Pumpkin Chocolate Chip Cookies are melt-in-your mouth soft, easy to make, and secretly healthy. This treat is full of pumpkin flavor and is gluten-free, vegan, and Paleo. This recipe will become a new favorite for the Fall and Thanksgiving season!
Want a few other healthy pumpkin recipes? You might also enjoy these Healthy Pumpkin Muffins, these Paleo Pumpkin Pancakes, and this Coconut Flour Pumpkin Bread.
Testing The Recipe
There are a few friends in my life who are rather honest with me when it comes to critiquing recipes.
Because of this, I decided to bring over the few test batches of these pumpkin chocolate chip cookies.
I can handle an obscene amount of fall spice flavor – well beyond the average Jane.
And on the flip side, Cohl cannot STAND anything with too much cinnamon and spice. (WHAT?!?)
Also, I had already burnt out my taste buds distinguishing between recipes. I needed some fresh taste buds to tell me their opinion.
So I loaded up the two test batches of these light and fluffy cookies:
Test Batch #1: Some made with coconut flour and almond flour.
Test Batch #2: Some made with cassava flour.
It was time to do a little taste testing!!
Healthy Pumpkin Cookies Recipe Results
While I will admit, the first round of cassava flour cookies were definitely not the best. Although, I did make another batch later that turned out fabulous.
It was unanimously decided that the coconut and almond flour pumpkin cookies recipe was the winner.
The cassava flour ones rose beautifully and looked gorgeous. However, they lacked a bit of flavor.
Whereas the almond and coconut flour pumpkin puree cookies were perfectly chewy AND tasted incredible.
How to Make
Now that we have a clear winner, how exactly do you make a healthy pumpkin chocolate chip cookie recipe?
If you do a bit of Paleo and gluten-free baking you probably have all of these ingredients.
However, if you can still easily find the ingredients if you are a newbie to this Paleo and vegan world. Almost all of the ingredients needed in this recipe can be found on Amazon or at your local specialty grocery store.
Steps: (See recipe card for more in-depth information and ingredient amounts.)
- Preheat your oven to 350 degrees.
- Whisk together the wet ingredients.
- Pumpkin puree, coconut oil (or vegetable oil), maple syrup, a flax egg, and vanilla extract.
- Toss together your dry ingredients.
- Tapioca starch, almond and coconut flour, baking soda, coconut sugar, and salt.
- Combine the wet and dry ingredients together with the semi sweet chocolate chips.
- Place the cookies on a baking sheet with parchment paper or a baking mat.
- Bake in preheated oven for about 12 minutes.
- Place on wire racks to cool before serving.
You might also enjoy these Paleo pumpkin recipes: Paleo Pumpkin Pancakes, Coconut Flour Pumpkin Bread, and these Paleo Pumpkin Muffins.
Ingredients
IngredientsWhat ingredients will you need for this delicious Fall dessert?
- Pumpkin Puree – You can either choose to make your own homemade pumpkin puree or use a canned kind instead!
- Almond flour – Please, please be sure to get Bob’s Red Mill blanched and super fine almond flour. Other almond flour brands may have a texture that is too gritty.
- Coconut flour – Most coconut flours are pretty similar so you can pick up whatever you happen to find in your store.
- Arrowroot starch – Tapioca flour will work as a good substitute here, too. I would not recommend using corn starch, though!
- Flax egg – This is necessary if you want to make these vegan. However, you can always use a regular egg in this recipe instead.
- Coconut oil – Vegetable oil will also work if you’re dairy-free. Or, you can also use butter if you are not vegan.
- Pumpkin Pie Spice – I found this blend tasted WAY better than the normal spices. However, feel free to substitute cinnamon, nutmeg, and a pinch of cloves instead.
- Paleo Chocolate Chips – If you are not dairy, grain, gluten, or soy-free you can use regular semi sweet chocolate chips.
Kitchen Tools and Utensils Needed
There are not too many unique kitchen gadgets needed to make this recipe.
A few items you probably already have, but may want to double check, include:
- Large baking sheet
- Parchment paper – They will slide right off when they are done baking!
- Two large bowls
- A handheld mixer, stand mixer, or a good spoon/spatula.
How Can You Evolve This Recipe
These are already free of glutens, grains, dairy, soy, and refined sugar. There are a few tweaks and changes you can make:
- If you do not have coconut oil or are not dairy-free, feel free to use butter.
- Add in some nuts such as pecans or walnuts to give them a bit of a crunch.
- Swap out the Paleo chocolate chips for milk or white chocolate chips.
- Feel free to use honey or agave nectar in place of the maple syrup. (The cookies will taste a bit different!)
- Make a Pumpkin Chocolate Chip Cookie Bread or Oatmeal Chocolate Chip Cookies instead!
Want More Gluten-Free Dessert Recipes?
Paleo Chocolate Chip Cookies with Pecans
No Bake Pumpkin Pie Balls | Gluten Free, Vegan
Almond Flour Chocolate Chip Cookies
The Best Grain-Free Vegan Pumpkin Pie
Gluten-Free Chocolate Chip Cookies
Pumpkin Chocolate Chip Cookies | Vegan, Paleo
Pumpkin Chocolate Chip Cookies are melt-in-your mouth soft, so easy to whip up, and made healthy by using gluten-free flours, dairy-free and vegan coconut oil, and Paleo chocolate chips!
Ingredients
- 1 cup almond flour blanched, super fine
- ¼ cup coconut flour
- ¼ cup arrowroot starch
- ½ cup coconut sugar
- ½ tsp. baking soda
- ¼ tsp. salt
- 1 ¼ tsp. pumpkin pie spice
- ¼ cup coconut oil melted
- ½ cup pumpkin puree homemade or canned
- ¼ cup maple syrup pure
- 1 flax egg*
- 1 ½ t. vanilla extract
- ¾ cup chocolate chips Paleo approved
Instructions
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Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
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In a medium-large mixing bowl whisk together almond flour, coconut flour, arrowroot starch, coconut sugar, baking soda, salt, and pumpkin pie spice.
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In a separate large mixing bowl combine melted coconut oil, pumpkin puree, maple syrup, flax egg, and vanilla extract. Mix with a handheld or stand mixer on medium speed for 1 minute or until well combined.
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Add dry ingredients into wet ingredients and mix at medium speed for 1 minute.
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Stir in chocolate chips by hand.
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Line a baking sheet with parchment paper and place 1 ½ tablespoons-sized balls of cookie dough 2 inches apart. Press balls of dough down until the dough is about ¾ inch thick. (Cookies will not spread too much, so this step will help you make the shape of the finished cookies you want!)
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Bake in preheated oven for 12-14 minutes or until cookies are done.
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Let cookies sit at room temperature until completely cooled before serving.
Recipe Notes
*1 Tbsp. ground flaxseed meal + 2 ½ Tbsp. warm water. Whisk and let sit for at least 10 minutes before using.
Cookies keep well for 3-4 days at room temperature in an open container and up to 5 days in the refrigerator.
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Lisal says
How could I make these with less carbs. Would just replacing the Syrup and sugar with monk fruit be enough? Thx. Love these
London says
Great question! I haven’t personally tried this, but you should be able to replace the syrup for the monk fruit. I wouldn’t recommend substituting the sugar with it, though – the cookies may come out super thin due to the added liquid!
Megan says
These cookies are amazing!!! Love, love, love the flavor & texture. Popped them in the fridge for a few before baking since the batter is pretty wet and it worked perfectly. Will be making a double batch next time! 🙂
London says
Yay! So happy you enjoyed the cookies, Megan! Thanks so much for your comment and rating!!
Denise says
I cut down on the sugar a little bit as well as the maple syrup and the cookies were absolutely delicious! My favourite cookie recipe by far! Thank you for posting!
London says
Yay, Denise! I’m so happy to hear you enjoyed the cookies so much. Thanks for your comment and rating! 🙂
Whitney says
I used an egg instead of the flax egg and they turned out beautifully – light and fluffy!! Thank you ☺️
London says
Yay, Whitney! So happy you enjoy the recipe. Thanks so much for your comment and rating 🙂
Michelle Scalzo says
Hello, I am making these pumpkin chocolate chip cookies now, but my batter is wet, so I cannot ball up. I followed recipe exactly. Did I melt the coconut oil too much? Please let me know your thoughts.
Thank you. Michelle
London says
Yes, the coconut oil might be a bit too runny! Try refrigerating the dough for 30 minutes and see if it firms up! Hope this helps 🙂
Natalie says
Wow these were so delish! I didn’t have any arrowroot starch so I did indeed have to substitute corn starch despite the precaution, yet I had no problems! I folded some chopped walnuts into the batter as well and it just added to the goodness! Yum! Would make these again! Thanks!
London says
Hi Natalie!! So so happy you enjoyed the cookies and am glad the cornstarch worked out for you. Thanks for letting me know! The walnuts sound like a great addition, too!! (My hubby will agree with you that a cookie isn’t complete without nuts LOL) Thanks so much for your comment and rating 🙂
Jenn says
Do you use coconut sugar or maple syrup for these cookies?
London says
Hi Jenn! I actually use a bit of both! Gives them a bit of maple flavor while still having a fluffy texture.
Kate says
Have you tried freezing the dough?? Any idea how long it would keep?
London says
Hi Kate!! I have not tried freezing this exact recipe, but I am sure it will freeze well for up to 4-6 months. Make sure you freeze the dough as balls in a single layer first, then you can take them off of the tray and place in a freezer-grade ziplock back. One word of caution for this recipe: if you freeze the cookie dough make sure it is COMPLETELY defrosted before baking and give them a good “smush” before popping them into the oven. You want the shape of the cookie dough to be very similar to what you want your finished cookie to look like! Thanks for your question, Kate. Happy cookie making!! 🙂
Sam says
How would I substitute the almond flour for pure coconut flour? My husband is allergic to tree nuts (almonds,etc). These look delicious!
Thank you,
Sam
London says
Hi Sam!! So I actually made this recipe using 1 1/4 cup cassava flour in place of the coconut flour, almond flour, and starch and then bumped up the pumpkin puree to 2/3 cup. Bake them for 12 minutes at 350 degrees. It worked out pretty great!
Anonymous says
These cookies are a great idea for Fall!
London says
They totally are!!
pat marino says
may I please substitute the coconut oil for earth balance vegan butter.
thank you pat.
London says
Hi Pat! That’s a great question. I have not personally tried it, but I am sure they will turn out great! Just make sure you use the “sticks” instead of the “tub”. Would love to know how they turn out for you!