These vegan pumpkin spice cookies are soft, fluffy, and packed with warm pumpkin spice flavour. Made with pumpkin puree and simple ingredients, they're an easy fall bake topped with sweet icing for the perfect finishing touch.
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You really know that autumn has hit when pumpkin spiced lattes hit the cafes. This year I had a delicious vegan pumpkin spice cookie in a cafe and I knew I just had to attempt to re-create the recipe at home.
If you love pumpkin spice, check out my pumpkin pie spice mix recipe or this delicious vegan pumpkin cake.
Why You'll Love These Cookies
If you love pumpkin spice, these cookies are such a fun way to enjoy those classic autumn flavours in something a little different from the usual pumpkin pie or loaf cake. They're incredibly soft and fluffy, almost like the top of a muffin, with plenty of pumpkin spice flavour and a sweet icing on top.
They're also made with pumpkin puree, which keeps the cookies wonderfully soft while adding plenty of pumpkin flavour. You can use canned pumpkin puree or make your own with fresh pumpkin, making these a great recipe to have around throughout the fall.
They're perfect for enjoying with a cup of coffee, taking along to a fall gathering, or baking when you want something cosy and homemade without a complicated recipe.
Ingredients
This recipe calls for soft brown sugar, which helps to give the cookies a caramel-y flavour. The combination of spices gives the perfect pumpkin spice mix and the pumpkin puree binds the mixture together and imparts a natural pumpkin flavour.
You can use canned pumpkin puree or homemade pumpkin puree in this recipe. If you have leftover pumpkin from Halloween, cook and puree the flesh, then freeze it in individual portions to use later. Thaw frozen pumpkin puree in the refrigerator before using.
You will need...
For the cookies:
- vegan butter (I like Flora Plant block)
- soft light brown sugar
- pumpkin puree (fresh or tinned)
- vanilla extract
- ground cinnamon
- ground ginger
- ground nutmeg
- plain flour (all purpose flour)
- baking powder
- bicarbonate of soda
- salt
For the icing:
- icing sugar (powdered sugar)
- plant-based milk
For exact quantities see the recipe card below.
Instructions
Preheat the oven to 180°C and line a baking sheet with greaseproof paper.
Beat the vegan butter and brown sugar together, then mix in the pumpkin purée and vanilla extract. Add the flour, bicarbonate of soda, baking powder, spices and salt, mixing until a soft dough forms.
Mix the dough until everything is well combined. It will be stickier than regular cookie dough, but don't worry! You can dampen your hands with a little water to make it easier to handle.
Divide the dough into 20 small balls and place them on the prepared baking tray. Gently press each ball down into a cookie shape, then bake for 13-15 minutes until slightly risen and just starting to brown.
Leave the cookies to cool on the baking tray for 10-15 minutes, then transfer to a wire rack. Sift the icing sugar into a bowl and gradually stir in the non-dairy milk until smooth. Once the cookies are completely cool, drizzle with icing and enjoy!
📖 Recipe
Vegan Pumpkin Cookies
- Total Time: 25 minutes
- Yield: 20 cookies 1x
- Diet: Vegan
Description
These vegan pumpkin spice cookies are a pure flavour eruption of sweet, spicy, pumpkin delight when you bite into them. They are very simple to prepare so they are definitely an ideal fall treat.
Ingredients
200g vegan butter
200g soft light brown sugar
160g pumpkin puree
2 tsp vanilla extract
3 tsp ground cinnamon
2 tsp ground ginger
½ tsp ground nutmeg
400g plain flour
2 tsp baking powder
½ tsp bicarbonate of soda
Pinch of salt
For the icing:
75g icing sugar
1 Tbsp plant-based milk
Instructions
Pre-heat the oven to 180 degrees Celsius.
Line a baking tray with a silicone baking sheet or greaseproof paper.
Beat together the butter and sugar. Stir in the pumpkin puree and vanilla extract. In a separate bowl sieve the cinnamon, ginger, nutmeg, flour, baking powder, salt and bicarbonate of soda together and mix to combine. Add the dry ingredients to the wet ingredients and combine. The mixture might be a bit sticky.
Roll into 20 small balls and press down into cookie shapes.
Bake for 12-15 minutes or until just starting to turn brown.
Leave to cool on the tray for a couple of minutes before transferring to a wire rack to cool completely.
When completely cool make the icing by sifting the icing sugar and adding plant based milk slowly until it is the right consistency to drizzle off a spoon. You may need slightly more or less milk than the recipe states. Once the cookies are completely cool you can drizzle the icing across the top of them.
Substitutions and Variations
Make them gluten-free
Use a good-quality gluten-free all-purpose flour blend in place of the plain flour to make these vegan pumpkin spice cookies gluten-free. Results can vary between flour blends, so you may need to make small adjustments to the liquid if the dough seems too dry.
Try different sweeteners
You can replace the soft brown sugar with coconut sugar for a slightly different flavour. The brown sugar does give these cookies their lovely caramel-like flavour, so keep that in mind when making the swap.
Add oats or almond flour
You can swap out some of the flour for oats or almond flour. Try starting with replacing a third of the flour content. Bear in mind you might need to adjust the liquid content in turn. Vegan pumpkin oatmeal cookies are really delicious though so definitely worth a go!
Add chocolate chips
You may well have noticed that pumpkin spice and chocolate make an excellent pairing, so you could consider adding chocolate chips to the mix for delicious vegan pumpkin chocolate chip cookies.
Add cream cheese icing
You could also ice these cookies with a spiced cream cheese icing. Try the cream cheese frosting recipe from my vegan carrot cake and add half a teaspoon of pumpkin spice mix to it. Use a piping bag to create a pattern with the icing.
Equipment
You don't need any specialist equipment to make these cookies - a stand mixer or electric beater might make the job easier but it is not essential. A good quality flat baking tray and a silicone liner as well as a cooling rack are good ideas though. If you want to create perfect cookies with a fancy icing using cream cheese icing you will also need a piping bag.
Top tip
These cookies are a great way to use up pumpkin discarded when you carve pumpkins for Halloween. Make homemade pumpkin puree from the discarded pumpkin by steaming it a little and blending until smooth. Don't forget you can also save the seeds too - they are delicious toasted!
Frequently Asked Questions
How long do these pumpkin spice cookies keep for?
The easiest way to keep the remaining vegan pumpkin spice cookies is in an airtight container at room temperature or in a cool place. This will keep them fresh for around 3 days. They are best served on the first day though.
Can I freeze these cookies?
These cookies freeze well - for best results freeze before icing and defrost at room temperature, allowing to fully defrost before adding the topping.
Should I use fresh or canned pumpkin?
Either is fine to be honest - it is difficult to get fresh pumpkin out of season so maybe out of season use canned pumpkin purée. However, for the best cookies that are the most natural, fresh pumpkin is always best which is why I always make batches of these during pumpkin season. Make sure that if you are using canned pumpkin that you are buying pure pumpkin puree and not pumpkin pie filling which will contain other ingredients.
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Buy Now → If you liked this great recipe you might like my other pumpkin recipes...
How To Make Homemade Pumpkin Pie Spice Mix (UK)
And here are some other vegan cookie recipes.
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