These soft-baked Pumpkin Cookies are chewy and chocolatey with just the right amount of spice to give you all the fall feelings. There’s no butter, eggs, oil, white flour or refined sugar lurking in these cute little cookies. But there is a surprise ingredient of chickpeas for a punch of vitamins, minerals, fiber and protein. You may also recall our other recent baked good recipe for Chickpea Blondies. We’re always looking for new ways to put healthy twists on recipes that we love!
Alexa here, so I need to start with a slightly embarrassing story. About 3 years ago when my husband Pantelis and I started to transition to eating more plant-based foods I experiment with some vegan recipes that I found on Pinterest (side note, how amazing is Pinterest?! I could scroll through that site all day). One of which was vegan pumpkin cookies. I thought to myself what better treat to bring to Thanksgiving dinner at my parents’ house and give everyone a healthy treat. Well, needless to say, they turned out terrible and oily and sadly even the dog didn’t want to eat them. But nevertheless, I have redeemed myself with this recipe for soft-baked Pumpkin Cookies! Still vegan, but a million times better! I had to hold my hubby off from eating too many before I could finish taking pictures for this post!
I used pumpkin puree that I made fresh the prior weekend and portioned out into 1 cup servings and stored in the freezer. Don’t let making your own puree intimate you, we have a whole blog post with easy step by step instructions! Plus you can get a bonus treat out of it by baking the pumpkin seeds. Find our full blog post on making homemade Pumpkin Puree by clicking HERE.
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So I started by taking one of the puree packs and letting it thaw completely. Using the pumpkin puree is what makes these cookies so moist and flavorful. It’s also what allows this recipe to be egg-free but requires more cooling time once the cookies are baked so that they can properly set up before handling them.
One of the best parts of this recipe is that it’s easily made in a food processor. You’ll want to drain and rinse your canned chickpeas (look for organic!) and place them on a kitchen towel and pat dry. Add the chickpeas to a food processor followed by the pumpkin puree and maple syrup. The maple syrup adds another fall flavor instead of using sugar but you could also use honey. Blend the ingredients until smooth, making sure to scrape down the sides. Add the dry ingredients to a small bowl and whisk them together. Next, add the dry ingredients to the food processor and blend until everything gets incorporated. Lastly, fold in the chocolate chips.
Line a cookie sheet with a silicone baking mat or parchment paper. If using parchment paper lightly spray with cooking oil. Using a small ice cream scoop drop the cookie dough mixture evenly onto the baking sheet. Then pop them in a 350 degree preheated oven and bake for 15-17 minutes depending on your oven. Remove from the oven and allow to cool on the baking sheet for at least 10 minutes before moving the cookies to a wire cooling rack. This will allow the cookies to firm up before moving them, otherwise, they might break apart.
Have you made this recipe? Tell us, leave a comment below! If you’re social and post photos on Instagram and Facebook be sure to tag #hearthealthygreek. And never miss a recipe by subscribing to our mailing list!
Pumpkin Cookies
Equipment
Ingredients
- 1 15 oz can organic chickpeas
- 1 cup pumpkin puree
- 4 tbsp maple syrup
- ½ cup almond flour
- 1 tsp baking powder
- 1 tsp baking soda
- 2 tsp vanilla extract
- 2 tsp pumpkin pie spice
- pinch of salt
- 1 cup dark chocolate chips
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.
- Drain and rinse the chickpeas and place on a kitchen towel and pat dry.
- Add the chickpeas to a food processor followed by the pumpkin puree, maple syrup and vanilla extract.
- Blend until smooth, making sure to scrape down the sides.
- In a small bowl combine all of the dry ingredients and whisk them together.
- Add the dry ingredients to the food processor and blend until everything gets incorporated.
- Lastly, fold in the chocolate chips.
- Line a cookie sheet with a silicone baking mat or parchment paper. If using parchment paper lightly spray it with cooking oil.
- Using a small ice cream scoop drop the cookie dough mixture evenly onto the baking sheet.
- Bake for 15-17 minutes depending on your oven.
- Remove from the oven and allow to cool on the baking sheet for at least 5 minutes before moving the cookies to a wire cooling rack. This will allow the cookie to firm up before moving them.
I am looking forward to trying this recipe, it sounds delicious and healthy. I was wondering though, if I could use butterscotch chips I am allergic to chocolate. And also, I do not have a food processor so is it ok to just mash the chick pease and mix together?
Hi Vicki,
We haven’t tested this recipe with butterscotch chips before but with that said it should work. If you don’t use a food processor you’ll want to make sure you mash the chickpeas to as smooth of consistency as possible. The smoother the chickpeas are the better the texture of the cookies will be. Happy baking!
-Christina & Alexa
what alternative flour would you recommend for this recipe?
Hi Kristie
We haven’t actually tried using a different flour for these, but you might want to experiment with something like coconut or oat flour. Keep in mind it could change the texture and taste a bit. Feel free to give it a try, and we might give it a shot too. We’ll be sure to let you know how it turns out!
– Christina & Alexa