These Vegan Pumpkin Cookies remind me of fall. Kind of rough around the edges, hazy golden-orange color, cozy, rustic and infused with loads of pumpkin personality - plus a few surprises. Those surprises in these bumpy, blissful cookies include nutty pecans, rolled oats and vegan dark chocolate chips. Give your usual favorite cookie craving a fall makeover by adding in pumpkin!..
OK, side note .. PicMonkey .. have you tried this? So fun!..
..Since I have a tendency to cram TONS of photos in my posts - these PicMonkey collages are quite helpful. Instagram + PicMonkey .. ah, my version of procrastination heaven 🙂
Pumpkin Cookies. The awesome thing about Pumpkin Cookies is that you can really tweak any favorite cookie recipe to include pumpkin. The texture will be different - in a moist - dense - wonderful sort of way. But you could easily update your favorite chocolate chip walnut cookie, peanut butter cookie, ginger cookie, oatmeal raisin cookie, vanilla chocolate chip holiday cookie or even snickerdoodle cookie to use pumpkin.
Pumpkin is quite moist and fibrous, so it partially acts as a vegan egg replacer from the denseness it creates. But most importantly, because pumpkin adds loads of moisture you can use less oil or vegan butter (or even omit it altogether.)
Cookies. Just one more way to get your pumpkin fix this fall.
Nutty Pumpkin Chip Cookies
vegan, makes 18-22 cookies
dry:
1 ¼ cups rolled oats
1 ¼ cup whole wheat or spelt flour (subbing optional)
1 cup sugar, organic
1 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon cinnamon
1 tablespoon baking powder
wet:
⅓ cup water + 1 teaspoon flax seeds + 1 teaspoon chia seeds* (flax/chia egg)
½ teaspoon vanilla extract
1 cup pumpkin puree (canned or homemade - unsweetened)
1 teaspoon cider vinegar
2-4 tablespoon virgin coconut oil (unrefined), melted (or sub veggie oil)
* seeds - you can choose just one seed if needed
fold-in:
½ cup pecans (or walnuts)
¾ cup vegan chocolate chips
Directions:
1. Preheat oven to 375 degrees.
2. Add dry ingredients to large mixing bowl. Stir in wet ingredients. Fold in the “fold ins” until the dough starts to form. into a moist ball.
*flour note: you can substitute with a wide variety of flours - note that you may need to modify liquid to flour ratio just a tad depending on your variety. White flours may need a splash less liquid that heartier flours like whole wheat.
3. Place dough in the fridge or freezer until it firms up a bit - usually 15 minutes will do it.
4. Spoon cookie dough or roll into balls and place onto parchment paper lined or coconut oil greased baking sheet(s).
5. Bake at 375 for about 12 minutes – more or less depending on cookie size and how chilled your dough was. cookies will bind a bit as they cool - so once the edges being to slightly firm up and brown, the cookies are done.
Same dough / different technique. You can either chill the dough first, or just simply spoon it onto your baking sheet in messy clumps. The round balls were my cookies when I chilled the dough. I also tried them without chilling first..
This clumpy version of the cookie is what they look like when you do not chill the dough - spooned cookie dough still in a wet, soft form.
Bunny says
You are such a hateful negative person. Clearly you are unhappy and not open minded at all to vegan alternatives like flax and chia being a egg replacer. you can always tweek the recipe to your taste and add more sweetner or sugar. And this one was great. Maybe your taste buds suck!!!
Folks don't listen to this woman!
Lets pray for her instead 🙂
Much Love from Georgia
Kathy Patalsky says
Thanks Bunny! Totally missed that vey negative comment, thank goodness. Ugh delete and move on, yes? 😉 thanks for the kindness and awesomeness from you
Jessica Smith says
I've made these cookies at least 4 times and they come out amazing every time. Making them again right now. Maybe you're just a bad baker.
Sharon says
These are delish! Made a few slight changes...less baking powder (was caught with too much in previous recipes so am careful now!), also dIdn't add the flax or chia seeds. Did put dough in freezer...great idea! Made them a bit larger so took longer to cook! And got 26 cookies! Awesome! My hubby loves them!
7iThor says
Excellent cookies! Delicious and very soft.
Kathy Patalsky says
I would use 2 tsp but to be honest, 1-2 will easily suffice.
Matthew says
If I were to opt out of using flax seeds and used only chia seeds, would I need 2 tsps of them or just the 1 tsp? 🙂
Kathy Patalsky says
Hi Paula, yes if you eat eggs you could use in place if the flax. Flax + water is my goto egg replacer of choice for baking
Paula Bear says
hi there! really interested in making these. wondering though which ingredients are necessity and which are optional (wondering if I need to make a trip to the grocery store or not). I have all of the dry ingredients.
first question - are the flax and chia seeds just for replacing an egg? Im vegan with the exception of local free range eggs.. and I also use bananas in my baking a lot to replace eggs. I currently do not have chia seeds and im not sure if my flax seeds are still any good.
also, I do not have vanilla extract or cider vinegar.
I do have nutmeg to add a little flavor.. I used that along with cinnamon in some pumpkin muffins I made last night.
Thanks so much. These cookies look amazing!!
-paula
Victoria says
just made these guys - oooooh yum! on the cakey side, but love. didn't have any chocolate so put in some cranberries and sunflower seeds instead. delicious! thanks for all the pumpkin inspiration 🙂
Kathy Patalsky says
I love enjoy life brand. But any semisweet variety is usually vegan too. (Just check the label to be sure.) trader joes has semisweet and so do a few gourmet brands. Hope that helps! 🙂 thanks for reading!!
Farial says
Hi Kathy! Love your blog, all of the recipes I've made have been amazing. What type of vegan chocolate chips do you use? I haven't been able to find the Whole Foods brand vegan ones in a couple months that I loved. Thank you! xo
Dana Shultz says
Dying over here!!
Kathy Patalsky says
Thanks Alex glad you like them! 🙁
Alex L says
These are the best cookies I've ever done! Omgggg! Fresh out of the oven, they are so delicious. I added vegan white chocolat chips and this isperfect. Thank you!!!
Courtney says
I have been meaning to make protein balls for a while and after making these cookies yesterday (they were delicious), I decided to use this as a starting point for my protein balls! Using this recipe, the change I made was instead of 1 1/4 cup of flour, i used 1 1/4 cup of vanilla protein instead!
Since I used Vanilla Vega Sport protein and it is already very sweet, I actually omitted the 1 cup sugar altogether! I baked at 350 for 10 minutes.
Thanks so much for this recipe! I loved the cookies as well as the 'protein ball' version I made!
Krisan says
Eating one now, fresh out of the oven! I used 1/2 c sugar, but drizzled a little maple syrup into the batter and topped each with a sprinkle of sugar before baking. The texture is so silky, these are delicious!
Lori says
These are SO good! LOVE them!!! Thanks for the recipe! I made them with 1/2 cup of sugar and they were just perfect!
Kathy Patalsky says
Brown sugar is a tad thicker, but it will prob be fine. If too thick add extra splash of liquid.
Stephanie says
Can I use brown sugar in place of sugar for the cookies?
Kathy Patalsky says
Cranberries, yum! So glad you liked them 🙂
Christine says
I absolutely LOVE your blog, thank you so much for all the delicious vegan recipes and gorgeous pictures! I made these cookies today and did half choc chips and half cranberries and they came out amazing!
spicytofu says
I made these again tonight using organic spelt flour and 1 cup sugar. These are different than the ones I baked a little over a week ago, and they came out very, very good! I included the fold-ins (chopped pecans and chocolate chips), and I am very happy with the texture and taste. So does my lovely half. Thanks for the recipe!
Kelsey says
Made these last weekend and they were amazing!! A few of my friends are very skeptical of the whole vegan things and they ate more of them than me! However, the batter tasted way more "pumpkiny" than the actual cookies. Any suggestions for pumping up the pumpkin flavor? I'm reluctant to just add spices and more pumpkin willy-nilly.
Abbie says
BEST COOKIES EVER. Period. I only put in 1/2 c of sugar. They are amazing!
Ellen Reid says
Ooo, what size can of pumpkin? Or approx cup measure of pumpkin?
Can't wait to try them out.
spicytofu says
I made these cookies and they tasted OK. The pictures look great, but I think the spelt flour would be better than the whole wheat flour (which is what I used). They don't look as nice as yours, however.
Kathy Patalsky says
And thanks so much! 🙂
Kathy Patalsky says
Canon 7d + variety of lenses
Sam says
What kind of camera do you use? Such lovely photos! c:
Natalie Rivera says
Do you have a Pumpkin Chocolate cookie recipe with out the flax, oats etc?
Katie says
New to your blog and love it! When adding to other recipes, can we just add any amount of pumpkin. Will the cookies stay together or do we need to adjust the recipe?
Leslie says
I just made these and they were delicious!! I used cooked red kuri squash and pepitas instead of pumpkin and walnuts. Thanks for a delicious fall recipe.
ahintofhealthy.blogspot.com says
Oh my gosh!! These look incredible! I love pumpkin in cookies and can't wait to try these!
kerry.ajohnson says
These look delicious! I love pumpkin in cookies. It gives the best cakey, moist texture. I always like my cookies less sweet, so I think I'll cut down on the sugar, and I might use cocoa nibs instead of chocolate chips.
kelsey says
These look awesome! Could you freeze, slice, then bake them?
The Raw Serenity says
I love the look and sound of these babies!
Then again I'm bias to everything pumpkin 🙂
Kathy Patalsky says
Seeds would be a great sub. Or maybe even dried fruit too. Chopped dried apples or golden raisins?
Kathy Patalsky says
Yes yes. 🙂 I went with hardcore sweet cookies, but lowering the sugar will work for sure.
Nicole says
Would these still work if I cut the sugar in half? I think the chocolate chips will make these sweet enough!
Kimberly says
Any ideas for substitutions for the nuts? Maybe pumpkin seeds? I'd love to include these in my kids' lunches for school but they're not allowed to bring anything with nuts to school.
Genevieve says
Beautiful! Tks for using the flax seed "eggs" and not some egg replacer, much more healthier that way. Just new to your blog, love it!
Kathy Patalsky says
Thank you!
Kathy Patalsky says
I do not - but yes both ways will work.
John Hartil says
Sweet!!!
Morgan says
Just wondering - do you grind the flax seeds before adding to the water? I noticed the same thing on your blueberry cake recipe and have tried it both ways with success.
Sara says
Holy yum! These look and sound amazing.
Clémence Moulaert says
Hmm, you've read my mind! I'm having such intense autumn-themed cookie cravings right now. Your photos are stunning.
Ksenija @ With An Open Mind says
Those little orange dollops look delicious! I love to include pumpkin into baking. Might try this ones with a little less sugar 😉