How to Make Chewy, Gluten-free Pumpkin Chocolate Chip Cookies

Make the chewiest, most delicious gluten-free pumpkin chocolate chip cookies with a caramel twist. You’ll have a hard time not going back for seconds!

The air is crisp, the leaves are fluttering in the wind, and cinnamon and sugar fill the air. With Halloween right around the corner, I always need a way to satisfy my pumpkin cravings. My absolute favorite way to curb this craving is to make a batch of one of my favorite desserts—gluten-free pumpkin chocolate chip cookies.

We’ve mentioned it a few times in other posts, but fall really is one of our favorite seasons. There are so many holidays and festivals focused on fantastic decorations, spending time with loved ones, and eating every kind of good food you can think of. Through October, big-box stores and side road stops are covered with pumpkins just waiting to become a household Halloween staple. And what better way to celebrate the spookiest holiday than by making gluten-free pumpkin cookies and carving Jack-O’-Lanterns. Also, to embrace the coming of the holiday seasons, we’ve decided to give all of our readers a special treat by publishing two articles this week. Check out our other article, “Easy, Homemade Salted Caramel Maple Sauce From Scratch,” to see the recipe for the caramel sauce we used with these cookies.

How to make gluten-free pumpkin chocolate chip cookies

Make the cookie dough

Put the butter, lard, and caramel in a medium saucepan and melt on medium-low heat. If you don’t have lard, you can substitute extra butter. Once the solids are fully melted, add the maple syrup, eggs, and pumpkin puree, then mix it all together.

After that, add vanilla, baking soda, baking powder, cream of tartar, nutmeg, ginger, cloves, allspice, cardamom, cayenne pepper, cinnamon, and salt. Stir until fully incorporated.

Once the spices are mixed in, add the all-purpose flour and mix until it’s fully incorporated. The dough should be able to hold its form and have a slight tackiness to it without being so sticky or dry that it is unmanageable. If it’s too sticky, add more flour. If it’s too dry, add some water. Once you have the right consistency, add the chocolate chips and mix them in. I’m a chocolate morsel fan, but feel free to use whatever chocolate chips are to your liking. Add extra chocolate chips if desired.

Portion and Roll

Roll out ping-pong sized dough balls with a cookie scoop or your hands. Place each ball onto a lined baking sheet. Flatten the cookies until they are about an inch and a half thick.

Bake

Bake at 350 degrees Fahrenheit for 12 to 15 minutes. Test the cookies by inserting a toothpick into your thickest cookie. If it comes out clean, the cookies are done! If it doesn’t come out clean, leave the cookies in the oven for another couple of minutes and check again.

Cool

We wouldn’t blame if you if you tried to eat these gluten-free pumpkin chocolate chip cookies as soon as they come out of the oven. However, we would recommend—purely for safety reasons—that you let the cookies cool on a separate plate or cooling rack for at least a few minutes before digging in. This will let the cookies reach their perfect consistency as they finish cooking from the inside, and it will keep them from burning your tastebuds before you get the chance to enjoy the flavor.

Decorate

Add a mouthwatering drizzle of caramel at the very end to add a finishing touch to the cookies. Or, if you prefer not to get your hands dirty, have some warm caramel to dip these into.

How to store gluten-free cookies

If you enjoy these pumpkin chocolate chip cookies like we did, you might be tempted to eat them all before you get the chance to store them. That being said, gluten-free flour is more finicky than regular flour and tends to go bad much more quickly. We suggest storing your cookies in an airtight bag in the freezer if you suspect it will take you more than a couple of weeks to eat them all. To warm the cookies up, we put them in our air fryer, set it to 400 degrees Fahrenheit, and take them out once it finishes preheating. The process should be about the same in a conventional oven as well. These cookies should last up to 6 months in the freezer.

If you don’t wish to freeze these, just store them in the fridge. They’ll last about two weeks.

Gluten-Free Pumpkin Cookies From Scratch

Yield: 12 Cookies

Prep Time: 30 minutes

Cook Time: 12 minutes

Total Time: 42 minutes

Curb those pumpkin spice cravings with the most delicious pumpkin chocolate chip cookies with a caramel twist! These can be made gluten free or non-gluten free.

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Ingredients

• 4 Tbsp salted butter
• 1 Tbsp lard (or another Tbsp of salted butter)
• 2 Tbsp maple syrup
• 1 Tbsp caramel + extra for drizzle if desired
• 2 large eggs (room temperature)
• 1/2 cup pumpkin puree
• 1 tsp vanilla
• 1/2 tsp baking soda
• 1/4 tsp baking powder
• 1/4 tsp cream of tartar
• 1/8 tsp nutmeg
• 1/8 tsp ginger
• 1/4 tsp clovers
• 1/4 tsp allspice
• a pinch of cardamom
• 1/8 tsp cayenne pepper
• 1 1/2 tsp cinnamon
• 1/4 tsp salt
• 2 cups gluten-free all-purpose flour blend
• 3/4 cup dark chocolate chips

Instructions

1. Preheat your oven to 350 degrees Fahrenheit.
2. Melt the butter, lard, and caramel together on medium-low heat. Then, add the maple syrup, eggs, and pumpkin puree, and mix until fully incorporated.
3. Add the vanilla, baking soda, baking powder, cream of tartar, nutmeg, ginger, cloves, allspice, cardamom, cayenne pepper, cinnamon, and salt. Stir until fully incorporated.
4. Add 2 cups flour and mix in until the flour has incorporated completely into the rest of the dough. Add the chocolate chips and mix them evenly into the cookie dough.
5. Using either an ice cream scoop or your hands, scoop out ping-pong-sized cookie dough balls and put them on a lined baking sheet.
6. Flatten the cookies out to be around an inch and a half thick.
7. Once your oven is preheated, put the cookies in. Cook for 12–15 minutes.
8. Test your cookies with a toothpick. Once the toothpick comes out clean, take the cookies out and put them on a cooling rack.
9. Once cooled, drizzle caramel on top of the cookies and enjoy!

Notes

Check out Easy, Homemade Caramel Maple Sauce From Scratch Recipe for the caramel we combine with these delicious cookies!

Frequently asked questions:

How do I convert these gluten-free pumpkin chocolate chip cookies to be non-gluten free?

I’m allergic to wheat, so I don’t have a lot of practice with non-gluten-free baking. However, my flour blend should be 1:1 with a wheat flour blend, so feel free to replace the gluten-free flour with your regular all-purpose flour blend. That being said, you may have to adjust the amount of flour you add. After 1 1/2 cups, try adding 1/4 cup at a time until your dough has reached the correct consistency: soft but not sticky.

How do I fix too sticky of dough?

This dough is already a stickier one thanks to the caramel and pumpkin. If it’s unmanageable, don’t fret. Just add another tablespoon of flour, mix it in, and test again. Keep adding a tablespoon of flour at a time until the dough is manageable.

How do I fix too dry of dough?

There are a couple different ways to fix too dry of a dough. The best way to fix it with this recipe is to add a tablespoon of water until the dough reaches a consistency where it sticks together but isn’t sticking to your hands.

Can I bake these from frozen?

Absolutely! I would recommend thawing the dough if you choose to freeze it before baking. Once the dough has been thawed enough to work with, follow the directions as normal.