You'll fall in love with these easy Pumpkin Crinkle Cookies! Made with canned pumpkin puree and warming spices, these vegan crinkle cookies are perfect for fall baking.
On a scale from 1 to 10, how likely are you going to bake pumpkin cookies this fall?
I hope that the chance of it is pretty high, because I have an excellent pumpkin cookie recipe for you try.
October and November are officially pumpkin months. So if you have a can of pumpkin puree and in a mood for a snack (breakfast, dessert), these vegan Pumpkin Crinkle Cookies will not disappoint.
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Here's Why This Recipe Works
- this pumpkin crinkle cookie recipe is dairy-free and egg-free. It's easy to make the dough and kids could help too
- no rolling out the dough, means there's no need for precision when shaping the cookies
- pumpkin cookies can be made with the leftover pumpkin puree and you can even make the cookie dough 2-3 days in advance
📋 Ingredients
Here's an overview of the specific ingredients for this recipe. For the exact ingredients and measurements, please scroll to the recipe card below.
Ingredient Notes
- pumpkin puree. Make sure to use canned pumpkin puree versus pumpkin pie filling. The latter contains spices so if you happen to have only pumpkin pie filling and really want to use it, the cookies will be even more flavored. And also if you do decide to use pumpkin pie filling, don't add cinnamon listed in the ingredients;
- sugar. Make sugar to use organic cane sugar. Conventional cane sugar is not vegan. I talked about it more in my Vegan Grocery List post;
- olive oil. In this recipe I recommend using Cooking Olive Oil. It has a lighter color, than Extra Virgin Olive oil, it's great for high cooking temperatures and most importantly - it doesn't have aroma. In this recipe, we only want to smell pumpkin and cinnamon;
- banana. You probably think why my pumpkin crinkle cookies have banana? If you think, it's an egg replacer, you guessed it right. Banana is perfect for binding the ingredients. The cookies might have a slight banana flavor, but in my opinion this makes them even more delicious. Make sure to pick the ripest banana.
- Mash the banana. In a small bowl mash the banana. You can either use a fork or a cocktail muddler.
- Combine dry ingredients. In another bigger bowl whisk flour, sugar, baking soda, baking powder, cinnamon and salt.
- Add liquid ingredients. Add canned pumpkin puree, mashed banana, oil and vanilla extract.
- Combine all ingredients. Mix the dough with a spoon until all ingredients are combined.
- Chill the cookie dough in the refrigerator. Right now the dough is really sticky and you won't be able to roll it into balls. Chilling the dough for at least 3 hours or even overnight is necessary.
- Roll the cookie dough into balls. Roll the dough into balls, about 1 ½ tablespoons of dough per cookie. You can also use a small cookie scoop to scoop out the dough. Now, I recommend to chill the dough balls once again. Just place them on a parchment lined sheet and chill for 30 minutes. This will ensure that when you start dropping the dough balls into powdered sugar, the sugar on cookies won't melt so fast.
- Cover the cookies in powdered sugar. Drop dough balls into powdered sugar and generously coat each ball in sugar. Place each cookie ball on a parchment lined baking dish and bake at 375 F for 12 to 14 minutes.
- Remove baked cookies from the oven and let them cool for 5 minutes before transferring to a wire rack. Enjoy.
Cook's Tip
The dough tends to absorb sugar fast so when you roll cookies in powdered sugar, it's important to work fast.
Make sure all pumpkin cookies are generously coated in sugar. If necessary, drop the cookie ball in sugar once again (even after you covered it already, because depending on your kitchen temperature, the sugar might start melting fast). The more sugar coating the dough balls have, the more prominent the crinkles will be.
Frequently Asked Questions
Yes. However note that since brown and coconut sugar have a higher moisture content, the dough might turn out softer. If your dough is too soft, you can add 1 or 2 tablespoons of flour mixing it through and adding more flour as needed.
Yes, you can make the dough 2 -3 days in advance and store it in a refrigerator until you ready to roll it into balls.
Yes, the dough freezes really well and lasts in a freezer for months. Roll the dough into the balls, spread them out on a parchment lined baking sheet and place in a freezer until the dough balls firm up.
Then, transfer the cookie balls into a freezer-friendly bags and freeze until ready to use. To bake the crinkle cookies, let them thaw at room temperature for a few minutes, then roll in powdered sugar and bake.
Storing Tips
These vegan pumpkin crinkle cookies are best when stored in an airtight container on a counter. This way they will keep fresh for 4 to 5 days.
Similar Recipes
If you make this recipe, please leave me a comment below and rate it. I always appreciate the feedback. Also, you can follow me on Facebook, Instagram, or Pinterest.
If you're looking for a quick overview of the recipe, please check out my Pumpkin Crinkle Cookies web-story.
📖 Recipe
Vegan Pumpkin Crinkle Cookies
Ingredients
- 1 c canned pumpkin puree
- 2 ½ c all-purpose flour
- 1 teaspoon baking powder
- ½ teaspoon baking soda
- 1 c organic cane sugar
- 1 banana
- ¼ cup + 3 tbsp olive oil
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- ½ teaspoon salt
- 1 teaspoon cinnamon
- ½ c powdered sugar
Instructions
- In a small bowl mash the banana. You can either use a fork or a cocktail muddler.
- In another bigger bowl whisk flour, sugar, baking powder, baking soda, cinnamon and salt.
- Add canned pumpkin puree, mashed banana, oil and vanilla extract.
- Mix the dough with a spoon until all ingredients are combined.
- Chill the cookie dough in the refrigerator for 3 hours or overnight.
- 15 minutes before you take the dough out the fridge, preheat the oven to 375 F and line a large baking sheet with a parchment paper.
- Roll the dough into balls, about 1 ½ tablespoons of dough per cookie. You can also use a small cookie scoop to scoop out the dough. Now, I recommend to chill the dough balls once again. Just place them on a parchment lined sheet and chill for 30 minutes. This will ensure that when you start dropping the dough balls into powdered sugar, the sugar on cookies won't melt so fast.
- Add powdered sugar to a shallow bowl and drop dough balls into a sugar. Generously coat each ball in sugar. Place each cookie ball on a baking sheet and bake for 12 to 14 minutes.
- Remove baked crinkle cookies from the oven and let them cool for 5 minutes before transferring to a wire rack. Enjoy.
Leah says
I have a question, how many ounces of pumpkin are needed? Canned pumpkin comes in 15 oz. and 29 oz. cans. Which one is used in this recipe?
Iryna says
Hi Leah, I used 1 cup from a 15-oz can of pumpkin puree.
Kulia says
I like it. I made this yesterday, very tasty. Thank you.
Mo says
I made this today, follow all the instructions. It seems that even after being in the fridge overnight they still turn very soft. The powdered sugar won’t even stay, the dough keeps melting it away no matter how fast I went. So they didn’t have this whitish crack look. Taste is ok.
Iryna says
Hi Mo! I'm sorry your cookies didn't turn out the way you expected. As for the crinkles, they indeed can be tricky to make because the sugar melts very fast. What you can do next time is to scoop the cookies dough balls on a baking sheet and chill them for another 30 minutes (given that the dough has already been chilled) and then all you have to do is quickly cover the dough balls with the powdered sugar and bake. In addition, you can apply the additional layer of powdered sugar to the already covered balls. I hope this helps!