Gluten Free Pumpkin Cookies are so light and fluffy, they practically melt in your mouth! So easy to make using gluten-free flour, sugar, spice, and canned pumpkin!
These delicious cookies are topped with a simple cream cheese frosting that everyone will love!
Whether you bake gluten-free due to allergies or preference, you'll love these delicious pumpkin cookies.
So soft and pillowy, they are the perfect gluten-free dessert for fall!
How to make gluten-free pumpkin cookies
Step 1 - Mix wet ingredients.
In a large mixing bowl, beat sugars, oil, pumpkin, eggs, and vanilla until well combined.
Step 2 - Mix dry ingredients.
In a separate bowl, whisk together the flour, baking soda, baking powder, salt, and pumpkin pie spice.
Step 3 - Combine the wet and dry ingredients.
Mix the wet and dry ingredients together until it forms the cookie dough. The batter will be very thick.
Step 4 - Bake the cookies.
Use a cookie scoop to create 1 tablespoon-sized dough balls. Place them on a parchment paper-lined baking sheet.
Wet your fingers lightly with water and smooth the tops to create a disk shape. (optional)
Bake at 350°F (176°C) for 11-13 minutes. Transfer to a wire rack to cool before frosting.
Step 5 - Make the frosting.
Beat the cream cheese, Greek yogurt, and powdered sugar until smooth and creamy.
Step 6 - Frost the cookies.
Use a spatula or butter knife to spread frosting onto each cookie. Sprinkle with sugar and cinnamon if desired.
Tips for making the best gluten-free pumpkin cookies
- Use a pre-made all-purpose gluten-free flour blend. Brands that I've tried and love are Pillsbury, Bob's Red Mill, and Krusteaz. If you bake often, save money by making your own blend with this recipe All-Purpose Gluten-Free Flour Mix.
- Use canned pumpkin puree, NOT pumpkin pie filling. Pumpkin pie filling has spices and sugar already added to it and will make these cookies super sweet!
- The batter will not spread or puff when baking. If presentation matters and you'd like the cookies to be smooth on top, use the back of a spoon or fingers that have been dipped in a little water to shape them. The water will help keep the spoon or your fingers from sticking to the batter!
- Sprinkle a little sanding sugar or white sugar on top with a pinch of cinnamon or pumpkin pie spice to make them even more yummy!
- One of my readers, Melissa, doesn't like yogurt-flavored frosting so she shared this combination of ingredients to make a frosting without yogurt: 8 oz cream cheese (softened), 6 tablespoon butter (softened) 1-2 teaspoon vanilla, and 2.5 -3 cups powdered sugar. Thanks Melissa!
More gluten-free dessert recipes
- gluten-free banana pudding
- gluten-free strawberry icebox cake
- gluten-free nilla wafers
- flourless chocolate cake
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Guten-Free Pumpkin Cookies
Ingredients
Wet Ingredients
- 1 cup light brown sugar
- 1 cup granulated sugar
- 1 cup oil
- 1 can pumpkin puree
- 2 large eggs
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
Dry Ingredients
- 3 ½ cups gluten-free flour mix
- 1 teaspoon baking powder
- 1 teaspoon baking soda
- ½ teaspoon salt
- 2 tablespoons pumpkin pie spice
Frosting Ingredients
- 4 oz. cream cheese room temperature
- ½ cup powdered sugar
- ¼ cup greek yogurt
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 350°F (176°C) and line a baking sheet with parchment paper.
- In a medium bowl combine brown sugar, sugar, oil, pumpkin, eggs and vanilla until fully incorporated. Combine wet and dry ingredients and stir to fully incorporate.
- Use a small cookie scoop to place mounds of the dough onto the parchment paper. Flatten out the mounds by smoothing the top with the back of a spoon or your fingers that have been dipped in water to keep them from sticking. (The shape they are going into the oven, is the shape they will be when they are done!)
- Bake for 11-13 minutes, transfer cookies to a cooling rack and let cool before frosting.
- To make the frosting, combine the cream cheese, powdered sugar and yogurt until smooth. (I like to make my frosting thicker so I use less yogurt) If the frosting is too thin, add more powdered sugar. Frost each cookie and enjoy!
Notes
- Add 2 cups of chocolate chips for Chocolate Chip Pumpkin Cookies.
- Store covered in the fridge for up to 4 days. Cookies can be frozen for up to 3 months.
Cyndi Reinhardt says
I doubled the recipe and took half of them to a family gathering. I took 3 dozen and came home with a dozen, which was OK, because my husband was happy that we had some left, so he had more to eat at home! I added some of the pumpkin spice to the frosting and it brought more depth of flavor.
Carol says
This is a great recipe! Cookies are light and fluffy which is extremely difficult to achieve with GF flour recipes. I had to cut the recipe in half, and I do not use pumpkin pie spice as I do not like cloves or allspice! I used 2 tsp of cinnamon, and 1/4 tsp ea of ginger and nutmeg. Also, we do not eat white sugar so I substituted the sugar with Monk Fruit sugar. Thank you for this recipe Amy I will be cooking another batch in a few days for family!
Marjorie says
These cookies are amazing! I made them for my grandchildren and they said they were like eating pumpkin pie. Soo delicious. I think I could easily have served them with whipped cream on them and they would have called them pumpkin cookie pies. Thank you. I think they will become a tradition in our family.
Gina says
Amy, Amy, Amy!!
Wow.. just wow! My entire (non-Gluten Free family) Gobbled these up fast and loved them. My friend couldn't believe they were Gluten Free. These cookies are Amazing! Thank you so much for the recipe.
I want you to know I never write things like this...mainly because I use recipes as guides rather then law. I made a few changes out of necessity... being an experienced baker I figured I could get away with and I was right!! I didn't have enough oil so I melted some butter flavor shortening for 1/2 the oil called for. I used the brand Cup for Cup flour because it is my personal favorite. I ended up using a little less about 3 c total, I used 3Tbl. of my own custom pumpkin pie spice which is heavy on ginger but light on cloves (personal preference), and I used 2.5 tesp. Vanilla. These cookies were soft, fluffy, spiced, and delicious. They baked up perfectly.
I made a basic cream cheese and powdered sugar glaze (without yogurt) because I didn't have any, adding a bit of cinnamon, vanilla and a dash of pure maple syrup to the glaze and it was perfect!!
I would give this 10 stars if I could!
The only suggestion I have is to put the size can of pumpkin you used on your recipe. By looking at the ingredients it seemed like you used a small can of pumpkin, I only had a large can so I just used a little more then a 1/2 can. Delicious!!
Giorgia says
Amazing recipe! I originally tried to makes these with a similar recipe but it was none gluten so just changed the flour, massive mistake going to stick to gluten free recipes going forward!
My second batch I left in oven for 15 to make the top of the cookie more crunchy.
Tina says
This recipe turned out great! I coated mine in cinnamon and sugar rather than frosting. They are wonderfully soft and flavorful.
von says
it actually turned out really good. I used non diary cream cheese instead of regualar and it was still pretty good.
I also made 12 cookies instead of 50.
I think next time I will add a little milk to cookie batter, but they still came out soft.