Pumpkin cookies are healthy and delicious
With their hearty oatmeal and cinnamon sweetness, these pumpkin chocolate chip cookies are the perfect way to recharge.
Pumpkin reduces fat and calories and adds a delicious Fall flavor to the traditional chocolate chip cookie.
These healthy pumpkin cookies are dairy-free, vegan, gluten-free, refined sugar-free, and oil-free.
Healthy pumpkin cookie ingredients
The pumpkin can be either canned pumpkin puree or freshly roasted pumpkin. You can also substitute the same amount of sweet potato puree with cooked or canned.
The oatmeal Quick or rolled oats, quinoa, or spelled flakes work. Steel-cut oats are not recommended here.
Chocolate Chips: Use any regular or mini-size chocolate chips. I prefer dark chocolate chips, but white or semi-sweet chocolate chips also work.
Vanilla extract: Be sure to buy pure vanilla extract, not imitation or vanilla flavor. You can use vanilla bean paste if you wish.
Source of fat: I prefer almond butter or cashew to make these healthy cookies. Regular butter, including plant-based brands, will also work.
Oat Flour: You can find packaged oats flour in most grocery stores. You can also make your oat flour by pulsing the oats until they become flour in a blender.
Sweetener: Raw cane sugar, coconut sugar. You can use date sugar, brown sugar, or white sugar. For sugar-free pumpkin cookies, use granulated Erythritol.
How to make vegan oatmeal pumpkin cookies
Preheat the oven to 350 degrees Fahrenheit if you plan on baking cookies.
Mix all the dry ingredients in a large bowl.
Add all the remaining ingredients and mix to make a cookie batter.
Form the dough into small balls with your hands or a cookie scoop. Refrigerate the dough until it is firm to make no-bake pumpkin cookies. Continue reading for baked pumpkin cookies.
Press down on the spoon to flatten and shape into cookies. On the center rack of your oven, bake for 10 minutes. Let the cookies cool for an additional 10 minutes before handling.
Due to their perishable nature, store leftover pumpkin cookies in an airtight container in the fridge.
Other options include freezing cookie dough or making the dough the night prior.
I’ve baked these pumpkin oatmeal cookies a dozen or more times. Recently, I took a double batch of these cookies to a Halloween celebration.
I love Halloween every year. I bake, create costumes, and eat candy.
In previous years, costumes included a sand witch, Katie Bug, Cookie Monster’s girlfriend, Frankenstein’s bride, a 5’3″ giraffe, and a Monster Chef.
It was also when I bought a $5 tiger headband from Party City two days before Halloween and brainstormed puns about tigers. My favorite puns were Tiger Woodstock, a tiger ear costume with hippie clothes, and Jungle Gym, which had tiger ear costumes and gym clothing. I chose the jungle gym in the end. The best part of the night was wearing sneakers.
Last year’s holiday costume was even more straightforward: Buy a black cat headband from Target, wear all-black clothing, carry a digital camera, and repeat what others have said. Photocopy Cat.
No bake or baked cookies
After discovering that my one can of Libby’s pumpkin had multiplied to six, I decided that I would use up some of the pumpkin by turning my recipe for chocolate no-bake cookies into no-bake pumpkin cookies.
Initially, I had planned to bake pumpkin cookies. I tasted the dough while making it, and these pumpkin cookies were just as delicious and unbaked. If you don’t want to turn on the oven or live in a hot climate, skip this step.
Ingredients
Try these Keto cookies for grain-free quick oats.
Half a cup of oat flour
If desired, 1/4 cup unrefined sugar or Erythritol can be substituted.
3-5 tbsp mini chocolate chips
1/4 tsp. cinnamon
Add additional cinnamon or 1/4 tsp of pumpkin pie spice.
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/4 tsp baking soda
You can use mashed sweet potatoes or pumpkin canned in 1/3 cup.
Almond butter or regular butter is equivalent to 1/3 cup.
1/2 tsp pure vanilla extract
Instructions
You can choose to bake or not bake the cookies. Mix all the dry ingredients in a large bowl. Stir in the wet ingredients (if necessary, soften the nut butter until it is stable). If you are a visual learner like me, watch the video below. Place the balls on a tray, and then flatten them a bit. You can refrigerate them until they are firm or bake for 10 minutes, then cool the cookies down for another 10 minutes. You can also prepare the dough and freeze it for a rainy day!
