These gluten-free pumpkin cookies are studded with chocolate chips and pecans. They're soft and chewy cookies with crunchy pecans and lots of chocolate flavour. A one-bowl pumpkin cookie recipe, perfect for fall snacks!
❤️ Why you'll love this recipe
- Fast: Pumpkin cookies in 25 minutes!
- Easy clean-up: This easy gluten-free pumpkin cookie recipe only needs one bowl. You don't need an electric mixer, either!
- Delicious: Lots of pumpkin spice flavour in these soft and chewy cookies.
- Tested: I tested this recipe three times to get it just right.
- Choices: First, I made small pumpkin chocolate chip cookies. I felt they needed a more crunchy texture so I made larger cookies and added chopped pecans and cranberries. The cranberries added nothing and were actually a little annoying. Finally, I made medium-sized cookies with pecans and chocolate chips. These passed my critics' test with flying colours!
- A reliable flavour combination: Pumpkin and pecan are flavours that work well together! For example, Almond Flour Pumpkin Muffins with Maple Pecan Streusel and Pumpkin Pecan Caramel Coffee Cake are two of my favourite pumpkin recipes to make once there's a nip in the air on fall mornings.
- If you love crisp and chewy cookies, you'll also love these Gluten-free Chewy Chocolate Chip Cookies and these delicious Chewy Gluten-free Coffee Cookies!
🛒 Ingredients and substitutions
You'll find a complete list of ingredients with quantities in the recipe card below. But before we get to the full recipe, here are a few notes about some of the key ingredients.
- canned pumpkin: You'll only need a small amount (⅓ cup) of pumpkin purée, either homemade or canned to make a batch of these cookies.
- pumpkin spice: Use my pumpkin spice blend. So easy to mix up and have ready for lots of other healthy pumpkin recipes in the fall. See the recipe card for the spices you'll need to make a quick batch.
- sugar: This recipe uses a combination of granulated sugar and brown sugar. This combo is often best for cookies to get that caramel flavour as well as the chewy aspect we love!
- flour: gluten-free flour blend. I've tested this recipe with both Bob's Red Mill 1-to-1 Baking Flour and Cup4Cup gluten-free flour blend. Make sure the blend you're using contains xanthan gum. You can also substitute all-purpose flour (but then, of course, these cookies won't be gluten-free.)
- add-ins: chopped pecans, dried cranberries or chocolate chips or a combination of two or more of these. I particularly like the texture that the pecans give these chewy pumpkin cookies.
🔪 Instructions
Here's an overview of what you'll do to make these gluten-free pumpkin cookies perfectly. You'll find complete instructions in the recipe card at the end of this post.
Start by mixing melted butter, sugar and egg yolk.
Next, add the pumpkin purée and vanilla extract.
Stir, then add the flour, baking powder and add-ins.
Use a cookie scoop and arrange the cookies on a lined baking sheet about 2 inches apart. Bake for 10 - 12 minutes.
🔁 Possible Variations
Change the add-ins. As I mentioned, I liked these best with both chocolate chips and chopped pecans. These pumpkin pecan cookies are soft with a nice chewy texture, so adding nuts gave them a little crunchy texture, too. You could substitute walnuts if you'd like, or simply use chocolate chips.
👍🏼 Helpful Tips
Cool the butter: Make sure to cool the melted butter before adding the remaining ingredients. Warm butter will result in melted chocolate chips and batter with chocolate swirls! Your cookies will taste good, but they won't be pretty!
To chill or not to chill? I tested this recipe by refrigerating the cookies before I baked them and also by baking them immediately. I couldn't see any noticeable difference in how much they spread while baking.
Make your own pumpkin spice mix. While you can buy Pumpkin Spice Mix ready-made, it’s ridiculously easy to make your own and you can be sure that the spices you’re using are fresh. Mix the following spices, store them in a small jar, and label it.
To make your own Pumpkin Spice Mix, combine:
- 3 tablespoons cinnamon
- 2 tablespoons ground ginger
- 2 tablespoons ground nutmeg
- 1 ½ tablespoons ground allspice
- 1 ½ tablespoons ground cloves
Then you'll have it ready to make other gluten-free pumpkin recipes too, like these
❓Reader's Questions
There are a lot of reasons why cookies sometimes turn out flat or spread too much while they're baking. Measuring the correct amounts of flour, sugar and fat is usually the key to prevent spreading, but it can also be due to factors like the temperature of your baking ingredients, how long the butter and sugar are creamed for, the temperature of your oven, and the baking time.
Unlike many cookie recipes that call for room-temperature butter, this recipe uses melted butter to achieve a chewy texture. Make sure you've cooled it first before adding the remaining ingredients.
It's important not to overmix the batter. Just stir until the ingredients are combined.
🍽 What to serve with gluten-free pumpkin cookies
These pumpkin pecan cookies make a delicious accompaniment to serve with this light and airy Greek Yogurt Pumpkin Cheesecake Mousse or this Creamy Ricotta Coffee Mousse.
Or include them on a holiday cookie tray along with any of these Gluten-free Holiday Cookies and Bars.
⏰ Storage Instructions
To store: Store in a covered container at room temperature for 4 - 5 days.
To freeze: Freeze for up to 3 months in a tightly covered container.
🗒 More gluten-free cookies and bars
- Mini Egg Oatmeal Cookie Bars - Gluten-Free
- Gluten-Free White Chocolate Macadamia Nut Cookies
- Gluten-Free Cherry Pie Crumble Bars
- Chocolate Peanut Butter Collagen Bars
When you make this recipe for gluten-free pumpkin cookies, please leave a comment and a 🌟🌟🌟🌟 🌟rating below. I love hearing from you! Thanks in advance. Subscribe to my newsletter and receive new recipes delivered straight to your inbox.
📖 Recipe
One-Bowl Gluten-Free Pumpkin Cookies with Chocolate Chips and Pecans
Equipment
Ingredients
- ½ cup butter, melted and cooled
- ½ cup brown sugar
- ½ cup granulated sugar
- 1 large egg yolk
- ⅓ cup pumpkin purée, not pumpkin pie filling
- 1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
- 2 teaspoons pumpkin spice mix *see note
- 1 ½ cups gluten-free flour blend, *with xanthan gum
- 1 teaspoon baking soda
- ½ teaspoon sea salt or Kosher salt
- ¾ cup chocolate chips
- ½ cup chopped pecans
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 350°F. and line two baking sheets with silicone baking mats or parchment paper.
- In a medium bowl, combine melted butter, brown sugar, granulated sugar and egg yolk. Stir until just combined. Don't overmix.
- Add pumpkin purée, pumpkin spice mix (see Notes) and vanilla extract. Gently stir.
- Add gluten-free flour blend, salt, and baking soda.
- Gently stir in chocolate chips and chopped pecans.
- Form balls of 1 ½ tablespoons of dough and arrange 2 inches apart on baking sheets. Bake one sheet at a time on the center rack for 10 - 12 minutes.
- Remove from the oven and let the cookies sit on the baking sheet for 15 minutes before removing to a wire rack to cool completely. The cookies will become more firm and crisp as they cool.
Notes
- 3 tablespoons cinnamon
- 2 tablespoons ground ginger
- 2 tablespoons ground nutmeg
- 1 ½ tablespoons ground allspice
- 1 ½ tablespoons ground cloves
- Low-Carb Roasted Pumpkin Spice Pecans
- Maple Nut Pumpkin Spice Granola
- Creamy Pumpkin Pie Overnight Oats
- my favorite Pumpkin Baked Oatmeal
- Pumpkin Spice Bread
- or Almond Flour Pumpkin Muffins with Maple Pecan Streusel
Zoe
So good!!!
Elaine
Glad you liked these cookies! Thanks for the 5 stars.
Marla
These were delicious! I did coconut sugar instead of cane sugar and the swap worked well. I also used pumpkin seeds instead of pecans just since I didn't have any. Really tasty cookie!
Elaine
Love these ideas. Thanks for sharing!
Lisa
These are so easy!! Fastest batch of cookies with minimal dishes. Love it.
Elaine
Yes! Love that this is a one-bowl recipe! Thanks for the 5 stars.
Dana
Really good gluten-free cookies!! I made them with walnuts and chocolate chips. They freeze well, too.
Leila
A new favorite!