Soft Pumpkin Cookies with Cream Cheese Frosting

Big, soft pumpkin cookies, filled with the perfect amount of pumpkin and spice, and just sweet enough to let the cream cheese frosting be the star. They’re gluten-free and egg-free, making them perfect for sharing.They’re the kind of cookie that will make you want to throw on a flannel, grab a seat on the porch with a cup of coffee on a cool fall day, and enjoy the heck out of every single bite. These Soft Pumpkin Cookies with Cream Cheese Frosting have fall written all of them!

Holidays or any day – these soft pumpkin cookies with cream cheese frosting are a winner.

Seriously, these cookies are beyond scrumptious and that’s not always easy to say about gluten-free baked goods made without eggs!

I currently have about two dozen of these cookies and a handful of pumpkin blondies in my freezer ready to be enjoyed. In fact, I’m enjoying one as I write this post. They freeze beautifully and it’s nice to have a few in the freezer for an occasional treat or impromptu cup of coffee when a friend drops by for a visit.

Making these Soft Pumpkin Cookies gluten-free and egg-free makes them suitable for a wide range of special diets and gives them the perfect texture. You can also feel free to dust them with extra pumpkin pie spice or add a few naturally-colored sprinkles.

Less sugar but all the flavor and fun.

Wondering how these gluten-free, soft pumpkin cookies with cream cheese frosting stack up to other recipes of this kind? Our recipe dang near halves the amount of sugar found in those brightly-colored disks of sweetness.

So while not exactly a ‘health food’ (they are a treat, after all) these are cookies that I can feel good about making for family and friends. One taste and I think you’ll agree — they’re light and fluffy, perfectly spiced and frosted in the most delicious, creamy cream cheese frosting. Make a batch today and see for yourself just how good they really are!

Ingredients for Soft Pumpkin Cookies with Cream Cheese Frosting

Cookie Ingredients:

• Flax meal – this recipe relies on a mixture of flax meal and water to simulate the function of eggs (a binder) without making the cookies puffy or cake-y.
• Gluten-free all-purpose baking flour – such as Bob’s Red Mill Gluten-free 1:1 Baking Flour (our favorite).
• Cane sugar – while this recipe could probably be made with a refined sugar-free sweetener like coconut sugar or date sugar, we wanted to keep this recipe simple, budget-friendly, and made with easy to find ingredients. After all, they are a treat.
• Pumpkin pie spice – use a pumpkin pie spice blend or use a combination of cinnamon, cloves, ginger, and allspice.
• Baking powder
• Salt – omit the salt in the dough if using salted butter
• Unsalted butter – for the cookie portion of the recipe, you want the butter to be cold and straight from the fridge.
• Pumpkin puree – be sure to use pumpkin puree and not pumpkin pie filling. No pumpkin? try mashed butternut squash – you’ll hardly know the difference!
• Vanilla extract

Frosting Ingredients:

• Unsalted butter – for the frosting portion of the recipe, you want the butter softened.
• Cream cheese – you’ll also want the cream cheese softened.
• Vanilla extract
• Pumpkin pie spice 
• Powdered sugar – this recipe calls for 1 cup of sugar. If you want to make the frosting less sweet and reduce the sugar, feel free to use 1/2 of a cup.

How to make these scrumptious, Gluten Free Pumpkin Cookies

• Step1: Preheat the oven to 400℉. Line 2 large baking sheets with parchment paper and set aside.
• Step 2: make the flax eggs, if using, by combining flax meal and water in a small bowl, whisking to mix, and allow to rest 8-10 minutes until a gel forms.
• Step 3: In a large bowl add flour, sugar, pumpkin pie spice, baking powder, and sea salt. Whisk to combine well.
• Step 4: Using a pastry blender or 2 knives, cut chilled butter into the dry mixture until it resembles coarse crumbs.
• Step 5: Add the wet ingredients (flax mixture, pumpkin, and vanilla) to the dry mixture then stir with a large spoon until the dough forms into a ball. Pro tip: we like to work the dough into a ball with clean hands). The dough should be smooth to the touch (maybe a tad sticky). If the dough is too wet and sticky, add a little more flour and stir again.
• Step 6: Roll dough into 24 golf ball-sized pieces using lightly floured hands and a light touch. Place 8 balls on each of the 2 baking sheets.
• Step 7: Gently flatten each ball of dough so that it’s about ¼-inch thick and 2 ½-inches in diameter.
• Step 8: Place both pans in the oven and bake for 10-12 minutes or until the bottoms are lightly browned and the tops of the cookies are set – rotating the pans back to front (spin them) and top to bottom halfway through cooking time.
• Step 9: Remove from the oven and allow to cool slightly before using a spatula to carefully remove the cookies to a wire race. Cool completely before frosting.

How to make Cream Cheese Frosting

1. Place softened butter, cream cheese, and vanilla in a medium bowl (or bowl of a stand mixer).
2. Beat until well combined. Add powdered sugar and pumpkin pie spice and continue to beat at high speed until fluffy.
3. Spread frosting on cooled cookies and dust with additional pumpkin pie spice or sprinkles

How to store Soft Pumpkin Cookies with Cream Cheese Frosting

Place the cooled cookies in an airtight container and store in the fridge for up to 10 days. I like to separate the rows with a piece of parchment paper so that the frosting stays smooth. With that said,  the frosting might smush a little so if you do not plan to enjoy these or serve them the day they are baked, I recommend freezing them.

How to freeze these Healthy Pumpkin Cookies

These are great for stashing in the freezer for when you’re craving something a little sweet or you have an unexpected visitor pop in. They also make for a great last-minute food gift!

To freeze: You can freeze this recipe frosted OR unfrosted: we’ve done it both ways! Whether they’re frosted or not, I like to first place them on a tray in a single layer and place them in the freezer. Once frozen, transfer them to an airtight container and freeze for up to 3 months. By doing a “flash freeze” in a single layer first, you’ll prevent them from sticking together and make it easier to remove just what you need when the time comes.

How to make a flax egg

Flax eggs make for a great, budget-friendly, egg-free/vegan alternative in baked goods. Our rule of thumb is that if a recipe calls for 2 or fewer eggs, there is a good chance you could substitute flax egg/s for the eggs in the recipe.

To make a flax egg, for every one egg you combine:

1 tablespoon of flax meal (ground flaxseeds) + 3 tablespoons of water and let it sit for 10 minutes or until a gel, egg-like consistency forms. These Soft Pumpkin Cookies call for 2 flax eggs, so that equals 2 tablespoons of flax meal with 6 tablespoons of water. This is the formula that has worked best for us.

Can I use eggs instead of flax eggs?

After testing these cookies with whole eggs and all-purpose four, the consensus was that the texture of the cookies using flax meal and gluten-free was the clear winner. If substituting two eggs for the flax meal and water, the flour will need to be increased to accommodate the larger volume of liquid from the eggs and the texture will be more cake-like.

Other gluten-free pumpkin recipes to try

• Pumpkin Breakfast Cookies
• Pumpkin Baked Oatmeal with Toasted Pecans
• Healthy Baked Pumpkin Donuts
• Slow Cooker Pumpkin Brownies

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