If you love pumpkin and snickerdoodles, you've come to the right place. These Healthy Pumpkin Snickerdoodles are not only delish, but they are gluten free & sugar free with AIP options as well as egg & dairy-free options.
This is one of our all-time favorite cookie recipes–we hope you love it too!
Pumpkin recipes are just one of my favorite things no matter what time of year it is. We have a few of our favorites on the blog like these Soft Pumpkin Cookies, and homemade pumpkin pie spice, and even a dairy-free pumpkin creamer, but these Pumpkin Snickerdoodles are something special.
They're a gluten-free cookie and they're so good – my boys ask for them pretty much every time I tell them I feel like baking :).
Because these Pumpkin Snickerdoodle Cookies are just that good.
And for a cookie, these are quite healthy and adaptable to almost any special diet. Not only are the gluten-free and —these fabulous cookies can now be made grain-free and low-carb.
Yes, grain-free — easily. Read on…
Pumpkin Snickerdoodles – the perfect fall healthy treat
In my “neck of the woods” the weather is cooling and the leaves are changing.
It's amazing to me how beautiful it all becomes.
Just looking out our deck window right now it's amazing how gorgeous the colors are. A real masterpiece by God on display for all of us.
The air is crisp and at least in the U.S. something makes us all think of pumpkins, apples and the like.
So in my house, we've been perfecting a recipe for Pumpkin Chia Pudding (truth is, my son asks for this daily so I am keeping the canned pumpkin industry in business :-)) and have tried a few pumpkin shakes, but these Pumpkin Snickerdoodles remain one of our favorites.
Super yummy and super adaptable to special diets, and of course, when you make your own cookies instead of buying store bought, you are most likely getting better ingredients while also saving a TON of money :-)!
Literally, every time I talk about baking cookies, my sons ask for these.
And if you're in the mood for snickerdoodles now, but don't feel like baking, try my 5-Minute Snickerdoodle Cookie Dough Balls.
More On these Snickerdoodles
1. You could also use my Best Cinnamon Sugar as a topping for these cookies. I keep that in a little container in with my spices so it's readily available.
2. For better health, you could also soak the flours overnight, per instructions in my post on How and Why to Soak Grains. Be warned, however…you will get quite a workout mixing a batter this thick after it soaks :-). Also, I am not sure I like the taste of cookies after they've soaked. For some reason the fermenting process doesn't go so well with these cookies.
3. Note that the cookies don't spread out much when baking, so as much as you press them down, that is the size that the baked cookie will be.
And a note about Tiger Nuts. I'll be sharing more about them soon, but here are a few details. You can find them on Amazon here. They are NOT NUTS, but they're a fabulous treat and source of flour that is 100% gluten free, nut free, allergen free, dairy free, high in fiber, low in calories & fats, high in nutrition and they taste great.
You can also find Tiger Nut Flour here. The nuts themselves are a great snack (I LOVE them), plus the flour can pretty much be substituted 1:1 in any recipe you use.
Other Healthy Fall Recipes
– Nut Butter Fruit Dip (perfect for apples, pears, whatever :-). It's even great drizzled on cake, cookies, ice cream, or warm cereal
– Super Pumpkin Pie Spice
– Paleo Shepherd's Pie (with roasted veggies)
– Healthier Gourmet Caramel Apples
Recipe Notes and Substitutions for Pumpkin Snickerdoodles
- Sweetener: Although I use xylitol for a candida-friendly option, you can substitute any healthy sweetener.
- Egg Substitute: My Homemade Powdered Egg Replacer is a great homemade option for an egg substitute. A flax egg or chia egg would be great as well.
- Flour: See my Gluten-Free Baking Tips for gluten-free flour blend info. For grain free, use either organic tiger nut flour, which is also AIP, or 3 cups organic almond flour, for low carb. If using almond flour, increase the baking soda by 50% and use only 1/4 cup coconut oil. Will update the post after I try it!
- THM: For those on the Trim Healthy Mama plan, this recipe is a crossover unless you use the almond flour option, which will make these snickerdoodles qualify as an “S.”
Pumpkin Snickerdoodles - gluten, dairy, & sugar free w/ vegan & grain-free options
Ingredients
Cookies:
- 1/2 cup organic coconut oil (or healthy fat alternative like butter)
- 3/4 cup xylitol
- 1 large egg or equivalent substitute
- 1/2 cup organic pumpkin puree
- 1/2 tsp organic pure vanilla extract
- 2 cups flour (whole grain preferred. Use Almond Flour for grain-free. See Recipe Notes)
- 1 tsp organic cinnamon
- 1/2 tsp organic nutmeg
- 1/2 tsp organic ground ginger
- 3/4 tsp baking soda
- 1/2 tsp salt
Cinnamon Coating
- 1/2 cup granulated sweetener (as healthy as possible)
- 1 tsp organic cinnamon
- 1/4 tsp organic nutmeg
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 350 degrees Fahrenheit.
- Combine ingredients for Cinnamon Coating and set aside for later use.
- Combine flour, salt, baking soda and spices in a medium-sized bowl.
- If coconut oil is not soft enough to mix easily, melt in a pan over low heat. Place in a bowl.
- Add sweetener and egg (or substitute) to the softened oil. Beat well. Add pumpkin puree and vanilla. Beat well again.
- Add dry ingredients to wet ingredients. Mix thoroughly, but do not over-mix.
- Take a small amount of dough (I use a small cookie scoop for this process), roll into balls, drop in cinnamon sugar topping, and roll to coat. (NOTE: For gluten-free cookies, the smaller the cookie the better as they will crumble more easily than those made with gluten flours.)
- Place on a baking stone or cookie sheet (I highly recommend baking stones) about 2 inches apart, flattening a bit with your hand (or the bottom of a glass).
- Bake for about 10 minutes, or until slightly golden brown.
- Cool for approximately 5 minutes before removing from baking sheet to cool on a cooling rack.
- Try not to eat them all at once :-).
Nutrition
The above nutrition facts are estimates only. Please read my Nutrition Disclaimer here.
I hope you love these as much as we do and that you and your family have time to enjoy the wonderful beauty of fall (if it is on display where you live), or whatever beauty there is around you.
What pumpkin or apple recipes do you enjoy in the fall?
Edina says
January 21, 2019 at 9:30 pmI just want to let you know I make these on a regular basis and I use flex eggs and for the 2 cup flour I use 1 cup brown rice flour, 1/2 cup white rice flour and 1/2 cup tapioca or arrowroot powder. I also used buckwheat flour instead of brown rice flour. They turned out great. We have to use these because of food allergies.
Adrienne says
January 21, 2019 at 11:27 pmThank you and so glad you like them! They are favorites for us too! I hope to have more recipes coming up soon including another egg substitute. Stay tuned!
Nikki McKnight says
October 27, 2018 at 1:01 pmI’d like to bring these to our church fundraiser tomorrow but must be Keto friendly. I was going to try the suggestion you made about the almond flour with increased baking soda and decreased coconut oil. Do you try that already? If so, how did it turn out?
Adrienne says
October 27, 2018 at 6:46 pmHi there – we did it but made one mistake—we added too much coconut oil – they were really tasty but a bit soft so I think if we did the proportions correctly they will work. Sorry about that! Hope I’m not too late responding. These are amazing: https://wholenewmom.com/recipes/low-carb-almond-crescent-cookies/ You could do those for sure!!
Maria says
October 16, 2018 at 12:44 pmThese look utterly delicious! I’m craving them so bad with my coffee right now. Best thing – I can enjoy them guilt free!
Adrienne says
October 16, 2018 at 12:47 pmThanks, Maria! We made a triple batch this week (working out the kinks in the grain-free almond flour option) and they were gone in a (way too) short time! Hope you can make them soon!