Gluten-Free Pumpkin Oatmeal Cookies
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These gluten-free pumpkin oatmeal cookies have the soft, chewy texture of a classic oatmeal cookie, laced with all the flavors of fall. You’ll love the combination of spices, pumpkin, brown butter, and vanilla!
Confession: I’ve been counting down the days until it was officially “allowed” to post fall recipes. Fall is one my favorite seasons for baking, second only to the holidays, in my book. Especially when it’s something as delicious as these gluten-free pumpkin oatmeal cookies.
This gluten-free pumpkin cookies recipe has a soft, chewy texture that’s INCREDIBLE paired with the glossy vanilla glaze. Every bite is packed with warm spices, plenty of pumpkin flavor, and delicious caramel-like notes from the brown butter. They’re a delight from start to finish–the perfect fall cookie recipe!
Best of all, you don’t need any fancy ingredients to make them…
Simple Ingredients To Get Started
This pumpkin oatmeal cookies recipe is a twist on our classic Gluten-Free Iced Oatmeal Cookies, so if the ingredients look familiar, they ARE! We’ve added pumpkin puree, and warm spices for delicious flavor. Let’s take a look:
- Pumpkin Puree. To be clear, you want unsweetened pumpkin puree NOT canned pumpkin pie filling.
- Butter. We’ll be making brown butter for extra flavor. This adds rich notes of caramel and toffee, which work beautifully with the pumpkin spice vibes we’ve got going on.
- Sugar & Brown Sugar. Combining granulated sugar (white sugar) with light brown sugar helps you get just the right texture. If you prefer a deeper molasses flavor, feel free to use dark brown sugar instead of light brown!
- An Egg Yolk. Since we’re getting plenty of structure from the pumpkin and we don’t want these cookies getting too cakey, we just need the egg yolk for these cookies. Save the white for another use (like scrambled eggs!).
- Vanilla Extract. Plenty of vanilla forever and always.
- Gluten-Free Oats. Make sure to use certified gluten-free ROLLED oats (sometimes labeled old-fashioned oats) to avoid cross contamination.
- Gluten-Free Flour. We love and recommend King Arthur Measure-For-Measure gluten-free flour blend for these pumpkin oatmeal cookies. If you use another 1:1 blend, be sure it contains xanthan gum and measure carefully!
- Warm Spices. I love a mix of cinnamon, nutmeg, ginger, and cloves. You get all those lovely pumpkin spice notes in just the right ratios!
- Baking Soda & Salt. For just the right tenderness, spread, and balance of flavors.
- A Quick Vanilla Glaze. Then, we’ll finish up with a quick vanilla glaze, made from powdered sugar, a little milk, and more vanilla. Easy peasy!
How To Make Glazed Pumpkin Oatmeal Cookies Step By Step
As always, you can find the full recipe with ingredient amounts, detailed instructions, and tips in the recipe card below!
First, Make The Cookies
- Preheat The Oven & Prep The Pans. To start, preheat the oven to 350 degrees F. Line two baking sheets with parchment paper and set aside.
- Brown The Butter. In a light-colored saucepan, melt butter over medium heat, whisking constantly, until the butter is fully melted and begins to bubble. Continue cooking over medium heat and let it caramelize and brown. When the butter looks deeply golden brown under the foam, smells sweet and caramel-y, and you can see brown specks at the bottom, remove the pan from the heat. Transfer butter to a heatproof bool to cool to room temperature while you work on the next few steps.
- Blot The Pumpkin. To remove some of the liquid from the pumpkin, layer 2 layers of paper towels on a plate. Spread the pumpkin puree out over the paper towels and top with another 1-2 layers of paper towels. Press down to soak up some of the liquid. (Ideally, the pumpkin puree should now be 1 cup or just under 1 cup. If you still have more than 1 cup of pumpkin, continue blotting until you get down to about 1 cup.)
- Combine The Dry Ingredients. In a medium bowl, combine gluten-free oats, gluten-free flour, cinnamon, nutmeg, ginger, cloves, baking soda, and salt. Whisk to combine.
- Mix Butter & Sugar. In the bowl of a stand mixer (or a large bowl), combine cooled brown butter, sugar, and brown sugar. Mix with the paddle attachment or a hand mixer 1-2 minutes, or until the mixture looks like wet sand.
- Finish The Wet Ingredients. Mix in the pumpkin puree, then add the egg yolk and mix to combine. Mix in the vanilla and scrape down the sides of the bowl.
- Mix In The Dry Ingredients. Next, add the dry ingredients and mix until just combined. Scrape down the sides of the bowl again and check that everything is blended evenly.
- Scoop & Bake Cookies. Use a medium cookie scoop to measure 2 Tablespoon balls of dough. (I do NOT roll these smooth, I just scoop them directly onto a prepared baking sheet to avoid packing the dough together.) Bake 6-8 cookies at a time for 12-14 minutes. Let the cookies cool 2 minutes on the baking sheet before transferring to a wire rack. Repeat this process, alternating baking sheets with each batch so you don’t put cool dough on a hot baking sheet.
Mix Up The Glaze & Decorate Cookies
- Mix Up The Glaze. When all the cookies are baked, start the glaze. In a medium mixing bowl, combine powdered sugar, 2 Tablespoons milk and the vanilla. Mix in the additional milk 1/2 teaspoon at a time, as needed, until you have a smooth, thick vanilla glaze that can slowly drip down from your whisk. Keep in mind that you want it quite thick so it looks mostly opaque on the cookies.
- Glaze Cookies. Working one cookie at a time, hold the cooking in your hand face-down and lower into the glaze until the cookie JUST touches the surface of the glaze. Gently shake off any extra glaze, then set the cookie glaze side up on a wire cooling rack to set. Ideally, you want the glaze to cover the ridge of the top of the cookie, with little cracks visible in between. Repeat until all cookies are glazed.
- Serve & Store. Let the glaze set completely, then enjoy cookies. Store leftover pumpkin oatmeal cookies in an airtight container at room temperature 2-3 days, or in the freezer up to 2 months. (When storing, store in a single layer to avoid messing up the glaze!)
Cookie Baking Tips to Help You
FAQ + Tricks For The Best Gluten-Free Pumpkin Oatmeal Cookies
Scoop, Don’t Roll The Dough. This pumpkin oatmeal cookie dough will definitely be on the soft and sticky side, more like a thick batter than a cookie dough. Instead of trying to scoop the cookie dough balls into your hands and roll them smooth, just scoop them directly onto the cookie sheet. This will save you a mess AND help the cookies spread perfectly.
Measure The Flour Carefully! On that note, we highly recommend using metric measurements and a kitchen scale whenever possible, for the best results, but if you don’t have one, scoop and level the flour to avoid packing extra flour into the measuring cups. Otherwise, your cookies won’t spread properly!
Can I Just Use Pumpkin Spice Instead? Technically yes, but I really think you get the best flavor from using our blend of cozy fall spices.
Try A Maple Glaze! If you prefer, you can add a drop or two of maple extract to the vanilla glaze. (A little bit goes a long way!) It’s a bold flavor, but it’s lovely with the other fall flavors in these cookies! Another option is to use 1 teaspoon of maple syrup in the glaze.
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Tell me all about it! Leave a star rating below when you try our Gluten-Free Pumpkin Oatmeal Cookies recipe. I can’t wait to hear how it goes!
Gluten-Free Pumpkin Oatmeal Cookies
This soft, chewy gluten-free pumpkin oatmeal cookie recipe is perfect for pumpkin season! Every bite combines warm spices, pumpkin flavor, caramel notes from the brown butter, and vanilla glaze. YUM!
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Servings: 34 -35 cookies
Ingredients
For The Pumpkin Oatmeal Cookies:
- 1 cup butter cut into cubes (226 grams/2 sticks)
- 1 ¼ cup pumpkin puree
- 2 cups gluten-free rolled oats* (170 grams)
- 1 ½ cups gluten-free measure-for-measure flour (180 grams)
- 1 ½ teaspoons ground cinnamon
- ½ teaspoon nutmeg
- ½ teaspoon ground ginger
- ¼ teaspoon ground cloves
- 1 teaspoon baking soda
- ½ teaspoon salt
- 1 cup granulated sugar (200 grams)
- ⅔ cup light brown sugar (135 grams)
- 1 egg yolk
- 2 teaspoons vanilla extract
Vanilla Glaze:
- 1 ½ cups powdered sugar (180 grams)
- 2-3 Tablespoons milk
- ¼ teaspoon vanilla extract
Instructions
First, Make The Cookies:
- Preheat The Oven & Prep The Pans. To start, preheat the oven to 350 degrees F. Line two baking sheets with parchment paper and set aside.
- Brown The Butter. In a light-colored saucepan, melt butter over medium heat, whisking constantly, until the butter is fully melted and begins to bubble. Continue cooking over medium heat and let it caramelize and brown. When the butter looks deeply golden under the foam, smells sweet and caramel-y, and you can see brown specks at the bottom, remove the pan from the heat. Transfer butter to a heatproof bool to cool to room temperature while you work on the next few steps.
- Blot The Pumpkin. To remove some of the liquid from the pumpkin, layer 2 layers of paper towels on a plate. Spread the pumpkin puree out over the paper towels and top with another 1-2 layers of paper towels. Press down to soak up some of the liquid. (Ideally, the pumpkin puree should now be 1 cup or just under 1 cup. If you still have more than 1 cup of pumpkin, continue patting/blotting until you get down to about 1 cup.)
- Combine The Dry Ingredients. In a medium bowl, combine gluten-free oats, gluten-free flour, cinnamon, nutmeg, ginger, cloves, baking soda, and salt. Whisk to combine.
- Mix Butter & Sugar. In the bowl of a stand mixer (or a large mixing bowl), combine cooled brown butter, sugar, and brown sugar. Mix 1-2 minutes, or until the mixture looks like wet sand.
- Finish The Wet Ingredients. Mix in the pumpkin puree, then add the egg yolk and mix to combine. Mix in the vanilla and scrape down the sides of the bowl.
- Mix In The Dry Ingredients. Next, add the dry ingredients and mix until just combined. Scrape down the sides of the bowl again and check that everything is blended evenly.
- Scoop & Bake Cookies. Use a medium cookie scoop to measure 2 Tablespoon balls of dough. (I do NOT roll these smooth, I just scoop them directly onto a prepared baking sheet to avoid packing the dough together.) Bake 6-8 cookies at a time for 12-14 minutes. Let the cookies cool 2 minutes on the baking sheet before transferring to a wire rack. Repeat this process, alternating baking sheets with each batch so you don’t put cool dough on a hot baking sheet.
Next, Make The Glaze & Finish The Cookies:
- Mix Up The Glaze. When all the cookies are baked, start the glaze. In a medium mixing bowl, combine powdered sugar, 2 Tablespoons milk and the vanilla. Mix in the additional milk 1/2 teaspoon at a time, as needed, until you have a smooth, thick vanilla glaze that can slowly drip down from your whisk. Keep in mind that you want it quite thick so it looks mostly opaque on the cookies.
- Glaze Cookies. Working one cookie at a time, hold the cooking in your hand face-down and lower into the glaze until the cookie JUST touches the surface of the glaze. Gently shake off any extra glaze, then set the cookie glaze side up on a wire rack to set. Ideally, you want the glaze to cover the ridge of the top of the cookie, with little cracks visible in between. Repeat until all cookies are glazed.
- Serve & Store. Let the glaze set completely, then enjoy cookies. Store leftover pumpkin oatmeal cookies in an airtight container at room temperature 2-3 days, or in the freezer up to 2 months. (When storing, store in a single layer to avoid messing up the glaze!)
Notes
- Gluten-Free Oats. To stay celiac safe, be sure to use certified gluten-free ROLLED oats (sometimes labeled “old-fashioned oats”) for these cookies. We don’t recommend quick oats here since they’ll change the texture and shape of the cookies.
- Gluten-Free Flour. We love and recommend King Arthur Measure-For-Measure Gluten-Free Flour blend. If you use another brand of 1:1 flour, be sure it contains xanthan gum. Make sure to weigh the flour or measure carefully using the scoop and level method to avoid packing extra flour into the cookies.
- Pumpkin Puree. Use unsweetened pumpkin puree (we recommend Libby’s) NOT pumpkin pie filling. Also, don’t skip the blotting step or your cookies will be much more wet. It’s important for the structure of soft, but chewy cookies.
- Drizzle The Glaze. If the dipping seems too time consuming, or you’re simply looking for a different look, feel free to drizzle the glaze over the cooled cookies instead of dipping them.
Video
Find the recipe:
sweetsandthankyou.com/gluten-free-pumpkin-oatmeal-cookies/
These bring back so many memories. They taste just like the best parts of childhood. The frosting on it is perfect and the cookies get that chewy crispness which I love in a cookie.
Just made these and they are delicious!!! They are so easy and I agree….putting the amount of spice you have in the recipe is spot on! Thank you so much for this recipe!
I’m SO glad they were a win for you!!! Thanks so much for taking the time to leave such a kind review!