free from gluten and the top 8 food allergens
Laced with warm autumn spices, chocolate chunks and the perfect amount of pumpkin flavor, these tender pumpkin chocolate chip drops are the ideal comfort treat.
Come see why these cake-like drop cookies are the sweetest part of fall. Let’s celebrate the season!
Start by assembling your mise en place.
In one bowl, sift together your gluten-free flour blend, baking powder, with a touch of xanthan gum and set aside.
Combine sugar, cinnamon, allspice, cloves, and salt in a large bowl and mix well. Whisk in melted margarine, such as Earth Balance Soy-Free Buttery Sticks.
Add one “flax egg” and pumpkin puree into the sugar mixture. Fold the flour mixture into the wet ingredients just until incorporated. Add chocolate chips or chunks and mix just until evenly distributed.
Drop by scoops of 2 tablespoons about 2-inches apart onto a cookie sheet lined with a silpat or parchment paper.
We like to use a #30 scoop to portion the cookies, which is equivalent to 2 tablespoons. The #30 scoop is often coded with a black handle and referred to as the black scoop.
Place in a preheated oven and bake at 350-degrees for approximately 20-22 minutes.
Is There a Difference Between Cans of Pumpkin?
Like other fruits, such as apples and oranges, the water content of pumpkins can vary from pumpkin to pumpkin. The different brands of canned pumpkin also vary from can to can.
For that reason, I have drained pumpkin puree for many baking applications in the professional kitchen, including cookies. In the effort of simplifying this recipe, I wanted to make it without having the step of draining the puree. So, I made two batches of cookies to compare…to drain or not to drain.
The above cookies were made using puree straight from the can, without straining.
straining pumpkin puree
Below is the batch of cookies made by straining the puree and without chocolate chunks.
To strain the puree, put puree in a colander lined with cheesecloth and set it in the sink to allow it to drain. After 15 minutes, the cheesecloth is brought up around the puree and squeezed out to release as much excess liquid as possible.
I drained one (15-ounce) can of 365 Organic Pumpkin Puree and got 1/3 cup liquid.
As you can see, the batter is much stiffer than with the cookies above where we did not drain the pumpkin puree.
After portioning the cookies on a cookie sheet, they were slightly flattened to a thickness of 1/2-inch and a diameter of 2-inches. Sprinkled with cinnamon sugar on top and baked…yum!
The cookies made without straining the pumpkin puree were more cake-like. The cookies made by straining the excess liquid from the puree yielded a chewier cookie.
They both are amazing! However, the overall winner is…the pumpkin chocolate chip drops! Could it be the chocolate chunks?
These cookies are sure to be a hit all season long!
Pumpkin Chocolate Chip Drops
Yield 18 cookies
Free of: gluten and top 8 allergens.
With the perfect amount of pumpkin flavor and loaded with chocolate chunks, these cake-like drop cookies are sure to be a hit!
Ingredients
1 1/2 cups all purpose gluten-free flour blend
1 tsp baking powder
1/4 tsp xanthan gum (omit if using a flour blend with xanthan gum)
1 tbsp flaxseed meal
3 tbsp lukewarm water
1 cup organic cane sugar
1 1/4 tsp ground cinnamon
1/2 tsp sea salt
1/4 tsp ground allspice
1/8 tsp ground cloves
6 tbsp (3 ounces) dairy-free, soy-free margarine or buttery sticks, such as Earth Balance, melted
3/4 cup pumpkin puree
3/4 cup chocolate chips or chocolate chunks, such as Enjoy Life Mega Chunks
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 350-degrees F.
- In a medium bowl, whisk together flour, baking powder, and xanthan gum. If the baking powder has lumps, sift it into the flour. Set aside.
- In a small bowl, whisk together flaxseed meal and water. Set aside for 5 minutes.
- Combine sugar, cinnamon, salt, allspice, and cloves in a large bowl and mix well. Whisk in melted margarine.
- Return to the flaxseed mixture and vigorously whisk. Pour flax-egg into the sugar mixture. Add pumpkin puree to the sugar mixture. Whisk until well blended and smooth.
- Fold the flour mixture into the wet ingredients just until incorporated.
- Add chocolate chunks and mix briefly until evenly distributed.
- Drop by scoops of 2 tablespoons about 2-inches apart onto a cookie sheet lined with a silpat or parchment paper. We like to use a #30 scoop, also called a disher, to portion the cookies. A 17 x 12-inch cookie sheet will accommodate 12 cookies.
- Place in oven and bake for approximately 20-22 minutes, until done. Baking time may vary, depending on oven.
- Remove from oven and place on a cooling rack to cool completely before storing. Naturally moist cookies, like these pumpkin drops, tend to get sticky and soggy in lidded containers and zip lock bags that prevent air circulation. When the cookies have completely cooled, put a paper towel on the bottom of a large airtight container. Place the cookies in the container in a single layer. Top cookies with another paper towel before putting lid on.
Courses Sweets
Great recipe! I was looking for a way to use the pumpkin puree I got when it all went on sale last year. I’m not the biggest fan of pumpkin pie, but these are good.
Other recipes I’ve seen include nutmeg and ginger in these types of dishes. Why did you choose to leave them out?
Hi Wilson,
We’re glad you like the recipe!
Great question…you could switch out the allspice and cloves for nutmeg and ginger, which would also be a great autumn spice combination. 🙂