Gluten Free Pumpkin Oatmeal Cookies

These Gluten-Free Pumpkin Oatmeal Cookies are soft, chewy, and packed with warm fall flavors. Adding the oats gives them a satisfying texture. These gluten-free cookies will become a family favorite after the first bite and your newest fall tradition!

Quick and Easy Gluten-Free Cookie Recipe

Fall has always been my favorite time of year for baking, and pumpkin and fall spices inevitably make their way into just about everything I cook! That’s not a bad thing since pumpkin is a nutritionally dense ingredient packed full of vitamins, minerals, and antioxidants.

For this gluten-free cookie recipe, we combine pumpkin puree, warm spices, and pecans with gluten-free flour and oats. The combination creates a soft cookie with the perfect amount of chewiness. The smooth glaze at the end provides the perfect finish and elevates them to a crazy delicious level. These pumpkin oatmeal cookies might be the best oatmeal cookies I’ve ever eaten. And they’re gluten-free!

What is Pumpkin Pie Spice?

You can purchase pre-mixed pumpkin pie spice blends at the grocery store or specialty sites like Penzys. These blends are nicely balanced and smell amazing.

But you can also make your own pumpkin spice blend at home with seasonings you already have in your pantry. Pumpkin spice typically mixes cinnamon, ginger, cloves, nutmeg, and (sometimes) allspice. My favorite combination is 1 tsp cinnamon, 1/2 tsp ginger, 1/4 tsp cloves, 1/4 tsp allspice, and 1/8 tsp nutmeg. But feel free to adjust this ratio as you like. Spice blends are meant to be personal.

What You’ll Need

These tasty gluten-free cookies are a breeze to pull together. Be sure to check out the recipe card below this post, as it includes the specific amounts of each ingredient.

For the Cookies

• Gluten-Free Flour: You can use your favorite gluten-free flour for this recipe.
• Pumpkin Pie Spice: A blend of cinnamon, nutmeg, cloves, ginger, and (sometimes) allspice.
• Baking Soda
• Salt
• Unsalted Butter
• Brown Sugar
• Egg
• Pumpkin Puree: I use canned puree in this recipe
• Maple Syrup
• Gluten-Free Rolled Oats
• Pecans

To Make the Glaze

• Monk Fruit Sugar: Monk fruit sugar is a no-calorie sweetener that we use to lower our intake of sugar. If you’d like to use regular sugar for this recipe, you can make it a 1:1 swap.
• Maple Syrup
• Pumpkin Pie Spice: A blend of cinnamon, nutmeg, cloves, ginger, and (sometimes) allspice.
• Water

How to Make Gluten-Free Pumpkin Oatmeal Cookies

This gluten-free cookie recipe is absolutely fool-proof if you follow the steps below.

To Make the Cookies

• Preheat the Oven. Preheat the oven to 350°F.
• Prepare the Baking Sheets. Line 2 large baking sheets with parchment paper or silicone baking mats.
• Combine the Dry Ingredients. In a medium mixing bowl, combine the gluten-free flour, pumpkin pie spice, baking soda, and salt. Whisk the ingredients together until they are fully incorporated.
• Beat the Butter and Sugar. In a large mixing bowl, beat the butter and brown sugar with an electric mixer on medium speed. Keep going until the mixture is light and fluffy. This should take between 2-3 minutes.
• Add Egg, Pumpkin, and Maple Syrup. Add the egg, pumpkin puree, and maple syrup to the creamed butter and sugar. Beat the ingredients until they’re fully combined.
• Add the Flour Mixture. Gradually add the flour mixture to the wet ingredients. Continue mixing the ingredients until they make a nicely incorporated dough. 
• Add the Oats and Nuts. With a spatula, gently fold the gluten-free oats and pecans into the cookie dough. Avoid over-stirring.
• Chill. Cover the mixing bowl tightly with plastic and set it in the refrigerator to cool. Chill for about 30 minutes.
• Form Cookie Dough Balls. Scoop out 16 balls of dough and arrange them 2 inches apart on the 2 prepared baking sheets. I like to use a cookie scoop to ensure all my cookies are the same size. If you don’t have a cookie scoop, you can use a soup spoon to help you keep the balls even.
• Bake. Bake the cookies until they’re firm and lightly browned. This should take between 14-16 minutes. I like to switch the top and bottom cookie sheets around about mid-way through cooking to help them all cook at the same time. If you don’t want to do this step, the bottom tray may need another minute or two to finish cooking.
• Cool. Let the cookies cool on the baking sheet for a few minutes. Then, transfer them to a wire rack to finish cooling completely.

For the Glaze

• Combine the Ingredients. Whisk together the monk fruit sugar, maple syrup, and pumpkin pie spice in a small bowl. Add water, 1 teaspoon at a time, until the icing is thick but pourable. If you add too much water and the icing becomes runny, add a little more monk fruit sugar to thicken it back up.
• Glaze the Cookies. Drizzle the icing over the cooled cookies. I like to use a fork to get a nice effect, but you can do this however you’d like. You can even dip the tops if you’d like a lot of icing!
• Let the Icing Set. Place the iced cookies back on the cooling rack to let the icing set. This should take about 15 minutes.
• Serve. Once the icing is set, serve these gluten-free cookies and enjoy!

Can I Make the Dough Ahead of Time?

Yes! You can chill the dough overnight if you’d like, or put the dough balls in an airtight container in the fridge for 2-3 days.

You can also freeze this gluten-free cookie dough. In fact, whenever I make cookies, I like to make a double batch so I can freeze some for later. It makes future batches of cookies a breeze.

Put the cookie dough balls on a baking sheet and place that directly in the freezer. Once the dough is frozen, transfer them to a freezer-safe bag and freeze them for up to 2 months. When you’re ready to make cookies, pop the dough out of the freezer and bake from frozen! Just be sure to add a few more minutes to the cooking time when you do this.

Tips for Success

Here are some quick tips to improve your experience with these gluten-free pumpkin oatmeal cookies.

• Freeze the Dough to Speed Things Up. If you’re rushed for time, pop the cookie dough in the freezer instead of the fridge. This will shorten the chill time to just 10-15 minutes. Just be sure you don’t let the dough freeze. You want it to be cold and firm – not frozen.
• Line the Baking Sheet. Parchment paper or a silicone baking mat is the gold standard for cookie baking. Using either will ensure your cookies never stick to the baking pan. 
• Accommodate Cookie Spread. Since these cookies have oatmeal, they don’t spread too much. But they do spread a little. It’s always better to err on the side of giving your cookies too much room to avoid having them run into each other.

Serving Suggestions

These cookies are obviously great on their own, but they’re extra good paired with a glass of milk or cup of Pumpkin Cream Cold Brew. I think this would be especially tasty when the cookies are fresh out of the oven!

How to Store Extra Cookies

These cookies can be kept in an airtight container for up to 5 days at room temperature. If you store these gluten-free cookies in a taller container, include a layer of parchment between the cookies. This will prevent the icing on the bottom cookie from sticking to the one on top.

Can I Freeze Gluten-Free Pumpkin Oatmeal Cookies?

Yes, you can absolutely freeze these pumpkin oatmeal cookies. Since they’re glazed, I recommend freezing them on a cookie tray for a few hours. When they’re completely frozen, place them in a freezer-safe bag for up to 2 months. Freezing them like this prevents the icing from sticking to the bag.

When you’re ready to eat, bring them out of the freezer to the counter and let them thaw.

More Tasty Gluten-Free Cookie Recipes

• Gluten-Free Trail Mix Cookies
• Gluten-Free Double Chocolate Cherry Cookies
• Gluten-Free Ginersnaps