Super hearty and healthy pumpkin cookies made with wholesome ingredients. They are naturally fruit sweetened, gluten-free, oil-free & vegan. Perfect for snacking, refuelling and lunch boxes!
Pumpkin! Pump-kin! Pump-kiiinnn! I couldn't hold out any longer and these Healthy Pumpkin Cookies are super good, wholesome and full of delicious fall flavours.
They are of course vegan, but they also happen to be naturally gluten-free and oil-free and they contain no added sugar. Their sweetness comes naturally from dates.
Jump to:
These no added sugar pumpkin cookies are great for people who don't have a huge sweet tooth. They are perfect for healthy snacks, refuelling during or after exercise, or for when the munchies strike in the evening which is most nights for me. They are even healthy enough to eat for breakfast. Healthy pumpkin breakfast cookies anyone?
What ingredients do you need and why?
Here's what you will be needing to make these naturally gluten-free healthy pumpkin cookies:
- Oats - For hearty substance and to replace flour. Use certified gluten-free oats if necessary. Old fashioned, rolled or quick oats are fine. Just don't use steel-cut oats.
- Medjool dates - These are for sweetness and to stick everything together.
- Spices & salt - Flavour!
- Nut/seed butter - A healthy source of fat and protein. Replaces the need to use vegan butter or oil. Also adds a lovely nutty flavour.
- Pumpkin puree - Well they are pumpkin cookies! Adds flavour and moistness.
- Molasses - Colour and depth of flavour
- Baking soda - Reacts with the molasses (an acid) to add a bit of lightness to the cookies.
- Cocoa - For chocolatey flavour. It works so well with pumpkin!
You'll also be needing a food processor to make the cookie dough. Unfortunately, you can't make these cookies by hand and the dough is way too stiff to use a blender.
How to make Healthy Pumpkin Cookies
(For detailed measurements and instructions, see the printable recipe card).
These gluten-free pumpkin cookies are really easy to make. Here's how:
- Step 1 - Grind the oats down to a coarse flour in a food processor.
- Step 2 - Soak some dates in hot water for a few minutes.
- Step 3 - Add all of the ingredients, including the drained soaked dates, to the oat flour and process until it forms a big ball of cookie dough.
- Step 4 - Form into cookies and bake.
- Step 5 - Make the filling and sandwich the cookie halves together.
Success tips
Not much can go wrong with these healthy pumpkin cookies but here are a couple of tips:
- Don't forget to soak the dates in hot water. If you don't they will be too dry and stiff and won't bind the cookies properly.
- Don't try using a blender to make the cookie dough. It's way too stiff, even for a high powered blender like a Vitamix or Blendtec.
- Don't overbake the cookies or they can become a little dry.
Possible variations
- Use very ripe pureed banana instead of pumpkin
- Use sweet potato puree instead of the pumpkin
- Switch up the spices. Pumpkin spice would work well!
- Don't make sandwiches and dip the cookies in some melted chocolate
- Use the cookies (without the filling) to make banana nice cream sandwiches (frozen bananas blended up with a touch of plant milk and just like that you have nice-cream!)
- Crumble cookies over smoothie bowls, oatmeal or overnight oats
- Omit the spices and salt to make toddler friendly cookies
Make them toddler-friendly cookies
These cookies with a few small alterations are perfect for toddlers to chew on because they don't get hard and crunchy and the ingredients are so healthy.
Simply omit the salt and spices and the filling. Bake the cookies for the suggested time or a bit less if you want them nice and soft.
Storage
Store leftover Healthy Pumpkin Cookies in an airtight container for up to 1 week. You can also freeze them for up to 2 months. Defrost overnight at room temperature.
Hungry for more?
For more healthier cookie recipes check out my:
- Chickpea Chocolate Chip Cookies
- Almond Flour Chocolate Chip Cookies
- Super Seedy Power Cookies
- Healthier Chocolate Caramel Cookie Cups
📖 Recipe
Healthy Pumpkin Cookies
Author:
Ingredients
For the cookies:
- 2½ cups / 225 grams oats (rolled, old fashioned or quick) , (certified gluten-free if necessary)
- 12 medjool dates , pitted
- 1 tablespoon ground ginger
- 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
- 2 teaspoon baking powder
- 1 teaspoon baking soda
- ¼ cup / 4 tablespoons nut or seed butter
- ¼ cup / 4 tablespoons pumpkin puree , or banana puree
- 2 teaspoons molasses
- ½ teaspoon salt
For the filling:
- ¼ cup / 4 tablespoons nut or seed butter
- ¼ cup / 4 tablespoons pumpkin puree , or banana puree
- 2 medjool dates , soaked in hot water for a few minutes
- 4 tablespoons cocoa , or cacao
- 1 tablespoons maple syrup , OPTIONAL. Only use if you want the filling to be a little sweeter.
RECOMMENDED EQUIPMENT
INSTRUCTIONS
For the cookies
- Preheat oven to 350°F and have a large cookie sheet or baking tray ready.
- Pit the dates and put them in a bowl, then cover them with boiling water from a kettle. Leave for around 10 minutes then drain.
- Add the oats to a food processor and process until a coarse flour-like consistency.
- Add all of the other ingredients including the drained dates and process until a big dough ball forms. If it has trouble coming together you can add a few tiny drops of water until it does, but it isn't usually necessary.
- Remove the blade, and take chunks of dough and roll into balls around the size of a walnut.
- Place the rolled balls on a baking tray, pressing the top of each one down into a cookie shape with the bottom of a glass or the palm of your hand. Make them about ¼ inch thick.
- Bake in the preheated oven for 15-20 minutes. They should just be starting to go golden around the edges but will still feel a little soft if you poke them.
- Once done transfer to a cooling tray.
For the filling:
- Put the blade back in the food processor and add all of the filling ingredients. No need to wash it unless you want to! Process everything until smooth.
- When the cookies are cool, dollop an even amount of filling into the centre of half of them then make sandwiches by placing the remaining cookies on top and squishing down gently so the filling spreads evenly.
- Store in an airtight container for up to 7 days or freeze for up to 2 months.
NOTES
- Don't forget to soak the dates in hot water. If you don't they will be too dry and stiff and won't bind the cookies properly.
- Don't try using a blender to make the cookie dough. It's way too stiff, even for a high powered blender like a Vitamix or Blendtec.
- Don't overbake the cookies or they can become a little dry.
Possible variations
- Use very ripe pureed banana instead of pumpkin
- Use sweet potato puree instead of the pumpkin
- Switch up the spices. Pumpkin spice would work well!
- Omit the spices, salt and filling to make toddler-friendly cookies
NUTRITION
Nutritional information is provided for convenience & as a courtesy. The data is a computer generated estimate so should be used as a guide only.
This recipe was originally published on September 13th 2017. I've tweaked the recipe name and post a bit and now I am republishing it for you. The actual recipe remains the same. I hope you enjoy it. Thank you for following A Virtual Vegan!
Recipe FAQs
You can use pumpkin pie filling instead of the pumpkin puree in this cookie recipe. I would reduce the spices by a quarter though to make up for the spice that is already in the pie filling. Your cookies will end up a little sweeter which isn't necessarily a bad thing!
I haven't tried it but I'm pretty sure spelt flour would work well. Be sure to use the weight measurement and not the cup measurement though so you get absolutely the right amount.
Nancy says
When I first saw this recipe, I bookmarked it because I knew I wanted to make it. Tonight was my first chance! They came out great! I used peanut butter. I love recipes like this that don't use granulated sugar of any kind or a ton of liquid sweetener and coconut oil. These are sweet enough to be a treat without so much guilt. These are sure to be on repeat, and I'm going to share the recipe on Facebook, too. Thank you!
A Virtual Vegan says
I'm really pleased you're enjoying them Nancy and thank you for coming back to leave a review/rating. It's much appreciated!
Erin says
Can I freeze these to last longer?
A Virtual Vegan says
I've never tried freezing them. I would imagine they will be ok though.
Moriah says
These look so good! Do you think applesauce or anything else could sub the almond butter? All I have is peanut butter and I don't want them to taste peanutty.
A Virtual Vegan says
I can't say for sure because I haven't tried it, but I doubt it. The nut butter provides fat in the cookie which gives the texture and it adds flavour too. You would be able to replace it with vegan butter or coconut oil but other things might need to change a bit to compensate. With the filling it's pretty essential. Vegan butter might work but again other things would need to change to compensate. For 100% chance of success it is best to use nut butter. I'd hate for them not to work for you!
Courtney says
These were so delicious. I used pumpkin and loved them!
I would like to know if you have a recipe on here for maybe a white cream or different filling like an oatmeal cream pie? I liked the filling but am super craving oatmeal cream pies. I searched an didn't see anything so I just wanted to ask and make sure!
A Virtual Vegan says
So glad you enjoyed them Courtney! I've never made oatmeal cream pies but will add them to my list to try for the blog at some point. I'm pretty sure they are just filled with buttercream so just vegan butter creamed together with powdered sugar and maybe a tiny splash of vanilla. Usually you need about 3 times the amount of powdered sugar to butter. I would think half a cup of butter to 1.5-2 cups of powdered sugar would be plenty for a batch of cookies. Just beat the butter until creamy then gradually add the sugar and beat 'til smooth and fluffy then pipe or spread it between the cookies. You could probably use coconut cream (the hard part from the can) whipped with a little powdered sugar too for a slightly healthier option. I'm thinking some pumpkin spice added to the buttercream would be lovely with these cookies!
Jodi says
So yummy! I love that there is no refined sugar; just dates and a bit of molasses. We made them smaller, but they turned out great. Baked 12-14 minutes. We didn't have pumpkin, so used banana. I think we'd prefer pumpkin, but they were still good! Thank you for sharing this great gluten free, whole food recipe!
A Virtual Vegan says
I'm so glad you enjoyed them Jodi. You will have to try them again with pumpkin soon!
Sid says
My new favourite treat! That chocolatey-bananaery goodness is divine! I'll definitely be trying it myself when I'm living away from home. ❤️
A Virtual Vegan says
Yay! I'm so glad you enjoyed them Sid!
Arranz Marriot says
I'm new to veganism so I'm always looking for inspiration, particularly for sweet treats. I made these cookies today and they are delish! They're easy to make (I used bananas) and curb that desire for sugar/ chocolate without the overload of calories - you only need to eat one as they are so filling. I asked my daughter what she liked about them and she replied 'everything!' I enjoyed mine with a pot of coffee as an afternoon treat- heavenly! ????
A Virtual Vegan says
Awesome! I'm so glad you and your daughter enjoyed them and thank you so much for stopping by to leave feedback here!
Sarah says
Oh my goodness, these were so good and I love that they're GF and refined sugar free too!
Jasmine says
We loved these cookie sandwiches, and easy to make too which is always a bonus.
A Virtual Vegan says
Thank you Jasmine!