Pumpkin Chocolate Chip Cookies (Gluten Free)

Karla and I love to try making new (and preferably healthy) desserts, and the best way to get feedback is to take them to work and share with our team! One of our colleagues is on a gluten free, low sugar diet so he doesn’t quite indulge in most desserts like the rest of us. So, this time I decided to make a gluten free dessert and keep it low on sugar as well. I’d been planning to make pumpkin cookies for a while and figured I could use gluten free oat flour as a base. There are plenty of gluten free pumpkin cookie recipes online, however I wanted more of a soft cakey cookie. So I ended up approximating the dry ingredients from a handful of recipes that used all purpose flour. I substituted it with oat flour, added some corn starch to make sure the cookies are not dry and crumbly (oat flour has no gluten for binding!), reduced the amount of sugar and added some milk because oat flour absorbs more liquid than wheat flour, which could also leave the cookies dry. These whole grain cookies are like little pillows of pumpkin with a hint of sweetness and spice.

Ingredients: (Makes ~4 dozen small cookies)

2 cups gluten free whole grain oat flour

2 Tbsp corn starch

1½ tsp cinnamon powder

1 tsp nutmeg powder

2 tsp baking powder

1 tsp baking soda

A pinch of salt

1 cup brown sugar (or more if you prefer)

1 cup pumpkin puree (if using canned, make sure it is not pie filling)

½ cup of canola/vegetable oil

1 egg

1 Tbsp vanilla extract

1 Tbsp milk (I used fat free)

Optional add-ins

½ cup dark chocolate chips

½ cup chopped walnuts

Heat oven to 350 F. 

In a large bowl, mix the pumpkin puree, brown sugar, vegetable oil, egg, vanilla, milk until well combined. Make sure the sugar doesn’t leave any lumps. In another bowl combine the  oat flour, corn flour, cinnamon, nutmeg, salt, baking powder and baking soda. Add the dry mixture to the wet ingredients and mix well. Add the chocolate chips, nuts and mix. 

Grease a cookie sheet or line it with parchment paper. Drop the batter using a couple teaspoons onto the prepared cookie sheet (~2-3 teaspoonfuls per cookie). Use a small ice-cream/cookie scoop if you’d like perfectly round cookies. These don’t spread too much so leaving about an inch or so between the cookies would be enough.

Bake in preheated oven for 18-20 minutes until the cookies are lightly browned. They will be nice and puffy, and should spring back when gently pressed. Let cool completely before storing in an airtight container. 

Enjoy with a cup of tea or coffee!

~Gayatri

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Soft pumpkin chocolate chip cookies made gluten free using oat flour. http://cooksofcakeandkindness.blogspot.com/2015/08/pumpkin-chocolate-chip-cookies-gluten.html
Posted by The Cooks of Cake and Kindness on Sunday, August 30, 2015