Soft, Chewy Gluten-Free Pumpkin Cookies (Not Cakey!)

As a seasoned gluten-free baker, I've shared many tricks for making soft, bakery-style gluten-free cookies, but making these pumpkin spice treats requires a special tweak. If you love chewy gluten-free pumpkin cookies, not fluffy or cakey, you've come to right place! What's the easy trick? Eliminate excess moisture in the canned pumpkin before combining with warm spices, gooey chocolate chips, and other simple ingredients!

Prep Time 10

Cook Time 16

chill 45

Total Time 1 11

Servings cookies

Author Melissa Erdelac

Ingredients

½ cup canned pumpkin puree Libby's brand recommended
¾ cup unsalted butter softened
1 cup packed light brown sugar
2 egg yolks room temperature
2 teaspoon vanilla extract
2 teaspoons molasses
1 ¾ cup gluten free all purpose flour Cup4Cup gluten-free flour recommended
1 teaspoons ground cinnamon (or substitute 1 tablespoon pumpkin pie spice for spices)
½ teaspoon ground nutmeg
½ teaspoon ground ginger
¼ teaspoon ground cloves
½ teaspoon baking soda
½ teaspoon salt
1 cup semisweet chocolate chips (I use ½ cup semisweet, ½ cup miniature chocolate chips)

Instructions

Spread the canned pumpkin in a thin layer on a plate. Lay a paper towel over the top and press gently to soak up moisture. Discard the paper towel and repeat with a new paper towels, about 6-8 more times, or until the paper towels soaks up less moisture. This technique is used to make a soft and chewy versus "cakey" cookie.
½ cup canned pumpkin puree
In a large mixing bowl, or stand mixer fitted with a paddle attachment, beat together the softened butter with the brown sugar until very light and fluffy, about 3 minutes.
¾ cup unsalted butter, 1 cup packed light brown sugar
Add in the blotted canned pumpkin, egg yolks, vanilla, and molasses. Mix again until well combined.
2 egg yolks, 2 teaspoon vanilla extract, 2 teaspoons molasses
Add the gluten-free flour, cinnamon, nutmeg, ginger, cloves, baking soda, baking powder, and salt. Mix on low speed until well combined and no flour pockets remain. Stir in the chocolate chips.
1 ¾ cup gluten free all purpose flour, 1 teaspoons ground cinnamon, ½ teaspoon ground nutmeg, ½ teaspoon ground ginger, ¼ teaspoon ground cloves, ½ teaspoon baking soda, ½ teaspoon salt, 1 cup semisweet chocolate chips
Cover the bowl with plastic wrap and chill for 45 minutes, up to overnight. This allows time for the GF starches to absorb the moisture and helps eliminate any grittiness.
Preheat the oven to 350°F. For easy clean up, line baking sheets with parchment paper or leave ungreased.
Use a large cookie scoop (approximately 3 tbsp dough) to divide the dough into 6 large cookies per baking sheet. Bake for 16-18 minutes, rotating the baking sheets halfway through. Cookies are done when they start to crack, lose their shiny look, and start to look "dry," but are still soft underneath.
When they come out of the oven, they will be puffy, but collapse down into chewy cookies as they cool. Sometimes I will place a couple dish towels on my counter and "bang" the sheet a few times to collapse the cookies faster. They need about 10-15 minutes to cool and set on the pan before transferring and enjoying!

Notes

Additional Mix-Ins

To keep the cookie dough to mix-ins balance, add approximately 1 cup total, any combination.

Chopped nuts, such as pecans, walnuts, or macadamias.
Dried fruits, such as cranberries, cherries, figs, currants, or raisins.
Use milk chocolate, gluten-free butterscotch chips, chocolate chunks, white chocolate chips or a combination.
Sprinkle a little sea salt on top of cookies before baking.

Storing and Freezing

Storing:

Gluten-free cookies have a shorter shelf than traditional cookies because they dry out and lose the soft texture after a couple days. Make sure the cookies have cooled completely first before stacking and storing in an airtight container.

Freeze Before Baking:

Drop portioned cookies on parchment-lined baking sheet and freeze until solid. Once the cookies are hard, transfer to a ziplock freezer bag and freeze up to 3 months.

When ready to bake, place on parchment-lined baking sheets and bake from frozen, adding an additional 1-2 minutes baking time.

Freezing Baked Cookies:

If you don’t plan on enjoying the cookies within a day or two, wrap stacks of 2-3 cookies in plastic wrap, transfer to a ziplock freezer bag, and freeze up to 3 months.

Recipe adapted from In Bloom Bakery.

Nutrition