Gluten-Free Pumpkin Cookies are so light and fluffy … they practically melt in your mouth! So easy to make using gluten-free flour, sugar and spice and of course canned pumpkin! These delicious little mounds of heaven 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 degrees 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 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 Blend.
- 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 look 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 TBSP butter (softened) 1-2 tsp vanilla, and 2.5 -3 cups powdered sugar. Thanks Melissa!
Make sure to try out these amazing gluten-free recipes!
- Gluten-Free Chocolate Pancakes
- Birds Nest Cookies
- Double Chocolate Chip Cookies
- Low Fat Peanut Butter Chocolate Balls
- Gluten-Free Waffles
More Pumpkin Recipes you might like to try!
- Pumpkin Pie
- Pumpkin Cream Cheese Swirl Muffins
- No-Bake Pumpkin Cheesecake
- Pumpkin Cream Cheese Monkey Bread
- Pumpkin Pie Spice
Did you make this Gluten-Free Pumpkin Cookies recipe? Let me know how it turned out by ★★★★★ RATING this recipe and leave a comment below!!
Gluten-Free Pumpkin Cookies
Ingredients
PUMPKIN COOKIES
- 1 cup light brown sugar
- 1 cup sugar
- 1 cup canola oil
- 15 oz. pumpkin puree one 15 oz. can
- 2 eggs lightly beaten
- 1 teaspoon vanilla
- 3 1/2 cups gluten free all purpose flour blend
- 1 teaspoon baking soda
- 1 teaspoon baking powder
- 1/2 teaspoon salt
- 2 tablespoons pumpkin pie spice
FROSTING
- 4 oz. cream cheese room temperature
- 1/2 cup powdered sugar
- 1/4 cup Greek yogurt
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 350° and line a baking sheet with parchment paper.
- In a medium bowl combine brown sugar, sugar, canola oil, pumpkin, eggs and vanilla until fully incorporated.
- In a separate bowl whisk together the flour, baking soda, baking powder, salt and pumpkin pie spice.
- 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 from sticking. (The shape they are going into the oven is pretty much 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 then, 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.
Leah Ann Newton says
A+++++ My favorite new fall cookie! I made these for my teaching staff and everyone wanted the recipe! They didn’t even know they were gluten free!
Rachelle says
I have a question. Due to the cream cheese frosting, do the cookies need to stay refrigerated?
Amy Duska says
Yes, I would store covered in the fridge.
Ceren says
I made this recipe following the directions in detail, except I used a mixer to mix the wet and dry ingredients. The dough was gummy. They are still fluffy and cakey after they bake, but they have an over powering taste of baking powder/soda. Is that because I used the mixer?
Amy Duska says
Hi Ceren, what brand of flour did you use?
Wendy says
I made these tonight and they are so good!
I did skip the 1 cup of white sugar and used one 15oz can of applesauce in place of the oil(it also added a bit of sweetness in place of the sugar that I skipped).
They are like little cakes…so good! The cream cheese icing is the perfect flavor combination for these. Thank you for sharing this recipe…it is a new favorite!
Alicia Lopez says
Has anyone substituted egg replacer or anything else for the egg?
Jolyne says
Hi! I’m planning on making these for my best friend and i noticed in the ingredients section it says “2 T pumpkin pie spice”. I’m wondering, what does the T mean?
Thank you!
Amy Duska says
Hi Jolyne! T stands for tablespoon, but I just changed it in the recipe card for clarification. Thanks for pointing that out as I’m sure that is helpful to everyone! 🙂
Lynn says
Do I need to add Xantham Gum to the recipe? I am using King Arthur’s Gluten Free flour.
Thanks!
Amy Duska says
Hi Lynn! King Arthur gluten-free flour already has xantham gum in the ingredients, so there’s no need to add any to the mix!
Mandy says
Do we add it if it doesn’t have it in the flour already? If so, how much should we add?
Amy Duska says
The general rule is to add 1 teaspoon of xanthan gum per 1 cup of gluten-free flour.
Zoey says
This recipe is good for holidays and Family occasions so thank you for sharing this
Zoey says
This is a good recipe to Mack on thanksg holidays for you and your family
Vanessa says
Thanks for sharing! Does it keep long?
Amy says
They should be good for at least a week stored in an air-tight container. I usually store mine in the fridge. 🙂
Beth says
I made these cookies and they turned out wonderfully! They are light, fluffy, and delicious! All of my coworkers loved them. I used the regular all purpose flour (with gluten) that I already had on the counter and they turned out a very silky, almost cake-y texture. I used the cream cheese icing suggestion, which paired very well! I have downloaded this recipe to make it again!
Amy says
Hi Beth! So glad you enjoyed! 🙂
Ginna Mage says
These are amazing! I used 3 cups of Pamela’s Pancake Baking Mix with 1/2 cup of Pamela’s Artisan Flour and the consistency is absolute perfection. Instead of icing on top I made these into whoppie pies. We are dairy free so I used Daiya cream cheese with 3 cups of powdered sugar and 5 tablespoons of earth balance butter. They were a huge hit…even my gluten friends loved them! I’m actually attempting to make this into a ginormous cookie for a Whoopi’s Pie for my son’s birthday!
Amy says
Hi Ginna! I’m going to share your tip in the post if that’s ok! I’m sure other people would love to know if they are looking for different flours to use in baking. Thank you so much!
Pam says
I have an egg allergy. Do you think Bob’s Red Mill egg replacer would be ok to substitute?
Amy says
Yes I think it would work just fine!
KALEE says
I LOVE THIS RECIPE, I MADE THESE FOR A FRIEND THAT IS VERY ALLERGIC TO GLUTEN AND THEY WHERE A HUGE HIT! BEING THAT NO ONE IN MY HOUSE IS GLUTEN INTOLLERANT HAVE YOU MADE THIS RECIPE WITH REGULAR FLOUR? JUST CURIOUS BEING I DONT ALWAYS HAVE GLUTEN FREE FLOUR IN MY CABNET AND MY WHOLE FAMILY LOVED THEM!
Amy says
I haven’t made these with regular flour, but I need to! I’m pretty sure they would be delicious switching it out.
Tammy says
Can almond flour be used instead of the other flour
Amy says
I think it would be safe to substitute half of the flour with almond flour but I think anymore than that and the cookies won’t be soft. I’ve never baked them with almond flour so this is just a guess. I think they would still be very delicious even if they were more dense or even crunchy from the almond flour!
I don’t experiment a lot with nut flours because I have a son that is allergic to peanuts and tree nuts! (Even though nuts are one of my favorite things in baked goods 🙁 )
Jennifer says
OMG! These were AMAZING! I would have posted a photo, but my kids, their friends and I scarfed them up before I could snap one. (I used Pamela’s All-Purpose, GF, Dairy Free Artisan Blend Flour. It’s the only GF flour I have tried to date without a flavor stealing, seriously dense & mealy texture.)
Amy says
Hi Jennifer! So glad you and your family enjoyed them! They are really addicting 🙂
Shannon says
Donyou think it would be possibly to cut the recipe in half? 5 dozen is a lot of cookies for my family.
Amy says
Yes you can! Or you can make the cookies bigger 🙂
Rebecca says
Great cookie. I used coconut flour and added extra eggs and liquid. I omitted the frosting and added dark chocolate chips. So good thank you!
Amy says
Hi Rebecca, that sounds so good with the dark chocolate chips. I’ve never used coconut flour in this recipe … I need to try it!
Leigh says
Can you freeze these after you bake them?
Amy says
Yes you can. I would wrap them well in plastic wrap, after completely cooled. I would then place the wrapped cookies in a freezer bag for extra protection.
Melissa says
The consistency of these cookies is perfect! Delicious flavor too. I swapped out the frosting because I didn’t care for the flavor of the yogurt version. I did: 8 oz cream cheese (softened), 6 TBSP butter (softened) 1-2 tsp vanilla, and 2 1/2-3 C powdered sugar.
Amy says
Hi Melissa! I just love these cookies too. They are kind of addictive!
P.S. I shared your frosting ingredients in the tip section of the post, just in case someone else doesn’t like the yogurt flavor too! Thanks for sharing 🙂