These Bakery-Style Soft Keto Pumpkin Cookies With Cream Cheese Frosting have all the warm spices of fall and are big, soft, flavorful, and tender. No one would ever guess they're Keto, grain-free, gluten-free, dairy-free, and Paleo!
These Keto Pumpkin Cookies are the perfect, soft-baked, bakery-style pumpkin cookie!
My favorite way to eat them is piled high with this delicious Keto Cream Cheese Frosting, but they're also great with this Paleo & Dairy Free "Cream Cheese" Frosting or a simple glaze.
Or if you prefer chocolate, forego the topping and add in some allergy-friendly chocolate chips. SO YUMMY!!
The butter
I highly recommend using organic and grass-fed. Not only does it taste 1000 times better, but it packs a nutritional punch that regular butter just doesn’t have.
However, dairy-free butter can be used if needed.
It’s also important that the butter is softened to room temperature. If you don’t have time to allow the butter to soften, though, check out this tutorial on How To Soften Butter Quickly from Sally’s Baking Addiction.
The sweetener
For the sweetener, you need to use an erythritol-based sweetener for the cookies to hold together well.
However, since erythritol can sometimes lend an aftertaste, I recommend a Monk Fruit Erythritol Blend.
The erythritol will cause them to bake up perfectly, while the monk fruit drastically reduces the aftertaste – it’s a win-win!
Or if you're Paleo, coconut palm sugar works well.
Easy steps
Start by whisking together the dry ingredients. This includes the blanched almond flour, coconut flour, sea salt, baking soda, baking powder, cinnamon, nutmeg, and allspice.
Then, cream together some room temperature butter and sweetener until well incorporated and soft and fluffy.
Keto sweeteners take a little longer to incorporate into the butter. When creaming the two together it may take a little longer than usual, up to 5 minutes until it’s light, fluffy, and well incorporated.
Beat in some pure pumpkin, an egg, and pure vanilla. Then slowly beat in the dry ingredients.
Roll the dough into tablespoon-sized balls and place on a lined baking sheet. Then, slightly press down on each cookie with the palm of your hand.
Preheat the oven to 350 degrees and place the cookies in the freezer.
Don't skip the freezer! Freezing the cookies is essential to achieving a soft and tender texture - so don't skip it!
Then, transfer the cookies to the oven and bake for 11 - 16 minutes, or until the edges are golden brown and the tops are set.
Allow the keto pumpkin cookies to cool on the baking sheet for 5 minutes. Then, transfer to a cooling rack to cool completely for best texture.
Keto cream cheese frosting
While these are great with a simple glaze or with chocolate chips, our favorite way to eat them is with Keto cream cheese frosting.
I cut the recipe in half because the full recipe makes so much more than needed for the cookies! But feel free to double it if you want extra frosting or if you want it piled mile-high on the cookies.
For the cream cheese frosting, you will beat together 4 oz. of full-fat cream cheese and ¼ cup of room temperature butter. Be sure that you use a block of cream cheese and not cream cheese spread or the frosting will turn out runny.
For the butter, again, I highly recommend using organic and grass-fed. However, dairy-free butter can be used if needed.
It’s also important that the butter is softened to room temperature. If you don’t have all day to let the butter set on your counter, though, check out this tutorial on How To Soften Butter Quickly from Sally’s Baking Addiction.
After you beat together the butter and cream cheese, slowly add in powdered keto sweetener, ½ tsp. of pure vanilla, and a pinch of sea salt. Beat until thickened and smooth.
For the powdered sugar
For the powdered sugar in the frosting, I prefer to use powdered monk fruit with allulose. It tastes just like powdered sugar and results in a super-smooth texture.
While technically, powdered erythritol can be used, I prefer not to use erythritol-based sweeteners in glazes and frostings.
Erythritol can leave a slight cooling-like aftertaste and it's doesn't usually result in a super-smooth texture.
For more information on the pros and cons of the different keto sweeteners, you may want to check out this Ultimate Guide To Keto Sweeteners!
*Note- As a special gift to my readers, I've teamed up with Besti Sweeteners to give you guys 10% off! Simply use the code "CRAVEABLE" at checkout.
Expert tips
- I developed this keto pumpkin cookie recipe using canned pumpkin. If you use fresh pumpkin I cannot guarantee the results. However, if you do use fresh pumpkin you'll need to drain it very, very well. Otherwise, your cookies may not hold together well - as fresh pumpkin is usually wetter than canned.
- Don't skip the freezer! Freezing the cookies is essential to achieving a soft and tender texture - so don't skip it!
- Room temperature butter is essential for both the cookies and the cream cheese frosting. To bring the butter to room temperature, I love this tutorial on How To Soften Butter Quickly from Sally’s Baking Addiction
- Topping Options: Our favorite way to eat these is with the Keto Cream Cheese Frosting, but the glaze and chocolate chips are both good options as well!
- For Paleo: To make these pumpkin cookies Paleo, use coconut palm sugar for the sweetener. Then top with Paleo "Cream Cheese" Frosting or add ½ cup of Paleo-friendly chocolate chips to the batter.
- For Vegan: While I haven't tried it, I'd imagine a "flax egg" or a "chia egg" would work well in this recipe. If you give it a shot please let me know how they turned out in the comments below!
Looking for more recipes?
Or if you're looking for more cookies check out my Cut-Out Keto Sugar Cookies!
If you’ve tried these Soft Keto Pumpkin Cookies or any other recipe on the blog please let me know in the comments below!
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📖 Recipe
Soft Keto Pumpkin Cookies
Ingredients
- 2 ¼ Cups Blanched Almond Flour - very finely ground
- 1 Tbsp Coconut Flour
- 1 tsp. Ground Cinnamon
- ¼ tsp. Ground Nutmeg
- ⅛ tsp. Allspice
- ½ Tsp. Baking Soda
- ½ tsp. Baking Powder
- ½ tsp. Sea Salt
- 6 Tbsp Butter (can use non-dairy) - room temperature
- ¾ Cup Erythritol-Based Granulated Sweetener - Lakanto Sweetener, or coconut palm sugar
- ½ Cup Pure Pumpkin - NOT pumpkin pie filling
- 2 tsp. Pure Vanilla
- 1 Large Egg
Cream Cheese Frosting:
- 4 oz. Cream Cheese - use the block, not the spread
- ¼ Cup Butter (can use non-dairy) - room temperature
- ½ Cup Keto Powdered Sweetener - or preferred powdered sweetener + more if needed
- ½ tsp. Pure Vanilla
- 1 Pinch Sea Salt - optional, if frosting is too sweet
- Non-Dairy Milk, Heavy Cream, or Coconut Cream - optional, to thin frosting if needed
Glaze:
- 1 Cup Keto Powdered Sweetener - see notes below
- ½ tsp. Pure Vanilla
- 2 tsp. Butter (can use non-dairy) - melted
- 2 Tbsp. Non-Dairy Milk - + more as needed
Optional Add-In:
Instructions
- In a medium-sized mixing bowl, combine the almond flour, coconut flour, baking soda, baking powder, cinnamon, nutmeg, allspice, and sea salt.
- In a large mixing bowl, beat together the room temperature butter and sweetener until creamy and smooth, 2 to 3 minutes.
- Beat in the pumpkin, vanilla, and egg. Then, slowly beat in the dry ingredients. Fold in chocolate chips, if using.
- Line a baking sheet with parchment paper or Silpat.
- Roll the dough into 20 Tablespoon-sized balls and place them on the baking sheet. Then, lightly press down on each cookie to slightly flatten.
- Preheat the oven to 350 degrees and place the cookies in the freezer for 20 minutes.
- After the 20 minutes are up and the oven is pre-heated, bake cookies for 11 - 16 minutes, or until the edges are golden brown and the centers are set.
- Allow cookies to cool 5 minutes on the baking sheet, then transfer to cooling rack to cool completely.
- Top with cream cheese frosting or glaze if desired.
- Store leftover cookies covered at room temperature up to 2 days or can be frozen, un-frosted, up to 3 months.
Cream Cheese Frosting:
- Add the room temperature butter and cream cheese to a large bowl and beat with an electric mixer until combined, about 2 minutes.
- Slowly beat in the confectioner's sweetener until thick and creamy, scraping down the bowl as necessary.
- Beat in the vanilla until incorporated and a pinch of sea salt if it's too sweet. Thin with non-dairy milk and thicken with additional powdered sweetener if needed.
Glaze:
- Whisk together all of the glaze ingredients in a small bowl. Thin with non-dairy milk or water as needed.
Notes
- I developed this recipe using canned pumpkin. If you use fresh pumpkin I cannot guarantee the results. However, if you do use fresh pumpkin you'll need to drain it very, very well or your cookies may not hold together well - as fresh pumpkin is usually wetter than canned.
- Don't skip the freezer! Freezing the cookies is essential to achieving a soft and tender texture - so don't skip it!
- Room temperature butter is essential for both the cookies and the cream cheese frosting. To bring the butter to room temperature, I love this tutorial on How To Soften Butter Quickly from Sally’s Baking Addiction
- Topping Options: Our favorite way to eat these is with the Keto Cream Cheese Frosting, but the glaze and chocolate chips are both good options as well!
- For Paleo: To make these pumpkin cookies Paleo, use coconut palm sugar for the sweetener. Then top with Paleo "Cream Cheese" Frosting or add ½ cup of Paleo-friendly chocolate chips to the batter.
- For Vegan: While I haven't tried it, I'd imagine a "flax egg" or a "chia egg" would work well in this recipe. If you give it a shot please let me know how they turned out in the comments below!
- For grain-free baking powder combine 1 part baking soda to 2 parts cream of tartar and 2 parts arrowroot, potato, or tapioca flour.
- The Cream Cheese Frosting can be doubled if you want to use a whole block of cream cheese or want the frosting piled mile-high on the cookies.
- For the sweetener, you need to use an erythritol-based sweetener for the cookies to hold together well. However, since erythritol can sometimes lend an aftertaste, I recommend a Monk Fruit Erythritol Blend. The erythritol will cause them to bake up perfectly, while the monk fruit drastically reduces the aftertaste – it’s a win-win! Or if you're Paleo, coconut palm sugar works well.
- For the powdered sweetener, I prefer to use powdered monk fruit with allulose. It tastes just like powdered sugar and results in a super-smooth texture. While technically, powdered erythritol can be used, I prefer not to use erythritol-based sweeteners in glazes and frostings. Erythritol can leave a slight cooling-like aftertaste and it's doesn't usually result in a super-smooth texture. For more information on the pros and cons of the different keto sweeteners, you may want to check out this Ultimate Guide To Keto Sweeteners!
- As a special gift to my readers, I've teamed up with Besti Sweeteners to give you guys 10% off! Simply use the code "CRAVEABLE" at checkout.
Nutrition
Nutritional information is approximate and may vary.
Looking for more information on the keto diet? Check out these resources:
I love your recipes! Wondering if you could help with this? Many of the recipes call for Almond flour. I'm allergic to Almonds and can not use it 😣. I've tried to sub coconut flour for Almond but it doesn't really taste the same. Do you have any suggestions?
Hi Meghan, thank you!
Yes, coconut flour is completely different and isn't a good sub for almond flour. The only flour I know of that you can use in place of almond flour is sunflower seed flour, which can be found online. I've never tried it myself, but have heard it works as a replacement. Just be aware that sometimes baking soda can turn the final product green! However, it's still fine to eat. I hope this helps!
XO,
Cassidy
These soft pumpkin cookies are delicious even without frosting or glaze! Easy recipe to put together and bake. I used butter flavored coconut oil instead of the butter. My cookies came out beautifully!
Oh YAY Karen, thank you!!! I'm so happy you liked them 🙂
-Cassidy
This sounds like a good cookie recipe.I would like to try it with cumshaw instead of pumpkin. We love the taste of cumshaw in other recipes. My husband grew lots of them so need to do something with a few of them.
Hmm.. I wonder if these would work as "whenever bars". I may have to do some experimenting - Y'know, for SCIENCE. (I found your site because of your copycat recipe for Pamela's bars. Now I want to try all your recipes!)
Hi Stephanie!
What a great idea to make these as whenever bars! If you have success please let me know how you did it 🙂
-Cassidy
If using coconut oil in place of the shortening, should I measure in liquid or solid form?
Thanks,
Kelli
Hi Kelli, I would recommend measuring it in sold form. Let me know how they turn out with coconut oil!
Happy Baking,
Cassidy
I made these today and they were delicious! I was worried when they first came out of the oven because they were falling apart but then I followed your directions to cool on the pan and they held together beautifully when I removed them. Great fall cookies. Thanks for all the yummy recipes!
I'm so happy they turned out well and you liked them 🙂
xo,
Cassidy