Spiced Pumpkin Cookies
It’s fall again and my craving for some pumpkin based recipes has resulted in these aromatic Spiced Pumpkin Cookies. Paired with some hot Masala Chai, these cookies are perfect for a mild autumn evening.
These cookies are eggless and made with a combination of whole wheat flour and coconut flour. And what’s more? They’re pumpkin spiced and have fresh pumpkin! The pumpkin gives the cookies a rich smooth texture that makes them melt in your mouth.
Bake these gorgeous Spiced Pumpkin Cookies for your family and friends this fall season and you will keep finding new reasons to bake these cookies again and again!
Ingredients
Grated Pumpkin – 1 cup (tightly packed)
Grated ginger – 1 tbsp
Brown sugar – 3/4 cup
Vanilla essence – 1/2 tsp
Melted unsalted butter – 1/2 cup
Whole black pepper – 8 to 10 (crushed)
Nutmeg powder – 1/4 tsp
Cinnamon powder – 1/4 tsp
Cardamom powder – a pinch
Bicarbonate of soda – 1/4 tsp
Baking powder – 1/4 tsp
White chocolate chips – 1/2 cup + a few for topping
Whole wheat flour – 1 1/2 cups
Coconut flour – 2 tbsp
Salt – a pinch
Yield
20-24 medium sized cookies
Prep time
20 mins
30-40 mins to refrigerate dough
Cook time
12-13 mins for each batch,
depending on oven capacity
Method
1) Line a flat baking tray with parchment paper.
2) In a mixing bowl take grated ginger and pumpkin, brown sugar, melted butter and vanilla essence. Mix until well combined and the sugar melts completely.
3) Sieve together wheat flour, coconut flour, bicarbonate of soda, baking powder, salt, nutmeg powder, cinnamon powder and cardamom powder. Twice. Add the crushed pepper to this flour mixture and mix.
4) Fold in the wheat flour mixture to the pumpkin mixture and mix light handedly. Do not beat at this stage or the cookies will become hard. Add the chocolate chips and incorporate all the ingredients fully.
5) Cover the cookie dough bowl with a cling wrap and refrigerate for 30-40 mins.
6) After this, preheat the oven to 180°C for 10 mins. In the meantime, shape the pumpkin cookies according to your wish. Make lemon sized balls from the dough, place it on the parchment paper, and flatten slightly with the back of a spoon. Leave at least one cookie space between each cookie. Bake at 175°C for 12-13 mins or until the edges of the cookies look set and done.
9) Remove the tray from oven and set aside. Just press a few chocolate chips on the cookies while they are still warm. After 10 minutes, gently place the cookies on a wire rack for them to cool down completely.
10) Store your pumpkin cookies in an airtight container for up to 2 days at room temperature. Beyond that, refrigerate and use for up to a week. Heat up the cookies a bit before serving, (if refrigerated).
Notes
- In this recipe I have used whole wheat flour. But you can use any other flour according to your preference. The texture of the cookies will vary a bit but all of them taste perfect.
- Here I’ve used light brown sugar. Again, according to your choice you can use either white, brown, soft brown or dark brown sugar. I always prefer brown sugar to white because it has a richer flavour.
- My daughter likes a lot of chocolate chips in her cookie, so I’ve added white chocolate chips in this recipe. Alternatively, you can use semi sweet/milk chocolate chips or any nuts of your choice.
Beginners’ tips
- Pumpkin is a very watery vegetable and it is difficult to manage the excess moisture while making the dough. Whenever you use coconut flour in any baking recipe, it absorbs a lot of the extra moisture and helps to balance out the stickiness. So it’s quite useful in this recipe. It also adds a subtle aroma of coconut to your pumpkin cookies. If you don’t have coconut flour, blot the grated pumpkin with a paper towel before you start the process.
- Refrigeration of the cookie dough is very important. It stops the dough sticking to your hand when shaping the cookies.
- Allow the pumpkin cookies to cool down completely before storing/serving. They are still delicate and crumbly when warm, so be careful when handling them.
