Perfectly sweet and seasonally spiced Vegan Pumpkin Chocolate Chip Cookies. Quick to make in one bowl with no chill time, they are soft and chewy on the inside, crunchy on the outside and not cakey!
We’re celebrating pumpkin season with lots of vegan pumpkin recipes, including these super soft and chewy Vegan Pumpkin Chocolate Chip Cookies!
Seasonally spiced and perfectly sweet, these pumpkin cookies make a great fall dessert, snack or mid-afternoon treat. Like my vegan pumpkin muffins, they are a great option for when you need to make something quick and easy to take to a holiday celebration or you have friends or family coming to visit at short notice and want to make the house smell amazing!
Ingredients
Here's what you'll be needing to make Vegan Pumpkin Chocolate Chip Cookies:
And a few ingredient notes:
- Pumpkin purée- Canned or homemade. Don’t use pumpkin pie filling or the cookies will be way over-sweetened/seasoned. Squash puree also works.
- Pumpkin spice - Sometimes called pumpkin pie spice. For that seasonal fall flavor! You can buy pumpkin spice online or at most grocery stores, or make your own blend from spices you probably already have in your pantry. Details for how to do that are in the FAQs.
- Ground flaxseed - The secret ingredient that will bind everything together and give these cookies the perfect cookie texture. Don't try using anything else. I tested this recipe every which way and flax really is the best option.
- Baking soda - Not baking powder. This is really important in this recipe because cakey cookies are not good. Baking soda delays the setting process which means your cookies will spread perfectly and it also speeds up the Maillard reaction. This means your cookies will brown better, taste better and have the perfect cookie crispy, soft and chewy cookie texture.
- Vegan butter - A harder vegan butter like my vegan butter recipe or Earth Balance works much better than softer more margarine style ones like the tub Becel/Flora. You can also use vegan brown butter for even more amazing flavor. Just be sure to make it and give it time to set before using.
- Sugar - It's important to keep the quantity exact for the cookies to spread and have the best texture. White granulated or cane sugar works better than brown sugar in this recipe.
- Vegan chocolate chips - I have been loving the Enjoy Life Mega Chunks for this recipe but any dairy-free chocolate chips will do.
Success Tip - I highly recommend weighing the ingredients with a digital scale for the best results. The balance of flour to fat has to be absolutely spot-on for cookies to turn out perfectly and cups are not an accurate measure. If you absolutely have to use cups, aerate the flour with a fork, then spoon it gently into the cup without compacting it or shaking down, then level the top with a knife. Do not scoop the flour up into the cup or you will end up using WAY more than intended.
How To Make Vegan Pumpkin Chocolate Chip Cookies
Let's make vegan pumpkin cookies! Here's how:
- Blot the pumpkin on some kitchen paper to soak the excess moisture out. This is really important and stops the cookies from becoming "cakey".
- Cream the butter and sugar together in a large bowl or a stand mixer.
- Add the dry ingredients and vanilla, then the pumpkin, to the butter and mix together to form the cookie dough then add the dark chocolate chips.
- Scoop balls of dough out onto a lined baking sheet then bake, making sure to bang the cookie tray part way through cooking as per the details instructions in the recipe.
Enjoy your delicious cookies with a glass of cold almond milk!
Success Tip - Trust me: the tray dropping/tapping trick really works! You may feel crazy while you’re doing it, but it’s for the sake of the best cookies ever! I got the cookie banging idea from The New York Times although my technique is simplified a bit.
Recipe FAQs
Make your own blend to keep in the pantry. Combine:
4 teaspoons ground cinnamon, 2 teaspoons ground ginger, 1 teaspoon ground cloves and ½ teaspoon ground nutmeg. Add to a jar, seal it and give it a good shake to mix everything together. Use whenever pumpkin spice is called for in a recipe.
Yes. Scoop out balls of cookie dough onto a lined baking tray. Place the whole tray in the freezer until the cookie dough balls are hard, then transfer them to a freezer bag or freezer-safe container. They will keep for up to 2 months. When it’s time to bake, remove the cookie dough from the freezer, place on a lined baking tray, and cook as per the instructions but add on an extra minute or two. Don't defrost it.
Yes they do spread while baking. You do not need to squash the cookie dough down on the baking sheet. Just scoop them out and leave the oven to do the work.
If you try this recipe, let me know how you like it by leaving a comment and rating below! And be sure to join my mailing list for more deliciousness!
Recipe Video
Recipe
Vegan Pumpkin Chocolate Chip Cookies
Author:Ingredients
- ½ cup + 2 tablespoons (135 grams) vegan butter , slightly softened
- ½ cup (100 grams) sugar , cane or granulated white
- 1 cup (125 grams) all purpose flour , (plain flour in the UK)
- 3 tablespoons (17 grams) ground flax seed , (don't use anything else. It's crucial for the texture)
- ⅓ cup (80 grams) pumpkin puree , not pumpkin pie filling
- 1 teaspoon pumpkin spice , (see the FAQs for alternative)
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- ¼ teaspoon fine sea salt
- ½ teaspoon baking soda , (bicarbonate of soda in the UK)
- ¾ cup (135 grams) dairy-free chocolate chips
RECOMMENDED EQUIPMENT
INSTRUCTIONS
- Preheat oven to 350° F (176 °C) and line a baking tray with parchment paper or a silicone baking mat.
- Take some kitchen paper or a clean lint-free dish towel (that you don't mind getting stained), and spoon the pumpkin puree onto one side of it. Spread it out quite thin with a spoon then fold the paper towel or dish towel over the top. Press down on it a bit to encourage the liquid from it to absorb then set aside and leave it for a few minutes. This step is important to remove excess moisture from the pumpkin puree.
- To a mixing bowl add the softened butter and sugar. Mix together until combined.
- Add the flour, ground flax, pumpkin spice, vanilla, salt and baking soda to the bowl.
- With a metal spoon, scrape the pumpkin puree off the kitchen paper and add to the bowl. Mix everything together then add the chocolate chips and gently fold them through.
- No chilling of the dough is required so you can bake right away. Using a lever ice cream scoop or a cookie scoop, scoop out the dough onto the prepared baking tray leaving them at least 3 inches apart. My scoop holds 3 tablespoons of cookie dough. If yours is significantly different your cookies could take more or less time to cook so adjust accordingly.
- Bake in the preheated oven for 7 minutes then lift the tray (using oven gloves) a good 4 inches above the oven shelf and let it fall with a bang back onto the shelf. This will knock the air out of the cookies and improve the texture. Bake for another 6 to 7 minutes until just starting to get a golden hint around the edges.
- Remove from the oven and give the tray a really sharp tap on either the oven shelf, the stovetop or a cutting board, then allow the cookies to cool on the tray.
Caitlyn says
I'm out of butter but would like to make them today without running to the store. Has anyone tried oil and how much did you use?
Melanie McDonald says
Good cookies with perfect spread and texture can be really tricky so if you use oil don't expect perfect results. Vegan butter is only 60-70% fat. Oil is 100% fat. This will affect the chemistry of the recipe. It would take some trial and error. It would be so much easier to use vegan butter or find a recipe that already uses oil if you want great results first time round. Do you have the ingredients needed to make my butter recipe? That would solve your problem! https://avirtualvegan.com/easy-vegan-butter/
Janet says
These cookies are delicious (and taste a little bit like Autumn :-).
They were easy to make and it was kind of funny to work on baking them while talking to my mom long-distance: "I've got to drop the pan now...."
No doubt, I'll be baking them again.
Melanie McDonald says
Ha ha! So pleased you enjoyed them!
Carol says
Hi there,
We were wondering if the pumpkin is measured before or after the excess water has been removed?
We are making them right now and did the measuring before spreading out the pumpkin puree.
Many thanks!
Melanie McDonald says
Before.
Christina says
Any healthier subs for butter?
Jill says
I am not a lover of sweet spices so I left it out altogether, they were still great!