Studded with rich dark chocolate, these nut-free, egg-free Pumpkin Chocolate Chip Cookies are crispy on the outside and have an incredible crumb on the inside. The coconut flour-arrowroot base is so amazing that I foresee using this flour combination for many other Paleo cookie recipes –I like it that much and I think you will too!
Lately, I’ve been going gaga over pumpkins! If you’re in the same boat, check out my Paleo Pumpkin Recipes. With everything from Paleo Pumpkin Pie to Paleo Pumpkin Bread to healthy homemade Pumpkin Spice Lattes, pumpkin lovers will find themselves swimming in a sea of quick and easy pumpkin recipes!
I love pumpkin because it is both gorgeous and flavorful. It’s also incredibly healthy. Pumpkins are full of carotenoids, (a precursor to vitamin A), contain loads of vitamin C, and are chock full of healthy fiber. What better way to get all of the health benefits of pumpkin than in a nut-free, egg-free Paleo Pumpkin Chocolate Chip Cookie?
Pumpkin Chocolate Chip Cookies
Ingredients
- ¼ cup coconut flour
- ¼ cup arrowroot powder
- 1 teaspoon pumpkin pie spice
- ½ teaspoon celtic sea salt
- ½ teaspoon baking soda
- ½ cup salted butter, cold, cut into 12 pieces
- ¼ cup canned pumpkin puree
- ¼ cup honey
- ½ cup chocolate chips
Instructions
- In a food processor, combine flours, pumpkin pie spice, salt, and baking soda
- Pulse in butter, pumpkin, and honey until dough forms
- Remove blade from food processor and stir in chocolate chips by hand
- Press balls of dough down firmly
- Bake at 350°F for 10-15 minutes
- Cool for 1 hour on baking sheet (do not handle prior or cookies will break)
- Serve
Now, for the back story on these cookies. Every year I spend hours attempting to make amazing Paleo pumpkin chocolate chip cookies, and each year, up until now, I haven’t been totally satisfied. The reason? I don’t like cookies that are cake-like, and adding pumpkin puree to cookies has the tendency to make puffy little things that are more mini-cakes than cookies.
This year the challenge actually increased because so many of you left comments on my Pizza Muffin recipe asking for a nut-free version, as well as more nut-free recipes. If you have a nut-free school, or a child with nut allergies be sure to check out my Nut-Free Recipes page! Because of all these requests for nut-free recipes, I just had to take your feedback into account when crafting my Paleo Pumpkin Chocolate Chip Cookies! Thankfully they are not only nut-free, but egg-free too for those of you with egg allergies!
In any event, due to your requests, I made more than a dozen batches of nut-free, egg-free, grain-free cookies and was not entirely pleased. So I took a step back. I referred to this recipe from the Coconut Mama’s website for egg-free coconut flour cookies. I made Tiffany’s astonishing 3-ingredient recipe which contains coconut flour, butter, and honey. For my palate, which is accustomed to high-fat almond flour dessert recipes it was just a tad dry, but a wonderful start. So, I added in arrowroot flour and a lot more butter. Voila! The best nut-free Paleo Pumpkin Chocolate Chip Cookies ever!
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If you change this recipe please leave a comment letting us know about your substitutions! I tested this recipe 21 times (seriously, no joke!) this year alone, to get it just right! I haven’t tested it with other ingredients, or played around with substitutions. As I frequently mention, the only way to know if a substitution works is to test, test, test! So please help others and let us know how your substitutions work out. Especially if you make these into a dairy-free cookie and replace the butter. Happy baking my dearests!
Jane says
This is really the only recipe for a grain-free, nut-free cookie that has the right texture for me. I wanted something extra chocolatey and subbed half of the arrowroot for cocoa powder and these turned out better than I could have dreamed. I halved the spice and added 10 drops of stevia to balance the cocoa. Really unbelievable. Thank you Elana :)
Elana says
Thanks Jane! Glad to hear these were unbelievable :-)
Kelly says
These are so tasty! I used melted coconut oil instead of butter. The texture turned out like a shortbread and they get better as they cool down. I also made a batch without chocolate chips and they were even better. Thanks for providing us with such great recipes!
Elana says
You’re welcome Kelly! So glad you enjoyed these :-)
Michelle F says
I made these for a potluck and they were a hit!! Well received by everyone :) plus the dough reminds me of some sort of yummy pumpkin mousse! Thanks, Elana!
Elana says
Glad to hear these were a hit Michelle!
kimberly boigon says
hi elana- thank you for this fun recipe! it seems hit or miss when subbing with coconut oil. can i use 1/2 cup of palm shortening instead of butter? do you think they will they crisp up?
Elana says
Kimberly, I haven’t tried that so not sure. If you do please let us know how it goes :-)
CJ says
Sadly, this was the only recipe I couldn’t get to work. I can’t use dairy, so I used coconut oil that I chilled in the fridge to cool (still liquid but cool, not hard). I replaced 1 on 1 instead of the butter.
Than I made the dough, put it on a baking sheet, and popped it back in the fridge to cool and harden them. After that, I popped them in the oven.
The cookies didn’t crisp up, even after 20 minutes.
Taste was good though. Just a very soft cookie.
Thank you.
I made four pumpkin recipes from you today (The pumpkin bread, the paleo pumpkin bar, the pumpkin bar, and this pumpkin chocolate chip cookie). Before I made the pumpkin pie and that is still my favourite :-).
Elana says
CJ, thanks for your comment! We are happy to hear that this was a good cookie even with the substitution you made :-)
Lisa Carson says
Elana, would I be able to substitute 1/2 cup melted ghee for the butter? Or, would melted coconut oil work better?
Thank you.
Elana says
Hi Lisa, I haven’t tried either of those ingredients in this recipe so not sure. Please let us know how your experiment turns out :-)
Karen says
As a new Type 1 diabetic, it would be so helpful to have the nutritional information listed with these recipes.
Elana says
Hi Karen, thanks for your comment! Many of my readers calculate the nutrition info of my recipes here to share with others:
http://www.myfitnesspal.com/nutrition-facts-calories/elanas-pantry
Enjoy!
Elana
Karen says
Thank you! This will be great!
Michelle says
Delicious! I’m trying to minimize sugars these days (unrefined, too), so I reduced the honey to 2 T, added 2 T of pumpkin and 10 drops of stevia, and used Lily’s dark chocolate, stevia sweetened chips. My husband who rarely eats sweets or baked goods and turns his nose up at stevia even loved them!
Elana says
Michelle, thanks for sharing your modifications with us!
Catherine Shaw says
Thank you for this fabulous recipe! So easy and so delicious! “Real” (not cake like) cookies! I used tapioca flour instead of arrowroot and used dark chocolate (92%)chocolate pieces. Next time will try the coconut oil (though didn’t see if anyone posted melted or solid?)
Thanks!
Elana says
Catherine, so glad to hear these cookies were fabulous and had the right texture!
Donna says
These made the perfect Thanksgiving treat for my daughter’s class because there is a boy who is allergic to eggs and nuts. They tasted yummy after cooling and the container I sent them in to school came home empty.