Our gluten free and vegan pumpkin snickerdoodle cookies are a fall twist on the family favorite snickerdoodle. Our allergy friendly version is soft and perfectly spiced, and pairs perfectly with our optional dairy free cream cheese frosting if you want a decadent pumpkin cookie!
The official first day of fall starts next week, and we’re celebrating with some thick and soft, allergy friendly pumpkin snickerdoodle cookies!
Our gluten free pumpkin snickerdoodles are soft and pillowy, and based on our pumpkin chocolate chip cookie recipe (another one of my fall favorites!). These are not only gluten free, but also dairy free, egg free, nut free, and vegan.
These snickerdoodle cookies are thick, soft, and moist but not too dense, and a little more cake-like when they completely cool. You won’t miss the dairy or gluten in these amazing fall cookies. They’re also easy to make and would also be amazing with dairy free cream cheese frosting on top as well.
We recently updated the recipe in this post in September, 2026, to improve the recipe and help with more consistent results for our readers.
How to make soft gluten free pumpkin snickerdoodles
Our allergy friendly pumpkin snickerdoodle cookies are easy to make and we recently remade the recipe to be even better with more consistent results!
Here’s a quick rundown of how to make these cookies (this is an overview, the full recipe card is a the end of the post):
- Preheat your oven to 350 degrees Fahrenheit. Line a sheet pan with parchment paper and set it aside.
- In a medium-sized bowl, add the chilled dairy free butter to the bowl and use a hand mixer to beat it to soften it.
- Add the brown sugar to the butter and mix again. Then add the pumpkin and vanilla and mix until combined. The pumpkin and the chilled butter may not mix perfectly, but that’s ok. Adding the dry ingredients will bring everything together even better.
- Next, mix in the King Arthur gluten free all purpose baking mix, the spices, baking powder, and salt.
- Mix in the sorghum flour to create a thick dough that is still a bit soft. Chill this in the fridge for about 10-15 minutes to help it thicken up a bit more.
- Use a large cookie dough scoop to portion out dough balls about 2 inches in size, roll the dough into balls (the dough will be slightly soft but shouldn’t be very sticky).
- Roll the cookie dough into the cinnamon sugar mixture on all sides, then place on the prepared sheet pan 2-3 inches apart. Press the dough a little to slightly flatten it.
- Bake for 11-12 minutes, then allow to cool on the pan for 5-10 minutes before moving to a wire rack to cool completely.
- Store in an airtight container for up to 3 days, or freeze for later.
Process photos are coming soon!
Ingredient notes for our pumpkin cookies
Gluten free flour
We used the King Arthur all purpose gluten free baking mix in this recipe. Every brand of gluten free flour has slightly different formulas and end results, so other all-purpose gluten free baking mixes or flours might work in this recipe, but we can’t guarantee the results if you use a different brand than the one we tested it with.
Please note that gluten free baking mix is slightly different than gluten free flour. The King Arthur gluten free baking mix includes baking soda and salt in the mix, and their gluten free flour does not, so if you end up using a gluten free all purpose flour that doesn’t have those things added, you’ll need to add a little bit of salt and baking soda to the recipe.
If you end up using an all purpose flour instead of a baking mix, add 1/4 teaspoon salt and about 1/8 teaspoon baking soda to this recipe. Just make sure to check the label on whatever flour you choose, you don’t want to skip the salt or baking soda since it enhances the flavor and helps keep these cookies fluffy.
Dairy free butter
As with the gluten free flour, each brand of dairy free butter has a different blend of ingredients and often holds up differently to baking. We tested with the Country Crock Homestyle Dairy Free butter sticks.
We haven’t tested with other brands (like Miyokos), but some brands of dairy free butter are more watery and spread more (we’ve noticed this with Earth Balance), so if you are using a different brand, bake 1 test cookie to see how it spreads, and you can add additional flour if it spreads too much.
Adding dairy free cream cheese frosting
We edited this to also add a recipe for dairy free cream cheese frosting as well that’s an option for these cookies! The frosting is very rich, so if you want a less sweet cookie, you can skip the frosting if you want.
But if you want to add a little more decadence to your cookies, you can mix up the dairy free cream cheese frosting, spread it or pipe it on, and then sprinkle the top with a little bit more of the cinnamon sugar mixture.
We used the Violife dairy free cream cheese for our frosting. If you use a different brand of dairy free cream cheese, you may need to adjust the amount of powdered sugar to get the desired thickness.
The cookies in this batch with our photos spread a little more than previously, so they look slightly different in the photos. But they are still soft and amazing!
We recently updated this post and recipe September 19, 2026, the original post and recipe was published in September 2021. Some people had problems with our original recipe being too dry, so we remade the recipe to be even better with more consistent results. Please note that some of the reviews in the comments are from prior to our recipe being remade.
Check out our other gluten free pumpkin recipes!
- Gluten Free Pumpkin Donuts with Cinnamon Glaze
- Paleo Pumpkin Muffins
- Instant Pot Pumpkin Spice Oatmeal
- Vegan Pumpkin Cheesecake
Soft Gluten Free Pumpkin Snickerdoodle Cookies (Vegan)
Ingredients
Thick Pumpkin Cookies
- ⅓ cup chilled dairy free butter (I used Country Crock Homestyle dairy free butter sticks)
- ¾ cup packed brown sugar
- ⅓ cup canned pumpkin puree
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- 1 cup King Arthur gluten free all-purpose baking mix
- ¾ teaspoon cinnamon
- ½ teaspoon pumpkin pie spice
- ½ teaspoon baking powder
- ¼ teaspoon salt
- Dash ground cloves
- ½ cup Authentic Foods superfine sorghum flour
Cinnamon sugar for rolling
- ⅓ cup sugar
- 2 teaspoons ground cinnamon
Optional dairy free cream cheese frosting
- 3.5 ounces dairy free cream cheese (we used Violife, 3.5 ounces is half a container of Violife cream cheese)
- 2 Tablespoons dairy free butter
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- 3 cups powdered sugar
Equipment
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Line a baking sheet pan with parchment paper and set aside.
- Add the dairy free butter to a medium-sized bowl and beat it to soften with a hand mixer.⅓ cup chilled dairy free butter
- Add the brown sugar and cream the butter and brown sugar together. Next, add in the pumpkin puree and vanilla and mix until everything is incorporated together (the pumpkin and butter may not blend perfectly with each other at this point, but that's ok).
- Mix in the gluten free all-purpose baking mix, cinnamon, pumpkin pie spice, baking powder, salt, and cloves, until everything is blended and smooth.1 cup King Arthur gluten free all-purpose baking mix, ¾ teaspoon cinnamon, ½ teaspoon pumpkin pie spice, ½ teaspoon baking powder, ¼ teaspoon salt, Dash ground cloves
- Add the sorghum flour and mix again. This will create a thick but slightly soft dough. Allow the dough to rest in the fridge for about 10-15 minutes to thicken and firm up a bit more.½ cup Authentic Foods superfine sorghum flour
- Use a large cookie scoop to scoop the dough out and gently roll into a ball. The dough will be soft, but you should be able to roll it into a soft ball of dough.
- Roll the cookie ball in the cinnamon sugar, then place on the parchment lined sheet pan and press down to flatten slightly.⅓ cup sugar, 2 teaspoons ground cinnamon
- Bake for 11 to 12 minutes.
- Allow the cookies to cool on the pan for about 5 to 10 minutes before moving to a cooling rack to cool for another 10-15 minutes to cool more and firm up before eating.
- Once they are completely cooled, store in an airtight container for up to 3 days or freeze for later.
Optional dairy free cream cheese frosting
- This recipe for cream cheese frosting makes more than enough to cover 2 batches of cookies. You can cut the recipe in half if you want to make enough for just one batch of cookies.
- Add the cream cheese to a medium-sized bowl and beat with a hand mixer to soften it. Add the dairy free butter and vanilla and mix again.3.5 ounces dairy free cream cheese, 2 Tablespoons dairy free butter, 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- Mix in the powdered sugar 1 cup at a time until the frosting is thick and spreadable. Beat for about 1 more minute on medium speed to reduce any grittiness from the powdered sugar.3 cups powdered sugar
- Spread over the cookies once they are completely cooled, and then sprinkle with a little bit of cinnamon and sugar on top.
Notes
Nutrition
Pin for later!
Sarah Jane Parker is the founder, recipe creator, and photographer behind The Fit Cookie which she founded in 2011. Sarah is based in Wyoming and has been managing food allergies for herself and her 2 children for over 20 years. Sarah was also a certified personal trainer for 12 years, as well as a group fitness instructor, health coach, running coach, and fitness nutrition specialist.
There must be some wet ingredient missing from the list. My “dough” was a sandy texture. I had to add another 3/4 C of wet ingredients to get a cohesive dough.
Updating my reply to let you know that we just updated this recipe in September, so it should be better for you if you see this reply!
Hi Raya, sorry to hear that! Did you use the King Arthur gluten free all purpose baking mix in this recipe? The recently changed their flour blend and I haven’t had a chance to re-test this recipe with their flour change, which may end up a bit more dry. These are a cakier cookie, so they won’t be as wet as other cookie dough recipes. Other brands of flour will act differently as well, so if it was a different flour brand, that can also explain how dry it ended up. Until we can re-test this recipe, we have a newer recipe for pumpkin cookies that you can leave out the chocolate chips and roll in cinnamon sugar for snickerdoodles: https://thefitcookie.com/gluten-free-pumpkin-chocolate-chip-cookies-vegan/
CAN YOU USE ALMOND FLOUR
Hi Sandra! I am not sure if almond flour will work in this recipe since we haven’t tested this with almond flour, but I bet an all purpose paleo flour blend (like Bob’s Red Mill) may probably work here instead of the gluten free flour.
Has anyone tried it with King Arthur’s Measure for Measure GF flour? Wondering if they will still turn out okay.
Hi Dawn! I haven’t tried these with the KA measure for measure flour, but I bet it would turn out ok. You’d probably want to add a little bit more baking powder and salt if you use it since the KA baking mix has some salt and baking powder mixed into it.
Thanks for sharing! Does it freeze well?
These should freeze and thaw well! Most of our cookie recipes do well in the freezer.
Thanks for sharing! Does it keep long?
These should keep at room temperature for about 4 days.
This looks so good! What a great fall recipe to make for friends!
I can’t wait to try these for my son! You say to use 2T of dairy free milk if using regular sugar, but the recipe calls for brown sugar also with 2T dairy free milk. What is the difference? I’m planning to make it with brown sugar, Do I still add the 2T of milk?
Hi LuAnn, I think that was a typo on my part, if you use white sugar it should be about 3 Tablespoons of milk, I’ll correct that! If you use brown sugar you’ll use 2 Tablespoons of dairy free milk.