As I began developing this recipe, I just heard Eleanor’s voice from The Good Place ringing in my ears saying “Ya basic!“ (if you haven’t watched The Good Place yet, go watch it—it’s nominated for two Emmy awards). This is the time of the year when pumpkin everything floods grocery stores and restaurants. I have to admit that early on in college I loved the classic PSL (Pumpkin Spice Latte) from Starbucks and I bought everything and anything I could find that had pumpkin in it. Yet, after I graduated from college I became … grumpy. It was most likely related to the fact that I had worked for Starbucks that year and had begun to associate frilly, seasonal drinks with that “basic” college girl type; or maybe I was grumpy because of Tucson’s lack of color-changing leaves and temperatures still in the 90s. I became one of those people who saw the color orange emerging everywhere in September and rolled my eyes upon entry to every store. I wanted to punch every pumpkin spice product right off of the shelves. I refused to eat anything pumpkin, squash, or fall-related until Thanksgiving. Thanksgiving!
But those were the dark times. Last year, Trader Joe’s, Sprouts, and some of my other favorite brands came out with so many gluten free pumpkin products. How could I resist? Was I going to just ignore those products just because they had pumpkin in them? Heck no! I am the shopper that sees something that says now gluten free! on a label and blindly throws it into her basket.
With these new products, I started doing what I love to do in any season—gorge myself on every seasonal food available until I am so sick of it I need a year to recover. I successfully did that with nectarines, watermelon, and strawberries this summer, and now it’s time to bulk up on pumpkin, tea with cinnamon and nutmeg, and delicata and acorn squash.
This recipe comes with the readiness to embrace the season. These cookies come out delectably soft and subtly sweet with silky melted chocolate swirled throughout to tie it all together. Bake them to fill your house with the scents of fall and curl up on your couch with a plate of cookies, a fuzzy blanket, and a glass of your favorite dairy free milk (and if you’re in Arizona, crank the air conditioning before curling up under your fuzzy blanket). Don’t fight the pumpkin spice. Just take a deep breath in through your nose and let it carry you gently through these next few months. Namaste.
Sneaking licks of the creamed sugar and butter reminds me of my childhood! 
Soft Chocolate Chunk Pumpkin Oatmeal Cookies
Servings: Approximately 18 cookies
Time: 45 minutes
1/4 cup Vegan Butter (it’s usually salted, so we’re foregoing additional salt!)
1/2 cup Brown Sugar
1/2 cup White Granulated Sugar
1 cup Canned Pumpkin
1 egg
1/2 teaspoon Vanilla
1/2 cup White Rice Flour
1/4 Brown Rice Flour
1/4 cup Tapioca Flour
1 cup Gluten Free Oats
1/2 teaspoon Baking Powder
1/2 teaspoon Baking Soda
1 tablespoon Pumpkin Pie Spice
1 bar (3 ounces) Dark Chocolate haphazardly broken into chunks (1/2 cup Chocolate Chips also work)
1 tablespoon Oil (I used Vegetable Oil)
1 tablespoon Roasted Salted Pepitas (optional)
- Place butter in a medium-sized bowl, cut into smaller pieces and allow it to soften at room temperature.
- Once the butter is soft, then add the brown and white sugars. Using a whisk or a fork, mix it all together until creamed. Once combined, taste some of it (you deserve to eat straight up sugar and butter).
- Add the egg, vanilla, and pumpkin, then combine.
- In a small bowl, measure out the white rice, brown rice, and tapioca flours, as well as the oats, baking powder, baking soda, pumpkin pie spice, and chocolate chunks. Blend the dry ingredients together.
- Deposit the dry mix into the sugary pumpkin mix and gently stir until fully incorporated.
- Place the cookie dough into the refrigerator for 10 minutes while preheating the oven to 350° and lightly greasing a baking sheet with oil.
- Wash your hands!
- Form balls of dough slightly larger than golf balls and place two or more inches apart from one another on the baking sheet.
- If using pepitas, add a few to the top of the cookies, pressing down to ensure they stick on while baking.
- Pop in the oven and bake for 20 minutes (you can add more time if you’d like firmer cookies).
- Once the time has elapsed, place the cookies on a rack to cool.
*Eat these right away or freeze and defrost when you are in dire need of some pumpkin spice!
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