Iced Pumpkin Spice Cookies are a delicious fall treat that is perfect right through the Christmas season. These little gems are filled with canned pumpkin, studded with tiny currants then dipped in an icing glaze making them ideal for any holiday cookie tray.
A Seasonal Strategy
For me Christmas is cookie baking season so I think everyone should have a list, long or short, of their favourite homemade cookies. Because we only make them at a certain time of year is exactly the reason they are special treats and we look forward to enjoying them.
So, what cookies or Christmas treats are on your list?
Whether it's shortbread or gingerbread, butter tarts or mincemeat tarts, there are lots to choose from. I also like to try new recipes every year and keep adding the best to my list. Since learning to bake gluten free this system has served me well and I now have more holiday recipes than I can reasonably make in a single year.
A Cookie Flour Blend
Tips For Making Gluten Free Cookies
I'm a cookie lover so I keep learning and baking gluten free cookies. I share everything I learn and you can see a list of more posts at the bottom of this page.
If you're the kind of person that wants to get in the kitchen and experiment then it's helpful to understand that cookies have a different ratio of fat to liquid and they cook in a short amount of time. To remake your old recipes gluten free or keep tweaking to improve your results here are a few tips.
- decrease some of the fat,
- add milk or other liquid to make up for the above,
- let your cookie dough rest so the starches absorb the liquid more fully,
- choose cookie recipes written for gluten free (I pick ones with brown rice flour and/or almond flour).
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Get The Tools Cookies
One of my favourite kitchen tools are portion scoops or ice cream scoops. They make portioning cookies and muffins a breeze and the consistent size ensures even baking. Use them for anything from dishing up ice cream to making meatballs and cookies.
You can't bake cookies without some baking pans. It takes time to collect good quality pans but it's worth the effort in the long run. Pay attention to the pans and sizes you like.
- two cookie sheets , notice they have no edges
- two jellyroll pans, also know as baking sheets, with ¼-inch sides all around (used more for cooking but helpful for a cookie baking spree)
- metal scoops in various sizes for muffins, cookies, meatballs and more
Let me know in the comments below what Christmas cookies you've successfully remade gluten free or if these Pumpkin Spice Cookies with the brown-butter icing make it onto your list.
More Help and Recipes - Pumpkin and Holiday Baking
- Tips For Making Gluten Free Cookies
- An amazing Pumpkin Date Cake filled with pecans too
- Zingy Pumpkin Ginger Muffins
- Best Ever Homemade Pumpkin Pie
- Pumpkin Chocolate Chip Cookies
- Round Up of Gluten Free Cookies
- Recipe Round Up - Holiday Baking
- A Canadian Celiac Podcast interview - Ep 43 Baking Gluten Free Cookies
- A Canadian Celiac Podcast interview - Ep 193 What's All The Fuss About Pumpkin Spice
Iced Pumpkin Spice Cookies
Ingredients
DRY INGREDIENTS
- 1¼ cups gluten free Cookie Flour Blend** (165g)
- ¼ teaspoon baking powder
- ¼ teaspoon baking soda
- ¼ teaspoon cinnamon
- ¼ teaspoon ground cloves
- ¼ teaspoon ground ginger
- ¼ teaspoon ground nutmeg
- ⅛ teaspoon salt
WET INGREDIENTS
- ¼ cup butter, room temperature
- ¼ cup brown sugar
- ¼ cup honey
- 1 egg
- ½ cup canned pumpkin puree
ADD INS
- ½ cup dried currants
- ½ cup chopped walnuts
BROWNED BUTTER ICING
- 2 tablespoon butter, room temperature
- 1½ cups icing sugar
- 3-4 tablespoon whipping cream
Instructions
- In a medium bowl add all dry ingredients and whisk to combine. Set aside.
- In a small bowl mix currants and walnuts. Set aside.
- In the large bowl of an electric mixer, cream the butter on medium high speed.
- Add the brown sugar and honey beating until fluffy, 2-3 minutes.
- Add egg and pumpkin puree, beat until combined.
- Decrease speed to low and slowly add dry mixture until incorporated. Add currants and walnuts.
- Cover the bowl and refrigerate for 1 hour or overnight.
- Preheat oven to 375°F. Line cookie sheets with baking parchment or a reusable baking sheet.
- Using a small metal scoop drop mounds of cookie dough onto prepared cookie sheets, about 2 inches apart. Bake in preheated oven until golden brown, 15-18 minutes.
- Set cookie sheet on wire cooling rack and cool for 2-3 minutes. Slide parchment directly onto the wire racks and cool completely. Start frosting as soon as they are cool enough to handle.
BROWNED BUTTER ICING
- In a small saucepan melt butter until it foams. Reduce heat to low letting the butter brown, 2-3 minutes.
- Remove pan from stove and stir in icing sugar.
- Add half the cream stirring to make a glaze, adding more cream until desired consistency.
Alene
Thank you for your detailed answer. I will give them all a try and let you know. Believe it or not, I got arsenic poisoning from all the rice I eat, being gluten free. So scary. So rice is out for me. I have been experimenting with different blends, and none of them are perfect for everything. I know that goes without saying when you bake gluten free. I will keep on because I love to bake. Thank you again.
Cinde Little
Wow Alene, that's interesting. We all hear about arsenic in rice but I've never heard of anyone getting arsenic poisoning. But I have definitely had people say they can't tolerate any rice so that makes a lot of gluten free food and recipes not accessible. I'm sure something will work. Check out my recipe for soft Pumpkin Chocolate Chip Cookies too, once you figure it out you'll be baking all kinds of cookies. 🙂
Alene
I can't eat rice at all, in any form. I wonder if some millet and/or sorghum flour would work in place of the rice flour. I adore pumpkin anything, so I hope I can make these. Thank you.
Cinde Little
Hi Alene. No rice is challenging but you are not the only one. It will take some trial and error but you can do it. Gluten free cookies present different challenges so I suggest you focus on only cookie recipes for the testing you need to do to figure this out. (You might get tired of one single cookie recipe if you just repeated it over and over.) The 2 flours I see most often for cookies are brown rice flour and almond flour. Since brown rice flour is out you could try replacing the brown rice flour in my 'cookie flour blend' with almond flour. Millet flour might be too light but you just have to try it to find out. Paleo recipes don't use rice flour and I have 3 different blends for you to look at: 1) 2 cups almond flour, 1 cup arrowroot starch, 1⁄2 cup coconut flour, 1⁄2 cup tapioca starch. 2) 1 1⁄2 cups almond flour, 1⁄2 cup arrowroot starch, 1⁄2 cup coconut flour, 1⁄2 cup tapioca flour. 3) 2 cups almond flour, 1 1⁄3 cups tapioca starch 2⁄3 cup coconut flour. I haven't tried these myself but I think these ideas are a good place to start. Let me know what you learn. Happy baking!