Healthy Soft Pumpkin Cookies | Vegan, GF

This recipe for these healthy soft pumpkin cookies is delicious and moist! These soft pumpkin cookies are low refined carbohydrates, gluten-free, diabetic-friendly and vegan! And best of all, these are so easy to make. Try adding chocolate chunks for a festive chocolate chip pumpkin cookie recipe.

Healthy desserts look at the effects of carbohydrates on our blood sugar levels, better sources of carbohydrates (low glycemic index), how protein, healthy fats and fibre can help balance blood sugar levels, and how we can incorporate all of these to make a healthy treat. These cookies are full of quality ingredients and can help support anyone looking for a healthy treat for blood sugar levels.

Nutrition

Low In Sugar

When possible, look for desserts that are free of refined-flour or refined-sugar. Too much sugar or refined carbohydrate signals to our pancreas to secrete large amounts of the hormone insulin. Too much-circulating insulin can make it difficult to manage weight, and over time can lead to type 2 diabetes.

Glycemic Index

Instead of regular flour, which has a high glycemic index and will spike blood sugar levels, this recipe uses almond flour and coconut flour which are low in carbohydrates, and therefore low in glycemic index. Instead of white sugar, this recipe uses maple syrup which contains is also lower in glycemic index (GI) and will have a lesser effect on blood sugar levels compared to regular sugar (see below for more information on GI).

Making A Diabetic Friendly Cookie

Lower in Carbohydrates

They are low in overall carbohydrates with only 7.5 grams net carbs per cookie, with 2.1 grams of fibre. They contain a good amount of protein and healthy fats from the almond flour and coconut flour which helps with blood sugar control. The carbohydrates come mainly from the pumpkin and maple syrup which are both medium glycemic index foods, meaning that on their own they will only have a moderate effect on blood sugar levels*.

*When we consider the glycemic index of the entire cookie, and not just single ingredients, it is likely these cookies have a low glycemic index (delayed glucose response due to the fat and protein content).

Flour Alternatives

Regular wheat flour, even whole-wheat flour, will break down into sugar. Too often we focus on the sugar in baking, but when we reduce the sugar content in a recipe by half, the bulk in the recipe is often made up of even more flour (which will eventually turn into sugar).

Flours that are made up of mostly fibre, including almond flour and coconut flour, contain very little starch and no sugar. These flours will have minimal effect on blood sugar levels, especially considering the content of protein, fibre and healthy fats.

Using Almond Flour

Almond flour is low GI and low in total carbohydrates. A 1/4 cup serving contains 6 grams of total carbohydrates, but 3 grams of fibre, equating to 3 grams of ‘net’ or available carbohydrates.

Using Coconut Flour

Coconut flour is the natural by-product of coconut milk production, and consists of the ground-up meat of coconuts and is therefore naturally high in protein, fats and fibre. A 1/4 cup serving contains 16 grams of total carbohydrates, but 10 grams of fibre, equating to 6 grams of ‘net’ or available carbohydrates.

Choosing A Low Glycemic Index Sweetener

Glycemic Index (GI) is a rating on how quickly a food will break down into sugar. Limit white or brown sugar which are high GI foods and break down quickly into sugar. Brown rice syrup is generally not recommended due to concerns regarding arsenic levels. The following sugars have a lower glycemic index than sugar:

• Maple Syrup: Choose real maple syrup, contains small amounts of polyphenols.
• Honey: Honey’s antioxidant quantity varies greatly based on type; buckwheat honey typically delivers the most.
• Coconut Sugar: Made from coconut nectar, and has a nutty flavour but does not taste like coconut. Has the lowest GI of the three sweeteners.

Tips

Using Almond Flour

Recipes that use almond flour for baking often do not decipher if the almond flour should be ‘packed’ or not. This recipe uses 1 cup of ‘packed’ almond flour, meaning that the flour should be pushed into the cup to ensure it is the proper amount and the cookies are the correct density.

Sifting Almond Flour For Baking

If your almond flour has lumps, make sure to sift it before adding it to the recipe otherwise large clumps of almond flour might end up in your finished cookie. After trialing a few brands I have found that Now Real Foods Raw Almond Flour doesn’t clump as much. Due to its high oil content, it is best to store your almond flour in the fridge.

Forming These Cookies

Refrigerating the batter for 15-30 minutes after everything is well mixed helps the batter stick together better. Roll the cookies into a ball, slightly smaller than a golf ball. After placing them on the prepared baking tray, flatten them only slightly with the palm of your hand for even cooking with the option to add some fork indents. Make sure not to over-flatten as we want a bit of volume in these cookies.

Baking The Cookies

Each tray of cookies needs about 16 minutes to bake. Check the cookies after 14 minutes to ensure they don’t overcook. The cookies should be slightly soft but with a little bit of give when you check them. Make sure you only bake one tray at a time. I have tried with two trays before and the result was flat cookies that took upwards of 20 minutes to firm up.

Notes

Using Flax Eggs

For a vegan version, flax-eggs can be used. They are also helpful when you forgot to purchase eggs! The best recipe I have found for flax-eggs is 1 tablespoon of ground flax to 2 1/2 tablespoons of water for one egg – mix and let sit to absorb for at least 5 minutes.

Note On Purchasing Flax

Make sure you purchase flaxseeds from a reliable source (not the bulk bins!) because they are high in unstable omega-3 fatty acids they are sensitive to heat and oxygen and can rapidly go rancid. Also make sure they are not pre-ground flax, as most of the beneficial compounds will already be degraded by the time they get from the processor to your home.

Using Maple Syrup

The original recipe these cookies were adapted from used coconut sugar. When replacing a solid sugar with a liquid sweetener, the liquid in the overall recipe needs to be reduced otherwise the cookie will contain too much liquid and not set properly (coconut oil was reduced from 1/2 cup to 1/4 cup).

Using Honey

You can use honey in place of maple syrup, though I do find the flavour of maple lends nicely to these spiced pumpkin cookies. When baking with honey, I suggest decreasing the temperature to 325° Fahrenheit to prevent burning – and bake for an additional 5-10 minutes.

Using Pumpkin Puree

Be sure to not purchase Pumpkin Pie Puree, which already contains sugar and pumpkin spices. You can make your own pumpkin puree by blending cooked pumpkin in a food processor. I like the flavour of kabocha squash.

Chocolate Chips

The chocolate chips are totally optional but definitely recommended. The darker the chocolate the better. Make sure you chop the chocolate chunks nice and small; larger chunks can result in the cookie not firming up as well. If you don’t have chocolate, these cookies also taste great with candied ginger chunks.

Boosting the Protein

Try adding ½ cup chopped pecans or walnuts to the mixture at the same time as the chocolate chunks.

Adding Spices

The combination of cinnamon, ginger, cloves and nutmeg really give these cookies a festive flare. Feel free to use 2 tablespoons of a premade pumpkin spice.

Substituting Almond Flour In Baking

When baking with almond flour, it can be used at a 1:1 ratio when substituting with regular flour. Sift almond flour if lumps are present.

Substituting Coconut Flour In Baking

Coconut flour is naturally very dense so this needs to be considered when using in baking. You cannot replace a grain-based flour with coconut flour at a 1:1 ratio. It is closer to 1 cup of grain-flour replaced with ¼ cup of coconut flour. Also, because of the density, baking with coconut flour also requires more eggs. During my research for this recipe, the general consensus is 6 eggs (or flax-eggs) are needed for every 1 cup of coconut flour.

Adaption of these Soft Pumpkin Cookies

This recipe was adapted from Bakerita, I wanted to use maple syrup in place of coconut sugar because good quality maple syrup contains antioxidants, and can be locally sourced. Switching to a liquid sweetener also allowed me to reduce the coconut oil from ½ cup to ¼ cup which reduced the overall calories. I increased the cinnamon and ginger to give it more spice. After multiple attempts, I also found that I needed to increase the cooking time to 16 minutes from 11-14.

More Healthy Dessert Recipes

• 100 Calorie No-Bake Peanut Butter Energy Balls
• Raw Chocolate Brownie with Caramel Icing
• High Protein Peanut Butter Hemp Energy Balls
• Three Ingredient Peanut Butter Cookies