These easy keto pumpkin cookies are so soft, moist and chewy! I've topped them with a sugar free cream cheese frosting, but they taste delicious all on their own as well. Since many of you have been asking for nut free recipes, I've decided to make coconut flour pumpkin cookies.
I always get excited when October comes around because it means that pumpkin season is in full swing. I have been stocking up on canned pumpkin and have made sugar free pumpkin pie, pumpkin brownies and these healthy pumpkin bars already.
However, sometimes we want just a LITTLE sweet treat, right? That's where these sugar free pumpkin cookies come in.
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Why you'll love them
- Fabulous fall flavors. The cookies have that classic pumpkin dessert flavor we all love. There's cinnamon, vanilla and a hint of spices such as ginger, nutmeg and allspice. Your kitchen will smell incredible when they are in the oven.
- Soft texture. The crumb is soft and moist, almost like a cake. Whilst blanched almond flour is great to make crunchy cookies, coconut flour naturally lends itself to softer bakes.
- Easy recipe. The recipe is suitable even for beginner bakers. It's so easy! The cookie dough comes together with a fork. Plus, they are ready in just 22 minutes.
- Low in carbs. One cookie contains only 0.9g net carbs.
- Naturally gluten-free. Coconut flour is grain free and naturally gluten free.
Ingredients
I took my 5 ingredient coconut flour cookies as a starting point and added pureed pumpkin and spices:
- Coconut flour - If possible, measure your coconut flour with a scale instead of cups. It's a lot more precise. If you measure in cups, make sure it is levelled.
- Pumpkin puree - Use canned unsweetened pumpkin puree, not a ready-made pumpkin pie mix. You could even make your own homemade pumpkin puree.
- Sweetener - I used a granulated golden monk fruit sweetener. A white granulated erythritol, xylitol or allulose would also work well. For the frosting the sweetener must be powdered (and white) or it would taste grainy.
- Butter - Should be very soft, for both the cookie dough and the frosting. I heated my fridge cold butter in the microwave for 30 seconds.
- Eggs - I always use large, room temperature eggs in baked low carb recipes. It helps with a better rise.
- Pumpkin spice mix - This is a mix of cinnamon, ginger, nutmeg, allspice and cloves. I've given amounts of each in the recipe card if you want to make your own pumpkin pie spice mix.
- Vanilla extract - Check that it is sugar free.
- Baking powder - Test for freshness by putting some in water. If it fizzes, you're good!
- Cream cheese - For the frosting. I used Philadelphia.
Instructions
This section contains step-by-step instructions and photos that show how to make this recipe. See the recipe card for full information on ingredients and quantities
- Combine all ingredients for the cookie dough in a bowl with a fork. Option to also add a pinch of salt.
2. Form a large ball and cut into 8 slices. Cut each slice in half and roll 2 small balls. Place on a baking sheet lined with parchment paper.
3. Use a dessert spoon to flatten into a cookie shape and make hollows into the tops.
4. Bake for 12 minutes, then let cool fully.
5. For the frosting, blend very soft butter, cream cheese, powdered sweetener and vanilla extract until well-combined. Pipe or spoon onto the fully cooled cookies.
Top Tips
Here are a few tips that will help you make perfect keto pumpkin cookies without fail.
Patience! Let the cookie dough sit for a few minutes so the coconut flour can absorb the moisture.
Shape them! These cookies don't rise much, so you want to shape them exactly how you want them.
Don't over-bake. The cookies will be very soft and fragile when fresh out of the oven, but firm up as they cool down. Don't be tempted to over-bake!
Cold cream cheese. My cream cheese was fridge cold, that's why the frosting was ready to use straight away. If your cream cheese is room temperature, you may need to cool the frosting in the fridge before it's ready to use.
Recipe variations
Almond flour pumpkin cookies: I would use 1 cup or 100 grams of almond flour and only one egg. (Note I have not tried this yet myself). You may also want to increase the oven time to up to 15 minutes.
Jazz up the frosting: Add 1 tablespoon pumpkin puree for a proper pumpkin frosting!
Sugar free icing: Can be used instead of the frosting. Simply use the icing I developed for my vanilla coconut flour cake. (If you make icing, there's no need to make hollows into the tops of the cookies.)
Dairy free: Replace the butter with coconut oil in the cookie dough. Use dairy free cream cheese and dairy free butter in the frosting.
Pumpkin chocolate chip cookies: Add a handful sugar free chocolate chips to the cookie dough and omit the frosting.
Storage
At room temperature: Unfrosted cookies can be stored in an airtight cookie jar for up to 1 week.
In the refrigerator: Once they are frosted, low carb pumpkin cookies should be stored in the fridge for up to 4 days.
In the freezer: Freeze the cookies without frosting for up to 3 months. Defrost, then add the frosting straight before serving.
FAQ
Yes, pumpkin is a keto friendly vegetable. 100 grams of pumpkin contain just 7 grams of carbohydrates.
Absolutely. Stick to the same oven time and roll in powdered sweetener while warm or add the sugar free icing mentioned in the recipe variations.
You can get canned pumpkin via Ocado, at Tesco and Waitrose as well as on Amazon. Greengrocers and health food stores stock it from mid October.
More pumpkin recipes
Tried this recipe? Give it a star rating below!
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Recipe
Keto Pumpkin Cookies
from Sugar Free LondonerNote: The servings slider only changes the first amount in each line and not any subsequent amounts. Please make your own calculations where necessary.
Ingredients
Cookies
- ⅓ cup coconut flour 40g
- ⅓ cup butter very soft, 75g
- ⅓ cup pumpkin puree 66g
- 2 eggs large
- 3 tablespoon golden monk fruit sweetener use 4 tablespoon for a sweeter cookie
- 2.5 teaspoon pumpkin spice or 2 teaspoon cinnamon, ¼ teaspoon ginger, ⅛ teaspoon nutmeg, ⅛ teaspoon allspice, pinch of cloves
- ½ teaspoon baking powder
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
Cream Cheese Frosting (optional)
- ¼ cup butter very soft, 50g
- ½ cup cream cheese 120g
- 3-4 tablespoon powdered sweetener
- ½ teaspoon vanilla extract
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 180C / 350F (electric) or 160C / 320F (fan assisted) and line a cookie sheet with parchment paper.
- Stir together all ingredients for the cookie dough in a bowl using a fork.
- Let the cookie dough sit for a few minutes so the coconut flour can absorb the moisture. Then, roll into a ball and cut into 8 slices.
- Halve each slice and roll into two small balls. Place the dough balls on a cookie sheet. Use a dessert spoon to flatten into a cookie shape and to make hollows into the tops.
- Bake for 12 minutes. The cookies will be very soft and fragile when fresh out of the oven, but firm up as they cool down.
Cream Cheese Frosting
- With an electric mixer, blend very soft butter, cream cheese, powdered sweetener and vanilla extract until well-combined.
- Pipe or spoon onto the fully cooled cookies.
Notes
- ⅓ cup / 50g powdered sweetener
- 4 tablespoons heavy cream (or 2 tablespoons almond milk)
- ½ teaspoon vanilla extract
Christina Golden
I love these cookies with the cream cheese icing. It will be a staple in my recipe book. Thank you so much for sharing your recipe!
Anthea
Not sure where I went wrong but cookie result was very far from anything reassembling a cookie. Not light and fluffy. Dense and wet. And I baked a full 3 + 3 + 2 mins over recommended bake time. I saw the batter was wet, even after sitting for 5 minutes so I sprinkled in another teaspoon or so of coconut flour. Still pretty wet but I shaped into balls and flattened with teaspoon… result still very far from cookie texture although they look just fine. What do you suppose happened? FYI, baking in Montréal, Canada. Measured and weighed all (very fresh!) ingredients.
Katrin Nürnberger
Hi Anthea, I don't think you did anything wrong. The cookies are not light and fluffy. As I write in the post, they are soft, moist and chewy, almost like a cake. I always describe the texture as much as I can, so readers are not disappointed because they expect something else. The more coconut flour you add, the denser the end product becomes. Next time you find a dough to be too soft, try putting it in the fridge instead to firm it up. Hope this helps!
Brenda
I love these pumpkin cookies! They are soft and moist and just so good.
Katrin Nürnberger
Hi Brenda, from my experience you CAN freeze cream cheese icing. However, it does not taste quite as good when you defrost it. It you plan to freeze some of the cookies, I would do so without the icing and then add it fresh once you have defrosted them.
ROB AND LINDA
Can you make these in as bar cookies and cut into squares?
Katrin Nürnberger
Yes, I think that would work well. Check for done-ness with a skewer. Baked in a pan, they may take a little longer. Just don't over-bake to prevent them from going dry. You can also try my keto pumpkin bars.
Ralph
Have you ever tried to make these in ball form? I make keto balls and I've been desperately looking for an actual baked pumpkin spice ball recipe! Thanks for everything
Katrin Nürnberger
I haven't tried that, but it would definitely work!
William Snyder
New baker here and they came out great!
Natalie M
Where can we find pumpkin puree in the uk?
Katrin Nürnberger
Ocado has it.
Danielle
I made these yesterday and believe me they sated my yearly thanksgiving craving for pumpkin pie! I wasn't so hot on the icing, I don't know if it was the powdered sweetener I used (and it was erythritol) but it just tasted like butter. Couldn't taste much cream cheese. I haven't binned it though, going to add more cream cheese and vanilla to it later to see if it helps bring out the other flavours. It was nice having an icing that didn't make the roof of my mouth tingle from sweetness though, and I used about half of what's shown on the photo.
I'm making more later. Haha!
Katrin Nürnberger
Glad you like the cookies! If you're not much of a frosting person, simply mix cream cheese with a little sweetener and vanilla extract for a "fresher" taste.
Beth
Gosh these are so delicious! My husband and I both loved these cookies.