Chewy pumpkin spice molasses cookies are perfectly spiced and so delicious! Enjoy these with your cup of coffee or tea this fall.
Is there a dessert or treat that you realllly missed when you went gluten free?
For me, that treat was a molasses cookie from Starbucks. Those cookies were perfectly chewy and spicy, and I loved them.
Well, I’ve come up with a delicious substitution for those Starbucks treats – these gluten free pumpkin spice molasses cookies.
These pumpkin spice molasses cookies are my new favorite fall treat. They are soft, chewy, and so perfect with tea or hot cider.
The best part is, these cookies work really well with many brands of gluten free flour. This time, I made them with the Namaste Perfect Flour blend, and the recipe yielded very chewy, soft cookies that my kids loved.
How to make gluten free pumpkin spice molasses cookies:
- Mix your ingredients.
- Roll the dough into balls, and roll those in a bowl of granulated sugar.
- Place the sugar-coated balls on a baking sheet. Flatten slightly with your hand.
- Bake at 350 for about 10-12 minutes.
- Allow the cookies to cool before eating.
See the video below for how to make these gluten free vegan cookies!
What makes gluten free cookies dry, or gummy, or hard?
Different gluten free flours absorb more or less liquid than others. If you follow this recipe and the dough seems unusually wet or dry, you can add a little more pumpkin puree, or more flour if the dough is too wet.
If your gluten free baked goods are turning out hard or tough, you may be over-mixing the dough. Just mix until combined so the dough doesn’t get tough.
If you make these cookies, or any of my recipes, please share on Instagram, and tag me @prettybeeblog. I love to see what you’ve been baking!
Disclosure: This post contains affiliate links.
Chewy Pumpkin Spice Molasses Cookies (Gluten Free, Vegan).
Perfectly soft and chewy gluten free pumpkin spice molasses cookies are a wonderful treat for fall!
Ingredients
- 2 cups gluten free flour blend Namaste Perfect Flour Blend works well
- ½ cup vegan buttery spread
- ½ cup organic cane sugar
- ¼ cup light brown sugar
- â…› cup molasses
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- â…“ cup pure pumpkin puree
- 1 ¾ teaspoons cinnamon
- ½ teaspoon ginger
- ¼ teaspoon nutmeg
- pinch of cloves
- â…› teaspoon salt
- 1 teaspoon baking soda
- sugar for rolling
Instructions
-
Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Line a cookie sheet with parchment paper.
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In a medium sized bowl, whisk together the gluten free flour, cinnamon, ginger, nutmeg, cloves, baking soda, and salt. Set aside.
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Cream the vegan buttery spread and sugars on medium speed until light and fluffy. Add the molasses, vanilla extract, and pumpkin puree and mix until smooth.
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Add the dry ingredients to the wet ingredients a little at a time while mixing together on low speed.
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Pour a few tablespoons of sugar in a small bowl. Form balls of dough about one inch in diameter and roll in the sugar. Place the balls on the lined cookie sheets and flatten them slightly.
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Bake at 350 degrees for 10-12 minutes. Do not overbake. Let cool for a few minutes on the baking sheet before moving to a wire rack to cool completely.
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Repeat with remaining dough. Makes about 24 cookies.
Recipe Notes
These cookies should work well with most brands of gluten free flour. My recipe for gluten free flour blend works well, too.
If you aren't gluten free, you can use regular flour.
If you aren't dairy free, go ahead and use regular dairy butter.
You should be able to freeze this cookie dough if you like. Scoop onto a cookie sheet, and freeze for one hour, then store the cookie dough balls in a freezer bag. You can store in the freezer for up to 3 months.
This recipe was originally published in October 2015. It has been updated with new photos and text.
Follow along:
Roxie
Amazing cookies!! I unsure about it but made it and they were fluffy and perfect. I am in love with molasses cookies. 💜 Wish I could show everyone a picture.
Kelly Roenicke
So glad you enjoyed them! :)
Danielle
Beautiful cookies and delicious!
Marli
How do these cookies stay together? I can’t imagine them having much binding power without an egg. Please enlighten me :)
Kelly Roenicke
Pumpkin! It really works. :)
Karen Dixon
Hi can you use oil in place of the butter?
Kelly Roenicke
If you can’t do butter or buttery spread, I would recommend palm shortening.
kathy
Hi Kelli….I just made your no-bake sunbutter granola bars from your cookbook and after the 2 hours of letting set before cutting, they are still soft. Yours in the picture of your cookbook, look hard like granola bars. Should they be?
Kelly Roenicke
Can you try refrigerating them before cutting them? That will help them set.
Julia Mueller
These are making my mouth water, and you officially have me thinking about pumpkin! Love me some molasses cookies – I’m anxious to try these soon!
kathy
Those look yummy….great recipe, but right now, I’m not suppose to have pumpkin. I’m still in the food allergy process of adding things back in slowly. I’m so excited, as yesterday I added oats back in and so far, so good. Hard to tell when I have daily headaches still, but no other adverse reaction. In fact, I went straight to your cookbook I bought to see all the OAT recipes you have in there that I couldn’t make before. I’m excited to get to try them. But right now I can only have oats once a week, not to overdue. Thanks for this blog. It really has helped me for my adult kids when they come home with allergies and then for myself now, just finding out in the last year more foods I can’t have. I miss the Starbucks cranberry bars when they come out at Christmas time and I REALLY miss the pumpkin spice latte’s. Maybe some day.
Kelly Roenicke
You could try these with sweet potato puree, if that works for your dietary needs!
Emily
I picked up some molasses and pumpkin at TJ’s because…fall!! ? and then I hit up pinterest to find some recipes. I started making this recipe and then realized there was no egg in it (gfdf not vegan). I was nervous about that BUT these are AMAZING. I use the mix from “cooking for Isaiah” thanks for a yummy fall recipe!!
Kelly Roenicke
Yay! So glad you liked these! Thanks for letting me know.
Susan
Will this turn out using normal butter?
Kelly Roenicke
Yes, it sure will!