Delicious delicate soft Pumpkin Pie Cookies topped with a sweet protein icing. Made with almond flour, coconut flour and collagen, these healthy cookies are Paleo, Gluten Free, Vegan, Dairy-free, Sugar-free, Low Carb and Keto too – the ultimate pumpkin dessert.
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This photo shoot made me realize the difference between natural light and artificial light photography.
Up until 3 months ago, all my shoots were artificial lighting. But once I moved to my new apartment and set up my desk just beside my window, I haven’t gone back to those old ways.
I didn’t realize what the time was when I set up the shot for these pumpkin cookies – frosting and everything. It got so dark so I did one in artificial light. But I wasn’t too happy with the pictures and just had a feeling it would be a lot different with my usual set up.
Ingredients for Healthy Soft Pumpkin Cookies
These pumpkin pie cookies are made with just a few simple ingredients you probably already have in your pantry if you’re a gluten-free baker.
- Pumpkin Puree: Make sure it’s just the plain puree and not pumpkin pie filling
- Flaxseed Meal to make a flax egg
- Maple Syrup: I would recommend a stevia sweetened or monk fruit sweetened version so this is sugar free, low carb and keto approved.
- Creamy Almond Butter
- Vanilla Extract: Pure is the way to go!
- Almond Flour
- Coconut Flour
- Unflavored Collagen or more Almond Flour
- Pumpkin Pie Spice
- Baking Powder
How to make Gluten Free Pumpkin Cookies
These easy almond flour pumpkin cookies can be made in just one bowl!
- Make the flax egg: stir the flaxseed meal and water in a small bowl and set it aside
- In a large bowl, whisk the wet ingredients: pumpkin puuree, maple syrup, almond butter and vanilla
- Add in the flax egg and all the dry ingredients to the bowl: almond flour, coconut flour, collagen, pumpkin pie spice and baking soda
- Mix it all up – just stir it with a spoon, it will come together just fine.
Taste the cookie dough and see if you need to add more maple syrup for sweetness. - Optionally, place the bowl in the fridge to chill for about 10 minutes
And meanwhile, preheat the oven to 350°F
To bake them:
- Line a baking/cookie sheet with parchment paper
- Scoop out about 1-2 tablespoons of the mixture and use your hands to roll them into balls
- Place them on the baking sheet and press down to shape them as you like
- Bake for 10 minutes until they’re golden brown
LET THEM COOL!
Yes, it will be tempting to bite into these pumpkin bread cookies, but with this healthy ingredient list, the fresh cookie is really soft. Let them stay on the sheet for about 10 minutes to firm up.
Then let them cool – again – on a cooling rack.
Soft Pumpkin Cookies with Whey Protein Powder Icing
To keep them healthy, and make them even better and healthier, I topped these soft pumpkin coconut flour cookies with icing made from protein powder.
You could go fancy, but this protein powder icing is extremely simple: Just stir together protein powder and yogurt.
This gives a thick and spreadable protein powder frosting that you can then use on smear on top of the cookies.
I used Quest Nutrition’s Vanilla Protein Powder, but if you use a diet compliant one, you can make a Vegan protein powder frosting too! I would recommend Orgain.
Tips for these Pumpkin Breakfast Cookies
- Make sure you use plain pumpkin puree not pumpkin pie filling for these one bowl oatmeal cookies.
- Let the pumpkin cookie dough chill in the fridge for a bit so that you can easily roll them into balls and shape them into cookies. Or even make pumpkin cookie bars if that’s something you like!
- If needed, grease your palms with a bit of coconut oil so the mix doesn’t stick to it. This might happen if you don’t have enough oatmeal in the cookie dough.
- Shape the cookies on the baking sheet, because they won’t spread like normal ones.
- Let the soft baked pumpkin cookies cool on the baking sheet itself after taking them out of the oven so they have time firm up. They will be too delicate if you taken them off too soon.
Can you store Pumpkin Puree Cookies?
These pumpkin collagen cookies are a great meal prep option for an on the go breakfast, snack or dessert.
Room temperature: Use this option only if haven’t added the protein frosting. The breakfast cookies should keep in an airtight container for about 2-3 days left out.
Fridge: With icing or no, you can keep these in the refrigerator for even a week – airtight container again.
Freezer: Yes, these pumpkin bread cookies are freezer friendly, so you can definitely freeze them. Let the cookies cool completely, and then place them in freezer-safe zipper bags. Thaw them overnight in the fridge or out at room temperature before eating. They should keep about 3 months.
What makes these Almond Butter Pumpkin Cookies Healthy?
Low calories: With simple ingredients, these pumpkin oat breakfast cookies are a lot lighter than the usual.
Sugar-free : These cookies are naturally sweetened with the pumpkin and a tiny bit of sugar-free maple syrup, so they don’t need any added sugar.
Oil-free: With no added oil or butter in here, these cookies are only packed with healthy fats from the natural oils of the almond butter.
Gluten-free: They use almond flour and coconut flour. You can also switch out the Almond flour for Oat flour (or make your own using rolled oats, instant oats or quick oats) and make pumpkin oat cookies. Use gluten free oats for the GF pumpkin oatmeal cookies.
Dairy-free: No milk or butter here, so these make a good dairy free cookie!
Vegan: These pumpkin bread cookies are made using a flax egg instead of real ones.
Some more Pumpkin Puree Desserts to try:
- Deliciously Healthy Pumpkin Pecan Loaf
- Guilt-free Chocolate Chunk Pumpkin Mug Cake
- Pumpkin Pecan Baked Oatmeal Bars
- Thanksgiving Morning Pumpkin Pie Chia Oatmeal
Diet-friendly Soft Pumpkin Cookies with Protein Icing
Ingredients
- 1 tablespoon Flaxseed Meal
- 2½ tablespoon Water
- ½ cup Pumpkin Puree, 122g, Not pumpkin pie filling
- 3 tablespoon Maple Syrup, sugar-free recommended
- 2 tablespoon Almond Butter, 32g
- 1 teaspoon Vanilla Extract
- ½ cup + 2 Tbsp Almond Flour, about 50g
- ⅓ cup Coconut Flour, about 42g
- 2 scoops Unflavored Collagen, about 2 Tbsp, or more Almond Flour
- 2 teaspoon Pumpkin Spice
- 1 teaspoon Baking Powder
Protein Yogurt Icing
- 2 tablespoon Greek or Coconut Yogurt (for Paleo/Vegan), about 28g
- 1 tablespoon Protein Powder, about 5g
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 350°F.
- Make flax egg: Combine flaxseed meal and water in a small bowl and set aside for 10 min.
- In a large bowl, whisk together pumpkin puree, almond butter, maple syrup and vanilla.
- Add flax egg, almond flour, coconut flour, collagen, pumpkin pie spice and baking soda. Mix.
- Optional: Place bowl in the fridge for about 10 minutes to chill.
- Scoop out about 1-2 tablespoon mixture at a time, roll into balls (using damp/slighty wet hands), and place on a cookie sheet. Flatten or shape as desired (cookies will not spread).
- Bake for 13-15 min or until edges are completely dry and center is just dry to the touch. Let rest on pan for about 5 minutes to firm up. Transfer to wire rack to cool completely.
- To make yogurt protein icing, stir together yogurt and protein powder in a small bowl.
- Spread icing on the cookies and enjoy!
Notes
- Make sure you flatten or shape the cookies on the sheet. They will keep shape and not spread when baking.
- Nutritional value is calculated using products recommended below.
- Cool cookies completely before storing.
- Room temperature: 2 days in an airtight container, without icing.
- Fridge: 4-5 days, in an airtight container.
- Freezer: 3 months in an airtight, freezer-safe bag. Thaw overnight in the
- refrigerator o out at room temperature before eating.
- Lakanto Maple Flavored Syrup
- Vital Proteins Unflavored Collagen Peptides
- Quest Nutrition Vanilla Milkshake Protein Powder
- Servings: 12 2½” cookies | Serving size: 1 cookie with icing
- Calories: 76kcal
- Fat: 4g | Saturated fat: 0.6g
- Carbohydrates: 5.8g | Fiber: 3.1g | Sugar: 1.4g
- Protein: 4.2g
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