These soft pumpkin cookies are like pillowy clouds that melt in your mouth. They’re loaded with pumpkin flavor, grain-free and made without any oil! Top with frosting for a delicious treat.
I actually shared a variation of these pumpkin cookies on my Instagram last winter! It was my take on the popular 2-ingredient pumpkin cookies made with a box of spice cake mix and a can of pumpkin. I made a version with a box of Simple Mills vanilla cake mix and they were so good.
I don’t know why it’s taken me so long to post this recipe (I guess I was waiting for fall to come back around)! Lucky for me (and you) it’s officially pumpkin season so these pillowy soft pumpkin cookies are making an appearance.
I used a combination of almond and coconut flour and the end result was perfection. The cookies are melt-in-your-mouth soft… basically cake cookies. They taste so light and fluffy that it’s easy to pop a few in one sitting. I ate four as a snack one night!
Ingredients in Pumpkin Cookies
almond flour
coconut flour
baking soda
sea salt
eggs
canned pumpkin – make sure you check the ingredient list! Look for just “pureed pumpkin“… not pumpkin pie mix. Pumpkin pie mix has added sugar!
cane sugar
vanilla extract
pumpkin pie spice – you can make your own using my recipe or use store-bought.
mini chocolate chips – I used Enjoy Life mini chocolate chips for this recipe.
frosting – I kept things easy and used store-bought frosting, but you can always make your own. I really like the Simple Mills vanilla frosting.
Substitutions and Notes:
Flour: I haven’t tested this recipe with any different types of flour so I don’t recommend subbing the flours. They’re delicious as is! If you want a soft pumpkin cookie with all-purpose flour, there are plenty. Here’s one!
Cane sugar: I have tested this recipe with coconut sugar and it works great, but does make the cookies a bit darker in color. I haven’t tested the recipe with other natural sweeteners like maple syrup or honey. If you decide to try it, let me know how the cookies turn out.
Canned pumpkin: If you can’t find canned pumpkin, you can make your own pumpkin puree or use canned butternut squash.
Eggs: I haven’t tested this recipe with flax eggs, chia eggs or an egg replacer and I’m not sure the cookies will turn out well with these substitutes. I recommend trying my vegan pumpkin cookies if you need an egg-free recipe.
How to Frost Pumpkin Cookies
These cookies are honestly delicious on their own without any frosting, but the frosting definitely makes them look very cute (and taste extra delicious).
I’m on a mission too create a healthy frosting recipe, but I don’t have one just yet, so for these cookies I used store-bought frosting. I frosted the cookies several different ways for different looks:
Simple: The easiest method is to simply spread a layer of frosting on top of each cookie with a knife. I like this method to keep things quick and easy.
Piped Frosting: If you want the cookies to look more polished, you can pipe the frosting. For the final batch (the ones I used for these photos) I frosted with a star tip (#17).
Mummy Cookies: you can use this same cookie recipe to make super cute mummy cookies for Halloween.
For the frosting, I really love the ingredients and flavor of Simple Mills vanilla frosting, but you can use whatever frosting brand you like. Another option is to make your own frosting. Cream cheese frosting is delicious on pumpkin cookies!
How to Store Soft Pumpkin Cookies
Allow your cookies to cool completely before storing! You can frost your cookies and store or just store them unfrosted and frost right before serving. If you have multiple layers of cookies in a container, use parchment paper to separate the layers. Store cookies in the fridge for up to one week or freezer for up to two months.
If you make these pumpkin cookies be sure to leave a comment and star rating below letting us know how they turned out. Your feedback is so helpful for the EBF team and our readers!
These soft pumpkin cookies are like pillowy clouds that melt in your mouth. They’re loaded with pumpkin flavor, grain-free and made without any oil! Top with frosting for a delicious treat.
Prep: Preheat oven to 350°F and line a baking sheet with parchment.
Mix dry ingredients: Stir together dry ingredients (flours, pumpkin pie spice, baking soda and sea salt) in a mixing bowl.
Add wet ingredients: Mix together wet ingredients (eggs, pumpkin, sugar and vanilla) in a separate mixing bowl.
Combine: Combine wet and dry ingredients. The dough will seem really wet for a cookie dough. This is ideal!
Add chocolate chips: Stir in 1/3 cup chocolate chips.
Scoop: Use a medium cookie scoop to scoop and place cookies on prepared cookie sheet. Press cookie dough down into a cookie shape with a spoon or your fingers. Cookies won’t spread very much so you can space them about 1 inch apart.
Bake: Bake for 15 minutes.
Cool: Move cookies to a wire rack and cool completely.
Decorate with frosting: add frosting to the piping bag fitted with a #17 tip and pipe the frosting in s swirl on each cookie.
To store:store leftover cookies in a container in the fridge for up to one week.
I made 1 batch wanting to try out these cookies and ended up making a second batch an hour later! My whole family enjoyed these. They are so soft I feel like I’m eating a cloud! I thought I had a can of pumpkin to use up but luckily I grow pumpkins so had some in storage to whip up which was nice. Thanks for posting the recipe!
Ahh yay, that makes me so happy to hear, Katherine!! I’m so glad these cookies were a hit with your family. Thanks for making them and for coming back to leave a review. I so appreciate it!
These soft Pumpkin Cookies turned out great. They were delicious with or without the cream cheese frosting. I didn’t have any almond flour so I used splet flour instead. They came just fine.
Oh yay!! So glad these cookies turned out with the spelt flour, Alice. Thanks so much for letting me know, it’s super helpful for the other readers who are curious about flour subs. 🙂
Woo!! Good to know that oat flour worked for these cookies. Thanks for making them and for coming back to share what sub you made. It’s super helpful for other readers, so I appreciate it, Jennifer. 🙂
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I made 1 batch wanting to try out these cookies and ended up making a second batch an hour later! My whole family enjoyed these. They are so soft I feel like I’m eating a cloud! I thought I had a can of pumpkin to use up but luckily I grow pumpkins so had some in storage to whip up which was nice. Thanks for posting the recipe!
Omg yay!! So glad these cookies were a hit. Thanks for coming back to leave a review. It means the world to me. 🙂
My family loved these cookies on thanksgiving day. So tasty!
Ahh yay, that makes me so happy to hear, Katherine!! I’m so glad these cookies were a hit with your family. Thanks for making them and for coming back to leave a review. I so appreciate it!
These soft Pumpkin Cookies turned out great. They were delicious with or without the cream cheese frosting. I didn’t have any almond flour so I used splet flour instead. They came just fine.
Oh yay!! So glad these cookies turned out with the spelt flour, Alice. Thanks so much for letting me know, it’s super helpful for the other readers who are curious about flour subs. 🙂
Hey, thanks for the recipe!!! I loved it!!! SO soft and yummy, will certainly make another batch. Thanks for sharing <3
These are so good! I used oat flour instead of almond and they were perfect!
Woo!! Good to know that oat flour worked for these cookies. Thanks for making them and for coming back to share what sub you made. It’s super helpful for other readers, so I appreciate it, Jennifer. 🙂