Our soft and fluffy, melt in your mouth vegan pumpkin spice cookies with a sticky sweet glaze are so easy to make. They’re one of our favorite fall cookie recipes, and we know they’ll be yours, too. And, if you love pumpkin, make a batch of our pumpkin blondies, pumpkin bread, and pumpkin pie to add to your holiday sweet table.
Published November 5, 2015 and updated to make it better October 23, 2020.
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What to Expect
Our soft bakery style pumpkin spice drop cookies are super simple to make and are perfect for breakfast, a snack, dessert, or whenever you need a sweet treat.
Speaking of sweet, these are not too sweet. The warm pumpkin spices give them a more savory flavor, which is one of the reasons we like them so much.
In this post we’ll go over the following so your cookies are a success!
- Can You Make Them Gluten-Free?
- Pro Tips
- How to Make Them
- The Perfect Glaze
- How to Store
- More Vegan Cookies You’ll Love
Can You Make Them Gluten-Free?
You absolutely can.
The texture won’t be quite as moist; however, they’ll still be really good.
We recommend using King Arthur or Bob’s Red Mill all-purpose gluten-free flour.
Pro Tips
To make our egg and dairy free pumpkin cookies, make sure to follow these tips:
- Bring the vegan butter to room temperature.
- Make sure the oven is fully preheated so the cookies bake evenly. We recommend bringing the oven to 350˚F (176˚C) for 10 minutes before adding the cookies.
- Check the expiration dates of the baking powder and baking soda. The cookies won’t rise if those are expired.
- Add the baking powder to the applesauce.
- Whisk the dry ingredients together until the spices are fully combined. This will ensure a consistent flavor throughout the batch of cookies.
- Use any unsweetened plant-based milk, except for coconut milk.
- If the pumpkin puree has a lot of water (thin and runny instead of thick), add the milk 1 tablespoon at a time (you may not need all of it) so the batter doesn’t become too thin. It should be thick.
- Every oven is calibrated differently, so bake until they’re a light golden brown and firm to the touch.
- Cool completely before frosting with the glaze.
How to Make Them
Be sure to preheat the oven to 350˚F (176˚C) and line a cookie sheet with parchment paper to avoid sticking.
STEP ONE
In a medium mixing bowl, whisk the flour, leavening, and spices together until completely combined.
STEP TWO
Beat the room temperature vegan butter and the brown and white sugars together on a high speed, until it’s light and fluffy, then add the vanilla and applesauce and beat until combined.
STEP THREE
Add half of the flour mixture to the butter and sugar mixture, then add one tablespoon of the milk.
Add the remaining flour. If the batter is too dry, add one more tablespoon of milk. If it’s still too dry, add the third tablespoon.
Stir any visible flour into the batter with a spoon and drop the cookies by the tablespoon onto a baking sheet.
STEP FOUR
Bake for approximately 12 minutes, or until they’re a light golden brown and firm on top.
STEP FIVE
Cool for five minutes on the cookie sheet and then use a spatula to transfer to a wire cooking rack.
Optional Egg Replacers
If you don’t have applesauce you can use the following egg replacers:
- 3 tablespoons of JUST egg.
- 1 tablespoon of ground flax seed mixed with 3 tablespoons of water. Let it sit for ten minutes so it thickens. NOTE: the cookies won’t be as light and fluffy.
The Perfect Glaze
To make the perfect glaze for pumpkin cookies, you need to add the plant-based milk, SLOWLY.
You can make it thick, like frosting, or you can make a thin glaze, it’s totally up to you.
The good news is, it’s pretty much foolproof.
Add the plant milk to the powdered sugar by the teaspoon, then stir well. If it’s too thick for your liking, add another teaspoon and stir until it’s fully combined.
If the glaze becomes too thin, add a tablespoon of powdered sugar and stir. Keep adding more until it’s the consistency that you like.
How to Store
Store the cookies covered in the refrigerator for up to four days.
Freeze in a freezer safe container for up to three months.
More Vegan Cookies You’ll Love
Vegan Double Chocolate Chip Cookies
Frosted Apple Cinnamon Cookies
Vegan Dark Chocolate Chip Cookies
Chocolate Dipped Ginger Cookies
Soft Vegan Oatmeal Raisin Cookies
Make our vegan pumpkin spice cookie recipe and let us know what you think. We love to hear from you! And, don’t forget to take a picture of your gorgeous creation and tag us @veganosity on Instagram.
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Glazed Vegan Pumpkin Spice Cookies
Equipment
- Stand Mixer
- Oven
Ingredients
- 2 ¾ cups all-purpose flour
- 1 teaspoon baking powder
- 1 teaspoon baking soda
- ¼ teaspoon finely ground sea salt
- 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
- 1 teaspoon ground nutmeg
- ¼ teaspoon ground allspice
- ⅛ teaspoon ground black pepper
- 12 tablespoon vegan butter room temperature
- 1 cup brown sugar
- ½ cup granulated sugar
- ½ cup applesauce plus 1 teaspoon baking powder whisked together
- 2 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
- 1 cup pumpkin puree
- 2 tablespoon unsweetened plant-based milk not coconut, more if needed
- For the glaze:
- 1 cup confectioner’s sugar
- 1 teaspoon vanilla
- ½ teaspoon cinnamon
- Unsweetened plant-milk not coconut milk (add by the teaspoon until you get the consistency that you like
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 350°F (176°C) and line a cookie sheet with parchment paper
- In a medium bowl whisk the 2 ¾ cups of flour, 1 teaspoon baking powder, 1 teaspoon baking soda, ¼ teaspoon sea salt, 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon, 1 teaspoon ground nutmeg, ¼ teaspoon allspice, and ⅛ teaspoon ground black pepper together until well combined and the flour looks fluffy.
- In a large mixing bowl beat the 12 tablespoon vegan butter, 1 cup brown sugar, and ½ cup granulated sugar together until light and creamy. Add the ½ cup applesauce and 1 teaspoon of baking powder mixture and beat until well combined. Add the 2 tsps of vanilla extract, and 1 cup of pumpkin puree and beat until well combined. Add half of the flour and 1 tablespoon of the milk and mix until almost combined. Add the second half of the flour and 1 more tablespoon of milk (if the batter is still too dry, the consistency should be thick enough to spoon onto a cookie sheet.) and mix until almost combined. Add one or more tablespoons of milk if needed.
- NOTE: The consistency of the pumpkin puree will determine how much milk you’ll need to add. If it’s a thick and solid puree you might need to add more milk, if it’s a thin, soupy mixture you probably won’t need to add more than two tablespoons.
- Finish blending the flour into the mixture with a spoon. Drop by tablespoons on the cookie sheet and bake for 12 minutes, or until they are a light golden brown and firm to the touch. Cool for 5 minutes on the cookie sheet and use a spatula to tranfer to cool on a wire rack.
- For the glaze:
- In a medium bowl mix the 1 cup confectioner’s sugar, 1 teaspoon vanilla, ½ teaspoon cinnamon, and 1 teaspoon milk together. Add more milk by the teaspoon until you get the consistency that you desire. Some people like a thick and gooey glaze and others like a thin glaze. If the glaze becomes too thin, stir in more confectioner’s sugar.
- When the cookies are completely cooled, frost the cookies with the glaze and put the cookies in the refrigerator until the glaze hardens, approximately 1 hour.
- Store in an airtight container in the refrigerator for up to 4 days. Store in a freezer bag for up to 3 months.
Notes
Nutrition
Eileen Piersa says
I used GF flour and coconut oil. These are amazing!!! Thank you!
Linda Meyer says
Thank you so much, Eileen! We're so happy you enjoyed them. 🙂
neugierige67 says
Hello! I'm living in Germany and I'm loving your recipies! I guess we have different kinds of vegan butter, so can you tell me, "1 and a half sticks of vegan butter or 12 tablespoons (I use Earth Balance) – softened at room temperature" how many ounces this would be - or if you take the 12 tablespoons - do you take it of melted butter or solid? It's difficult if one doesn't know the right amount of 1 ingridient.
I would be so greatful if you could help me out! Thanks in advance!
Linda Meyer says
Hi! Yes, that would be 12 tbsp (175 g) of vegan butter. We use Earth Balance as well. It should be solid and at room temperature. Let us know what you think. 🙂
neugierige67 says
Thank you for you quick and helpful answer!
Linda Meyer says
Of course! My pleasure. 🙂
neugierige67 says
I baked them today, my dough was very soft (without the almond milk) so the cookies are not as high risen as yours. The consistency is more cake-like, which is, I think, the "soft pillow" sensation you wrote above - right?
Linda Meyer says
Yes, these have a softer cake like texture. The pumpkin puree is what makes the dough soft. Depending on the type of puree you used, and how old your baking powder is, will determine how much the cookies rise. The most important part of these is how they tasted. 🙂
neugierige67 says
They do taste great - and I love having found another way to eat pumpkin!
Linda Meyer says
Music to my ears. 🙂 Thank you!