These Pumpkin Sugar Cookies are sweet, super soft and chewy with a mild pumpkin flavor throughout. Topped with a maple glaze drizzle, they’re gluten free, nut free, egg free and easily vegan.
In a large bowl, whisk together the 1 cup plus 2 tablespoons gluten free flour, the ¾ teaspoon baking powder, ½ teaspoon cinnamon and the ¼ teaspoon salt. Set aside.
In the large bowl of an electric mixer or using a hand held mixer, beat the room temperature ¼ cup butter or vegan baking stick and the ¾ cup of granulated sugar until smooth and creamy. About 2 minutes.
In a small bowl, whisk together the ¼ cup plus 2 tablespoons pumpkin and the 2 teaspoons vanilla until combined.
With the mixer on low speed, add in the pumpkin and vanilla and beat until combined. The mixture will be slightly chunky and that's normal.
With the mixer still on low speed, slowly add in the gluten free flour mixture. Mix until just combined. Scrape down the sides of the bowl with the spatula and combine.
The dough will be super sticky, almost like cake batter. Transfer to a bowl and pop the entire bowl uncovered in the freezer for at least 30 minutes.Make sure the bowl is freezer safe.When the dough has 15 minutes left of chilling, preheat your oven to 350 degrees and line a baking sheet with parchment paper.
Take the bowl of dough out of the freezer. Using an ice cream scoop, scoop the dough out into 6 scoops. If it is sticking to your hands, get your hands slightly wet.
In a small bowl, whisk together the remaining ¼ cup granulated sugar.Drop the dough balls one at a time into the sugar and coat completely. Place dough balls about 3-4 inches apart on the parchment lined baking sheet.
Bake the cookies in the center rack of the oven at 350 degrees Fahrenheit for 15 minutes until golden on the bottoms. You can carefully use a cookie spatula to check.
Immediately reshape the cookies when they come out of the oven. Use a spatula to push them into a circle.Let them cool on the baking sheet for 5 min before transferring to a cooling rack. If you don't do this, the cookies will break apart into a giant mess.Let the cookies cool completely before adding the glaze, otherwise the glaze will turn into a liquid mess.
In a medium bowl, whisk together the 1 cup confectioners’ sugar, 2 tablespoons of maple syrup and 1 tablespoon of water until combined and smooth.
Drizzle the maple glaze on top of the cool cookies. If you drizzle it on warm cookies, the glaze with melt. Let the glaze harden. Enjoy!
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Notes
For smaller cookies: Use a small cookie scoop and bake at same temperature for 13 min. Make sure to keep dough in the fridge in-between baking the batches.Vegan: Use a dairy free gluten free flour, vegan sugar, vegan baking sticks and vegan pumpkin (no weird fillers). All Purpose Flour: I cannot test this due to celiac disease, but use 1 cup plus 2 tablespoons packed regular flour (168 grams plus 2 tablespoons).Storing: Keep extra cookies in an airtight container at room temperature for up to 3 days. Warm in microwave a few seconds before serving if you want them warm and gooey.Cookies will be soft and chewy in the middle with crip edges the first day. After being in an airtight container, the cookies will be soft throughout. Freezing: Wrap dough in a disc in plastic wrap and then pop it in a zip top bag. Freeze for up to 30 days. Thaw dough in the fridge the night prior to using. Nutrition: The info below is a generated estimate and is not guaranteed to be accurate.