesn't already have xanthan
- 1/2 teaspoon baking powder
- 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
- 1/4 teaspoon salt
Frosting
- 1/2 cup vegan butter stick softened, can use regular butter if you don't need this to be dairy free
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- 2 1/2 - 3 cups sifted powdered sugar
- 1 teaspoon pumpkin spice
Instructions
- Preheat your oven to 350°F /180°C and position a rack in the center of the oven. Line a baking sheet with parchment or a silicone baking mat.
- In a large mixing bowl beat together the butter, sugar, and brown sugar with an electric mixer. Add in the pumpkin puree and vanilla extract and continue mixing until combined fully.
- With a wooden spoon add the remaining dry cookie ingredients and mix until combined. The dough should be soft at this point.
- Roll the balls into 1.5 tablespoon balls. Place them on the baking sheet a few inches apart. Slightly flatten the balls to help them spread while baking. Place them in the oven and bake for 8- 10 minutes. If they haven't spread much, gently press down to help them flatten out more. Remove the baking sheet from the oven and let the cookies cool completely on the tray before trying to move them. Moving them too soon before they set may lead to the breaking. The longer you leave them, the chewier they'll be.
Frosting
- Wipe down the bowl you were using earlier and beat the butter on high for 1-2 minutes. Add in the vanilla extract along with the powdered sugar. Start off with 2 1/2 cups sugar - if the frosting isn't thick enough add another 1/2 cup 1 tablespoons at a time. Finally, beat in the pumpkin spice and mix until everything is fully incorporated. IF your frosting is too thick you can add a teaspoon or two of non dairy milk to think it out.
- Once the cookies are fully cooled frost the tops and add a sprinkling of pumpkin spice over the tops.
Notes
- Store these cookies covered at room temperature - unfrosted these will keep for about a week. Frosted they will keep for 2-3 days. makes 10-12 cookies
- Instead of pumpkin pie spice, you can use 1 teaspoons ground cinnamon, 1/2 teaspoon ground nutmeg, 1/4 teaspoon ground cloves, and 1/4 teaspoon ginger.
- Without frosting these are 237 calories per cookie
Hannah says
I’m taking these to work for a cookie contest. I’ll let you know how they do! If I’m storing them overnight, should I refrigerate them?
Sarah Nevins says
Hi Hannah! Sorry I took a few days to get back to you – only just caught your comment in my spam filter! I hope you enjoyed them for your cookie contest! In case you haven’t made them yet – you can store these in the fridge or at room temperature
Amanda says
Don’t use coconut oil. Use butter. Our cookies turned into one giant sheet pan cookie and barely rised because they were so oily.
Andrew says
Sooooooo GOOD!
Sarah says
Thanks Andrew!
Jamie says
These are so amazing! I’ve made a double batch before and froze half… I like them best frozen! They’re chewy right out of the freezer 🙂
Sarah says
Ooh that’s good to know! Thanks so much for coming back to let me know what you thought – so glad you liked them!
Tracy says
I made these and they are delicious and so easy!
Sarah says
Thanks Tracy! Thanks for coming back to let me know how you liked them!
Tara says
Just made these and unfortunately, they weren’t what I had hoped for. They are VERY oily. I used exactly what the recipe called for. And they’re also way too sweet! They definitely have pumpkin in them, but not the traditional “pumpkin spice” flavor I was hoping for. I added the spices into the mix because adding the frosting would have been even more sugar, which I didn’t want. A little disappointed at how sweet and oily these were.
Sarah says
Hi Tara – Sorry to hear you didn’t like these! Did the cookies come out oily in the end or was it just the dough that was oily? As for the sweetness they’re supposed to be sugar cookies so they’ll be more sweet tasting that average cookies. Maybe that’s just a preference thing?
Tania says
Hi. Can i use whole wheat flour or buckwheat flour for this recipe? Gluten free is not available where i stay.
Sarah says
Hi Tania! I’m not sure how whole wheat would work in this recipe since it’s been years since I’ve been able to bake with wheat/gluten flours. I do think buckwheat would work although it will change the flavour/texture a little.
Sam says
Would I be able to use bobs red mill 1:1 gluten free flour all purpose flour or almond flour? I don’t have any other gluten free flours at home
Sarah says
Bob’s Red Mill 1:1 should be great with this! Hope you like it!
Heather Kinnaird says
there are few things in life more fun than spending a day baking cookies. and in the fall it is hard to beat a delicious frosted pumpkin cookie
Sarah says
Amen to that! Thanks Heather 🙂