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These Gluten Free Pumpkin Cookies with a cream cheese frosting and warm spices are the perfect Fall bake. Soft pumpkin cookies flavoured with pumpkin spice mix are topped with a creamy frosting that makes them a decadent and delicious treat. Completely gluten free and SO easy to make!
These gluten free Soft Pumpkin Cookies are just an absolute treat to make – and eat!
Somewhere between a bakery-style cookie and a cake, these gluten free pumpkin cookies just have such a unique texture I absolutely love.
These gluten free pumpkin spice cookies are made with canned pumpkin puree and spiced with cinnamon, nutmeg, cloves, ginger and allspice.
The cream cheese frosting just vibes perfectly with the pumpkin spice – much like in my Pumpkin Spice Latte Cake.
If you love this recipe, be sure to use any leftover pumpkin puree to make my Gluten Free Pumpkin Bread, my Pumpkin Banana Muffins or my Gluten Free Pumpkin Roll.
And if you’re a sucker for gluten free cookies, be sure to check out my gluten free chocolate chip cookies, my chewy gluten free cookies and my chocolate crinkle cookies too.
Ingredients
There’s a printable recipe card for these gluten free pumpkin cookies below. But for the shopping list you will need…
- Granulated Sugar: This helps with the texture of the cookies.
- Light Brown Sugar: The combination of sugars is what makes this work so well – this brown sugar adds a lovely, caramel-like flavour.
- Butter: You can use a vegan butter to make dairy free gluten free pumpkin cookies.
- Tinned Pumpkin Puree: Using canned pumpkin puree makes this super easy to make. You can pick this up in most UK supermarkets in the world food aisle.
- Egg: I use large UK eggs so in the US you’ll need XL eggs.
- Vanilla Extract
- Plain Gluten Free Flour: You’ll need to use a plain gluten free flour blend like FREEE or M&S / Asda’s own free from flours. In the US use a gluten free all purpose flour blend.
- Baking Powder: Always make sure you use gluten free baking powder as some brands contain wheat.
- Bicarbonate of Soda: Or baking soda in the US – this helps give the soft cookies their rise.
- Xanthan Gum: You can omit this if your flour mix already contains it, but it’s important for making sure the cookies don’t crumble.
- Pumpkin Spice Mix: I make my own homemade pumpkin spice mix using a combination of: ground cinnamon, nutmeg, ginger, cloves and allspice.
For the cream cheese frosting:
If you want to make the cream cheese frosting for these soft pumpkin cookies you will also need to pick up the following:
- Full-Fat Cream Cheese: Using a low fat cream cheese will result in very runny frosting.
- Butter: It’s really important to keep this at room temperature.
- Icing Sugar: Or confectioner’s sugar in the US.
How to make gluten free pumpkin cookies
There’s a printable recipe card below with the method. But here are some step-by-step photos to show you how easy this gluten free pumpkin cookies recipe is to make:
First, add the butter and sugars to a large mixing bowl and beat with an electric whisk for 30 seconds to combine.
Next, add the pumpkin puree, vanilla extract and egg to the mixture and beat again, enough to just combine the mix into a runny batter.
Add the gluten free flour, bicarb, xanthan gum and spices to the bowl. Mix well with a spatula or wooden spoon until combined and there are no loose pockets of flour.
Wrap the cookie dough batter – it should still be quite soft – in cling film (plastic wrap) and chill for ONE HOUR.
The chilling stage is SUPER important – don’t skip it or your cookies will spread into one giant one in the oven!
To bake the soft pumpkin cookies:
Once the cookie dough is chilled, preheat the oven to 190C / Fan 170C / Gas Mark 5 / 375F. Line 2 large baking trays with parchment paper.
Use an ice-cream scoop to take a scoop of the chilled cookie dough. Roll into a ball using your hands and then place on the lined baking sheet. Continue to do this, leaving plenty of space between the cookie dough balls. You may have to bake them in batches!
Place the cookies into the oven and bake for 14-15 minutes. Remove from the oven and allow to cool for at least 30 mins before removing from the tray and frosting.
If you are baking these in batches, place the cookie dough back in the fridge until it’s ready to bake. You can either pop the whole thing back or roll it all into balls first.
To make the cream cheese frosting:
Once the cookies have cooled, mix the cream cheese, butter and icing sugar with an electric whisk until it forms a smooth frosting.
Spread onto the cookies and sprinkle with a little extra cinnamon to finish, if you like.
Storing and Freezing
These gluten free pumpkin cookies can easily be stored, made ahead or even frozen – here’s my instructions to get the best of them.
To store the pumpkin cookies: Once baked and frosted these gluten free pumpkin cookies can be stored in an airtight container at room temperature for up to 3 days. They are still edible for up to a week, but you may find after a few days they soften under the frosting.
To freeze the pumpkin cookie dough: The best way to do this is to make the cookie dough, chill it then roll it into balls. Freeze the uncooked cookie dough balls between sheets of baking paper (to stop them sticking) and then defrost and bake when needed.
To freeze the pumpkin cookies: I recommend doing this before frosting them. Simply allow the cookies to cool completely then freeze them and defrost when you fancy one.
Variations
Want to do something a bit different with your gluten free pumpkin cookies? Try one of the following options:
- Chocolate Chip Pumpkin Cookies: Add 100g milk chocolate chips to the cookie dough at the same time as the dry ingredients for pumpkin choc chip cookies.
- Maple Frosting: Add a dash of maple syrup to the cream cheese frosting for a subtle maple flavour in the icing.
- Cinnamon Frosting: Mix 1/4 teaspoon ground cinnamon into the cream cheese frosting for a spicier alternative.
- Dairy Free: Use a vegan butter and vegan cream cheese in the cookies and frosting to make gluten free dairy free pumpkin cookies instead.
If you make this recipe and love it, please do let me know by tagging me on my Instagram or using #theglutenfreeblogger. You can also share your creations in my Facebook group! And please do leave a 5* review ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ to let others know you loved it too! It would mean the world to me and really helps support my website.
Gluten Free Pumpkin Cookies
Ingredients
- 100 g granulated sugar
- 100 g light brown sugar
- 115 g butter, (melted)
- 200 g tinned pumpkin puree
- 1 large egg
- 1 tsp vanilla extract
- 350 g plain gluten free flour
- 1 tsp baking powder
- 1/2 tsp bicarb
- 1/4 tsp xanthan gum
For the pumpkin spice mix:
- 2 tsp cinnamon
- 1/2 tsp nutmeg
- 1/2 tsp ginger
- 1/4 tsp cloves
- 1/4 tsp allspice
For the cream cheese frosting:
- 120 g full-fat cream cheese
- 50 g unsalted butter, (at room temperature)
- 80 g icing sugar
Instructions
To make the cookie dough:
- Add the butter and sugars to a large mixing bowl and beat with an electric whisk for 30 seconds to combine.
- Add the pumpkin puree, vanilla extract and egg to the mixture and beat again, enough to just combine the mix into a runny batter.
- Add the gluten free flour, bicarb, xanthan gum and spices. Mix well with a spatula or wooden spoon until combined and there are no loose pockets of flour.
- Wrap the cookie dough batter – it should still be quite soft – in cling film (plastic wrap) and chill for ONE HOUR. The chilling is important – don't skip it or your cookies will spread into one giant one in the oven!
To bake the cookies:
- Once the cookie dough is chilled, preheat the oven to 190C / Fan 170C / Gas Mark 5 / 375F. Line 2 baking sheets with baking paper.
- Use an ice-cream scoop to take a scoop of the chilled cookie dough. Roll into a ball using your hands and then place on the lined baking sheet. Continue to do this, leaving plenty of space between the cookie dough balls. You may have to bake them in batches!
- Place the cookies into the oven and bake for 14-15 minutes. Remove from the oven and allow to cool for at least 30 mins before removing from the tray and frosting. (NOTE – if making these in batches, place the cookie dough back in the fridge until it's ready to bake.)
To make the frosting:
- Mix the cream cheese, butter and icing sugar with an electric whisk until it forms a smooth frosting.
- Spread onto the cookies and sprinkle with a little extra cinnamon to finish, if you like.
Notes
- Weighing Scales vs Cups: You can toggle this recipe card to convert the ingredients into cups. However, I always recommend using weighing scales – these are cheap to buy and much more accurate. And in gluten free baking, a tiny variation can make a huge difference!
- Step-by-Step Photos: Check out the blog post above for step-by-step photos to guide you through how these soft pumpkin cookies should look at each stage.
- Storing: Check out the Frequently Asked Questions above this recipe card and blog post above for more information on storing and freezing these pumpkin cookies.
- Like this Recipe? It would mean SO much to me if you could leave a 5* rating and tell all your gluten free friends about these Gluten Free Pumpkin Cookies!
Nutrition
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