Vegan Soft Pumpkin Cookies

Cinnamon, cloves and ginger add the perfect Fall pumpkin spice and the icing makes these special enough for any holiday get-together.

For more healthy cookies, these chocolate chip zucchini oatmeal cookies and almond butter peanut butter cookies are always a favourite. If you’re a pumpkin-lover, try these pumpkin chocolate chip bars and no-bake pumpkin pie tarts.

Recipe Highlights

• Just 5 ingredients plus spices!
• Quick and easy to make.
• Vegan (dairy-free, eggless) and oil-free.
• No butter needed.
• Soft, tender, melt-in-your-mouth texture.
• Perfect sweet and spiced Fall flavour.
• Make them with or without the glaze.

This list is not complete. Please see the recipe card at the end of the post for the complete ingredient list with measurements and detailed instructions.

• Almond Butter: Use plain, natural almond butter. This can be substituted with another nut or seed butter like cashew butter or sunflower seed butter.
• Brown Sugar: Brown sugar yields soft and chewy cookies. The best substitute is light muscovado sugar. You can use coconut sugar or white sugar but the end result won’t be as soft and chewy. You could also do 1/2 cup white sugar plus 1 tsp of molasses to mimic brown sugar.
• Pumpkin: Good quality pumpkin puree makes a difference! I like Farmer’s Market or E.D. Smith Pumpkin Puree. Note it’s 100% pumpkin puree not pumpkin pie filling.
• Flour: The recipe calls for all-purpose flour and has not been tested with any other flour. If you’re confident making substitutions, go for it, but they have been tested with all-purpose so I can’t say how they’ll turn out!
• Spices: You’ll need cinnamon, ginger and cloves but you could also use 2 tsp of pumpkin pie spice.
• Powdered Sugar: This is for the glaze portion of the recipe. I’ve included a few alternatives for the glaze below.
• Milk: You can use any milk. I used soy milk but almond milk, oat milk, cashew milk or carton coconut milk are also suitable.

Icing Alternatives

• Cream Cheese Icing: Classic cream cheese frosting made with vegan cream cheese and powdered sugar.
• Cashew Cream Cheese Icing: Like a classic cream cheese frosting but made with cashews and maple syrup.
• Caramel: Homemade caramel sauce made with coconut sugar.
• Coconut Butter Glaze: Use melted coconut butter as is or mix with a small amount of any sweetener for a quick and easy glaze.

Recipe Variations

• Pumpkin Orange Cookies: Add 1 tsp orange zest or orange extract to the batter.
• Peanut Butter Pumpkin Cookies: Use peanut butter instead of almond butter.
• Chocolate Chip Pumpkin Cookies: Fold 1/2 cup of chocolate chips into the batter.
• For other mix-ins, try walnuts, pecans or coconut.

Step-by-Step with Photos

Step 1: First, mix together the almond butter and brown sugar until very well combined. You can use a hand-held electric mixer or beat together with a metal whisk or fork.

Step 2: Add the pumpkin puree and mix well.

Step 3: Once you’ve mixed in the pumpkin, add the remaining cookie ingredients and mix until all of the flour is incorporated.

Step 4: Use a cookie scoop or spoon to scoop roughly 2 tbsp portions of the dough onto a lined baking tray.

Note that the cookies don’t rise or spread much during baking so you want to shape them a bit beforehand. You can use the back of a wetted wooden spoon to press them down lightly.

Step 5: Bake the cookies for 10 minutes at 350 F.

Once they come out, let them cool on the pan for a few minutes then carefully transfer them to a cooling rack to cool. You can also just let them cool on the pan if you don’t have a cooling rack.

Step 6: When you’re ready, mix the icing ingredients together in a bowl until nice and smooth, slowly adjusting the consistency by adding milk 1 teaspoon at a time.

It should be somewhat thick but still easy to drizzle from the spoon onto the cookies.

Step 6: Drizzle the glaze over the cookies and enjoy your delicious treat!

Storing

• Make sure the cookies are completely cooled before storing.
• Room Temperature: Store in an airtight container for 3 days.
• Fridge: Store in an airtight container iced or without icing for up to 1 week.
• Freezer: Store without the icing in a freezer bag or freezer-safe container with parchment paper or wax paper between layers if you’re stacking them. Thaw in the fridge or at room temperature then add the icing.

More Vegan Cookies

• Healthy Pumpkin Oat Cookies: 3-ingredient healthy pumpkin cookies.
• Vegan Sweet Potato Cookies: Gluten-free, oil-free, flourless and so yummy.
• Flourless Banana Oatmeal Cookies: Popular 3-ingredient oat cookies.
• Vegan Chocolate Peppermint Cookies: Fudgy cookies for the holidays.
• Vegan Thumbprint Cookies: Gluten-free pecan and coconut thumbprints.
• Carrot Oatmeal Cookies: Healthy cookies that taste like carrot cake.

Looking for more pumpkin desserts? Try this pumpkin cheesecake, pumpkin mug cake or pumpkin pie fudge.