Skillet cookies are such a cozy vibe! Slightly warm, a little gooey, all mixed up with some scoops of melt-y ice cream. It’s dessert heaven for me. I also appreciate how quick they are to throw together. I typically have all of the ingredients for this pumpkin chocolate chip skillet cookie on hand. Measuring and mixing takes about 15 minutes. After it bakes, we let it cool down a bit, and voila! Seriously the easiest, most decadent, but still grain-free and vegan dessert ever.
Folks that are fans of Vegan Spelt Pumpkin Bread will love this pumpkin and chocolate goodness. The pumpkin flavour is subtle in this! I really try to finesse it with the cinnamon and nutmeg in the mix. In my opinion it’s just the right amount of pumpkin spice flavour though. I used the Eating Evolved Dark Chocolate Chips. I love the fudge-y texture of these chocolate chips!
Could you make these as individual cookies?
I think you could in theory, but they might come out a little too soft and blondie-like in texture. Using the skillet as the cooking vessel helps to firm up the edges and overall integrity of the cookie while it bakes.
Could you make this nut-free?
Sunflower seed meal will substitute in fine for almond flour. Same goes for sunflower seed butter/tahini/pumpkin seed butter to replace the almond butter. Sunflower seed meal/butter combined with baking soda will yield you a green-tinged end product though.
I love that a dessert like this is just shared in the cooking vessel. No need to be fancy and serve up individual portions. Everyone digs in! If you try this and love it, chances are you’ll be a fan of my Jumbo Vegan Tahini Chocolate Chunk Cookie and my Vegan Chocolate Zucchini Muffin Tops. Both are also grain-free and based on a similar formula! ;)
Pumpkin Chocolate Chip Skillet Cookie
Ingredients
- 1 teaspoon ground flaxseed
- 2 tablespoons unsweetened non-dairy milk or water
- 1 ¼ cups almond flour
- ½ teaspoon baking soda
- ½ teaspoon ground cinnamon
- ⅛ teaspoon freshly grated nutmeg
- ¼ teaspoon fine sea salt
- ¼ cup canned pumpkin purée
- ¼ cup maple syrup
- 2 tablespoons smooth almond butter
- 2 tablespoons coconut oil, melted and cooled, plus extra
- 1 ½ teaspoons vanilla extract
- ⅓ cup dairy-free chocolate chips, plus extra
Notes
- I used an 8-inch cast iron skillet for this! The perfect size for a skillet cookie in my opinion. A link to the one that I have can be found here.
- I think you could make this as individual cookies in theory, but they might come out a little too soft and blondie-like in texture. Using the skillet as the cooking vessel helps to firm up the edges while it bakes.
- Hazelnut meal or sunflower seed meal will substitute in fine for almond flour. Sunflower seed meal combined with baking soda will yield you a green-tinged end product though. Science!
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 350°F. Lightly grease a 8-inch cast iron skillet with coconut oil and make sure that one of your oven racks is in the middle position.
- In a small bowl, combine the ground flaxseed and non-dairy milk. Give it a little stir and set aside to gel for 5 minutes
- In a medium bowl, whisk together the almond flour, baking soda, cinnamon, nutmeg, and salt.
- In another medium bowl, whisk together the pumpkin purée, maple syrup, almond butter, coconut oil, vanilla extract, and the flax/non-dairy milk mixture. Once it's completely smooth and thoroughly combined, scrape it into the bowl with the almond flour mixture.
- Using a spatula, mix the pumpkin mixture and almond flour mixture together. Once it's all totally combined, fold in the chocolate chips. The texture will be like a very wet cookie dough.
- Transfer the cookie dough to the greased skillet and smooth it out to an even thickness, all the way to the edges. Sprinkle a few extra chocolate chips on top and then transfer the skillet to the center rack of the oven.
- Bake the pumpkin chocolate chip skillet cookie for 25-30 minutes, or until the cookie is lightly golden on the edges and slightly firm to the touch. Take the cookie out and let it cool for at least an hour before enjoying with vegan vanilla ice cream (or on its own!).
THIS THING IS INCREDIBLE. I tried this recipe for the first time a couple of weeks ago. My partner and I ate the whole thing in one go — and then did the same thing the next night. Have made it an embarrassing number of times since then because it satisfies our sweet tooth but feels relatively healthy. We made it so many times that we ran out of almond butter, and discovered via necessity that peanut butter works pretty well too in a pinch if you leave out the spices.
Dang, looks and sounds good….I just want to pick up one of those spoons so bad! I like how you made it have only a subtle pumpkin flavor…definitely more my style as well.
Whoa! You weren’t kidding about the sunflower butter turning it green! Tastes great still…..;)
Thank you for the pumpkin recipe! Do you add the flax egg from step 2 to the wet ingredients in step 4?
Hi Blake,
You add the flax egg with all of the other wet ingredients in step 4. Apologies for any confusion!
-L
Thanks for this yummy recipe! I upped the spices a bit and the family loved it!
I made this last night and it was the perfect, cozy fall dessert! I appreciated how it was not too sweet or loaded with sugar. I will be making this again and next time will try adding some pecan pieces Into the batter. Super fast to make and super delicious! Thanks Laura!
Soo good! And just the right amount of sweet for my taste. I saved this one in a notebook of my favorite recipes. I made this in a 10 inch skillet so increased everything by 50 percent and baked an extra 7-10 minutes.
This was wonderful.
I doubled the recipe as I had a larger cast-iron skillet. I had to increase the cooking time by seven minutes but it was perfect. Thank you. I appreciate your recipes and you.
Hi Karie,
I so appreciate this note on the cooking time for a doubled version of the recipe! It will be so helpful to future readers. So glad that you enjoyed it too :)
-L
I LOVE this recipe! It’s so yummy! I will make this again and again and again….. Thank you!