Soft Eggless Pumpkin Cookies

These eggless pumpkin cookies are SO soft & cakey, you’d never guess they’re egg-free! Instead of eggs, this recipe uses real pumpkin puree & butter to make melt-in-your-mouth soft pumpkin cookies that are full of fall flavor. Including an easy powdered sugar icing to decorate your cookies.

Typically, eggs are used to bind cookies together & add moisture. But even though most other recipes for soft or old-fashioned pumpkin cookies use eggs, you actually don’t need them for an amazing cookie. Since pumpkin puree is already a great baking substitute for eggs, these pumpkin puree cookies turn out perfectly moist & soft with no eggs at all!

What if I can’t find canned pumpkin puree?

If you can’t find canned pumpkin, you can use fresh pumpkin to make your own pumpkin puree at home. (Which, admittedly, will take some time & effort.)

Or for an easier option, make a simpler sweet potato puree and bake a batch of soft sweet potato cookies instead!

Ingredients for Eggless Pumpkin Spice Cookies

• Softened Butter. An important fat source to help bind these cookies without eggs. Let your butter soften to room temperature, so it’s just the right consistency to trap pockets of air when creamed together with the sugars—this will make your cookies fluffy instead of flat! If you want to make vegan pumpkin cookies, try using a vegan butter.
• Light Brown Sugar. The secret to making soft, chewy pumpkin cookies is using both white and brown sugars. White sugar absorbs moisture & creates crispier cookies, whereas brown sugar helps cookies retain moisture for a softer, chewier texture.
• White Sugar. An equal ratio of white-to-brown sugar is the sweet spot for moist, cakey, melt-in-your-mouth pumpkin cookies. If you don’t have brown sugar, you can substitute with additional white sugar, but the final texture won’t be as soft.
• Pumpkin Puree. You can make these cookies with canned pumpkin puree or homemade, and this is a great recipe to use up leftover pumpkin. Or substitute with sweet potato puree if you can’t find pumpkin!
• Cinnamon. A must-use flavor for pumpkin spice cookies.
• Pumpkin Pie Spice. You can make an easy DIY pumpkin pie spice by combining cinnamon with other warm spices like ground ginger, nutmeg, cloves, or allspice.
• Vanilla Extract. To enhance all the warm, sweet, pumpkin spiced flavors.
• All-Purpose Flour. This is my favorite flour for eggless cookie recipes because it’s so reliable. For gluten-free pumpkin cookies, I’d recommend using a GF 1-to-1 baking flour.
• Baking Soda. An important leavening agent that helps eggless cookies rise! (Use fresh or recently bought baking soda for the fluffiest result.)
• Salt. Add a dash to elevate all the sweet flavors in this recipe.

For Iced Pumpkin Cookies:

Drizzle or decorate your soft pumpkin cookies with icing for an even sweeter fall treat! My go-to is this easy powdered sugar icing that hardens to a delicious crisp.

Just whisk powdered sugar with a splash of milk (dairy or nondairy) & vanilla extract until you’ve got a drizzly vanilla icing!

How to Make Soft Pumpkin Cookies without Eggs

At least an hour before making your eggless pumpkin cookies, let 2 sticks (8oz) of butter soften to room temperature.

Once softened, you can preheat the oven to 350°F (180°C), line baking sheets with parchment, and start making the dough!

1 Cream Together Butter & Sugars

In a large bowl, cream together softened butter, white sugar, and light brown sugar, with a hand mixer on medium speed. Beat for 1-2 minutes, until the mixture is fluffy & combined.

2 Add Remaining Wet Ingredients

Once the butter & sugars are combined, add in pumpkin puree, cinnamon, pumpkin pie spice, & vanilla. Continue to beat with the hand mixer on medium until everything is integrated.

3 Whisk Together Dry Ingredients

In a separate bowl, whisk together flour, baking soda, & salt.

4 Add Dry Mixture into Wet

Working in 2-3 batches, gradually add the dry ingredients into the wet mixture. Beat with a hand mixer as you go to combine the mixtures and form a dough.

5 Portion Cookies

Use a cookie scoop (#60) or a spoon to portion ~1 Tbsp of dough and roll it into a ball with your hands.

Flatten each ball slightly into a disk and transfer to a prepared baking sheet. Repeat until you’ve used all the dough.

6 Bake & Allow to Cool

Bake pumpkin cookies at 350°F (180°C) for 12-14 minutes, until they start browning around the edges.

When they’re done, let them cool for ~10 minutes on the pan before transferring to a wire rack to cool completely. (This will help keep the bottoms of your cookies from getting soggy.)

7 Decorate Pumpkin Cookies with Icing

For iced or frosted pumpkin cookies, whisk together powdered sugar, milk, and vanilla extract to make a quick powdered sugar icing.

After letting your cookies cool for 10 minutes, drizzle or pour on the icing while they’re still warm—the icing will harden as the cookies continue to cool!

How to Store & Freeze Pumpkin Cookies

• Store plain or iced pumpkin cookies in an airtight container at room temperature for up to 1 week—they don’t need to be refrigerated.
• To freeze pumpkin cookies without icing, arrange the unfrosted cookies in a freezer-safe container with parchment paper between each layer and freeze for up to a year.
• For iced pumpkin cookies, arrange them on a baking sheet in a single layer and freeze until firm. Then transfer the frozen cookies to a freezer-safe container, with parchment paper between layers, and freeze for up to 3 months.

How else can I replace eggs in cookies?

Pumpkin or sweet potato puree can be great egg substitutes for fall-flavored eggless cookies, but you can also use a simple combination of butter & milk for a more neutral-flavored egg replacement.

I’ve used it to make all sorts of classic cookies without eggs, like eggless chocolate chip cookies, eggless sugar cookies, & eggless peanut butter cookies!