Vegan Pumpkin Chocolate Chip Cookies - Blog Hop Cookie Swap!
/I teamed up with a handful of blogger friends to share cookie recipes for the 2019 Blog Hop Cookie Swap! I’m bringing you a vegan pumpkin chocolate chip cookie that’s ooey-gooey, soft, chocolatey, and pumpkiny. Plus, it tastes like it’s missing absolutely nothing even though its free of egg and dairy. And you know what that means - you can eat the dough raw! My recipe is below and at the end of the post are links to all of my blogger buds’ holiday recipes.
This recipe is inspired by the excessive amounts of pumpkin puree that I made after Halloween. I collected a buuuuunch of unwanted pumpkins from my neighbors so I could save them from the landfill. I spent a few hours roasting them and blending them to get homemade puree for tasty treats. I have about a dozen jars in my freezer which means I can probably make another 30 batches of these cookies. And you know what, I probably will.
The recipe is super simple and doesn’t take a trip to a specialty store or an online search to find a substitute. You just might have everything in your pantry already!
Vegan Pumpkin Chocolate Chip Cookies
Ingredients
½ cup coconut oil (not melted)
1 cup brown sugar
½ cup maple syrup
¼ cup sugar
2 tsp vanilla extract
⅓ cup pumpkin puree
2 tbsp nut milk
2 ¼ cup flour
½ tsp salt (plus some coarse salt for dusting)
1 tsp baking soda
2 ¼ tsp pumpkin pie spice
1 ¼ cup chocolate chips (vegan and fair trade)
Yields 20 cookies
A few notes on ingredients:
I make my own nut milk. The easiest one to make is cashew milk because there’s no straining like other pulpy milks. Just put some cashews in the blender with about equal parts water. I like to leave them like this to soak and soften for a bit, then I come back and blend them. Blend longer than you think you need to, and you’ll end up with a relatively smooth milk. It will still have some grit, so you can strain it if you want to drink it plain. But this works perfectly fine in recipes, coffee, and cereal.
I made my own pumpkin puree from Halloween pumpkins - try it out if you have leftover gourds.
For the coconut oil, don’t melt it in advance. The solid consistency helps thicken the batter. Good news, it’s probably already solid since it’s wintertime, but if you want to make this in the summer, just pop that jar in the fridge.
I like a good amount of spicy flavor so I did a nice helping of pumpkin pie spice. You could reduce if you want it to be more subtle, or even add fresh ginger or nutmeg to give a little more of a seasonal kick.
I used maple syrup to reduce the amount of refined sugars. If you don’t have any, you can do brown or white sugar instead. I tried it both ways and it worked well.
I used these chocolate chips because they’re vegan, organic, and fair trade. Plus, they’re so so delicious - I eat them just plain straight out of the bag. These cookies are very chocolatey - but in a good way. I did 1 ½ cups in the first batch, then reduced to 1 ¼ so the ratio of pumpkin to chocolate was a little more even. If chocolate isn’t your thing (I find that crazy but to each their own!) you could reduce further.
Directions
Preheat oven to 350F
In an electric mixer, blend coconut oil (solid, not melted), brown sugar, maple syrup, sugar, and vanilla extract until well mixed
Add pumpkin puree and nut milk to mixture, then blend until well incorporated
Mix in flour, salt, baking soda, and pumpkin pie spice
Fold in the chocolate chips
Roll about 2 tbsp of dough into a ball and evenly space on an un-greased and un-lined cookie tray (I like these pans)
Bake for 10-15 minutes depending on how gooey you want them (I like them just underbaked)
Sprinkle with coarse sea salt while still warm
Let cool and enjoy!
Don’t forget to sprinkle the salt! It really makes a difference in the best way possible.
The final step is to sit down in the near-dark with a plate full of cookies and spend 20 minutes photographing yourself staring longingly at the cookies. Then review the photos and shudder with embarrassment at how they look like engagement photos. Then post one on the internet for everyone to see how much you love cookies.
Now go check out all of those other recipes from my fellow blogger buddies! I’m salivating looking at the photos of their treats!
Row 1: Jojotastic - Salty & Chewy Chocolate Chip Cookies // Yellow Brick Home - The Best Chocolate Cookies of Your Life // Making it Lovely - Chocolate Shortbread Cookies // Life On Virginia Street - Caramel Drizzled Chocolate Peanut Clusters // Renovation Husbands - Peanut Butter Sandwich Cookies with Honey Cinnamon Filling //
Row 2: Room for Tuesday - Classic Butter Sugar Cookies // House of Brinson - Rum Balls // Boxwood Avenue - Chocolate Peppermint Shortbread // The Gold Hive - Vegan Pumpkin Chocolate Chip Cookies // The DIY Playbook - Coconut Crispy Cookies //
Row 3: House of Hipsters - Peppermint Crispies // Anita Yokota - Holiday Vanilla Almond Bark // Coco Kelley - Dark Chocolate Cranberry Walnut Cookies // Sincerely, Sara D. - Lace Cookies // Francois et Moi - Tiger Butter Bark //
