Vegan Pumpkin Spice Mummy Cookies (Refined Sugar-Free)
Spooky meets wholesome in these vegan pumpkin spice mummy cookies! Perfectly spiced, naturally sweetened, and decorated with creamy white cashew frosting. A Halloween treat that won't leave you with a sugar crash.
Ingredients
Cookie Ingredients (makes 18-20 cookies)
- 1/2 cup/ 1 stick vegan butter softened
- 1/2 cup coconut sugar
- 1/4 cup maple syrup
- 3/4 cups canned pumpkin purée not pumpkin pie filling
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- 2 1/4 cups gluten-free 1:1 flour blend or a mild tasting flour like oat flour
- 1/4 cup almond flour for tenderness; can sub sunflower seed flour if nut free
- 1 teaspoon baking soda
- 1 teaspoon baking powder
- 1 tablespoon pumpkin pie spice
- 1 flax egg see instructions
- 1/2 teaspoon salt
- 1 half batch of my vegan cashew frosting - see below
- 40 Candy Eyes
White Cashew Coconut Frosting (for Mummy Bandages)
- 1 cup raw cashews soaked overnight or for 2–4 hours in hot water, then drained
- 2 tbsp maple syrup
- 1/4 cup coconut whipping cream cream
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- 1 tbsp lemon juice brightens flavor and helps whiten
- Pinch of salt
- 1 tsp arrowroot starch
Instructions
Prep Your Ingredients
- Preheat oven to 350°F (180°C). Line a baking sheet with parchment paper.
Make Flax Egg
- in a small bowl, mix together 3 tbsp water and 1 tbsp ground flax. Let sit for 5-10 minutes until it forms a gel like consistency. This acts as our egg replacer and helps bind everything together!
Mix the Cookie Dough
- In a large bowl, cream together vegan butter, coconut sugar, and maple syrup until smooth and fluffy. This should take about 2-3 minutes with an electric mixer. Mix in pumpkin purée, flax egg and vanilla. The mixture might look a bit loose - that's totally normal!
- In another bowl, whisk together oat flour, almond flour, baking soda, baking powder, spices, and salt. Make sure there are no lumps in your pumpkin pie spice. If there is, use a sifter to add it in.
- Gradually stir dry ingredients into wet until a soft dough forms. Don't overmix - just until everything comes together.
- Scoop cookie dough using a small cookie scoop or ice cream scoop, approximately 2 tbsp dough per cookie, roll into balls, and flatten slightly on the baking sheet. Leave about 2 inches between cookies.
- Chill for 30 minutes to help prevent spreading of cookies while baking. This step is crucial for getting the right texture, so don’t skip!
- Bake 9-11 minutes, until set but still soft in the middle. They should look slightly underdone - they'll continue cooking on the hot pan. Let cool completely before frosting.
Make the Cashew Frosting
- Blend soaked cashews, maple syrup, coconut cream, vanilla, lemon juice, and salt in a high-speed blender until smooth. This might take 3-5 minutes to get completely smooth.
- Chill in the freezer for 30 minutes to firm up before piping. You want it thick enough to hold its shape but still pipeable.
Create Your Mummies
- Transfer to a piping bag with a round tip, I used a Wilton #5 tip, but you could also use a flat or ribbon tip.
- Pipe small dots on the backs of 2 candy eyeballs and add to each cookie.
- Pipe mummy bandages on the cookies by creating zig-zag lines. Don't worry about making them perfect - messy bandages look more authentic!
Video
Notes
- The lemon juice + coconut cream help brighten the cashew frosting so it looks more white than beige.
- Use canned coconut whipping cream for the recipe, not milk. I have tested making the vegan cashew coconut frosting recipe with canned coconut milk and the cream from the top of the coconut milk and the icing comes out too runny to hold shape.
- Don't skip the chilling step for both the dough and frosting - it makes all the difference in texture.
- These cookies are best decorated the day you plan to serve them, but the unfrosted cookies can be made up to 3 days ahead.
- If you don't have a piping bag, you can use a zip-top bag with the corner cut off.
- Store decorated cookies in the refrigerator for up to 5 days.