Gluten-free Vegan Pumpkin Spice Cookies

I can smell fall in the air.  Literally.  My kitchen is filled with the smells that I associate with fall.  Warm baked goods laced with yummy cinnamon, nutmeg, clove, all-spice smells.  Mmmm.  Minnesota has brought us a couple of cooler days, with even cooler nights.  Once the temperature drops into the 50’s and talk of football permeates the television, I get ready for sweatshirts, apple orchards, pumpkin patches, and, of course, baking. 

This year, my fall baking will be a little bit different.  I am in search of gluten free, allergen free recipes that can stand up to my best dairy, wheat, and egg laden recipes.  This is tough, for if you have ever delved into the life of the gluten free, you will remember one thing.  Gluten free really isn’t all that good.  The flours and starches taste a bit odd on our wheat-raised taste buds.  There is something that is definitely peculiar about eating cookies that have a hint of fava or garbanzo beans and potato and tapioca starch.  It doesn’t quite feel as sinful or gratifying. 

But I was bound and determined to have my favorite pumpkin spice cookie.  Sans wheat, gluten, egg, dairy.  I had to make it work.  Not just make it work, I had to make it gratifying.  Delightful.  Fulfilling. 

It isn’t quite as perfect as the normal pumpkin spice cookie, but it works enough.  A disclaimer to all, the cookie doesn’t quite taste as pumpkin-y as the original.  The banana that was used in place of the egg overtook the pumpkin flavor.   It tastes good, still, but good in a spicy banana way instead of a pumpkin pie way.  No grittiness, though.  Which for a gluten free cookie, is quite a feat.  And, by the way, Eli has devoured several of these since they exited the oven.  Both with and without the frosting.  That, friends, is another feat.

Mmmm.  Freshly frosted.

Vegan Gluten-Free Pumpkin Spice Cookie

Ingredients:

1 package Bob’s Red Mill gluten-free vanilla cake mix

½ cup Bob’s Red Mill (or equivalent) gluten-free quick-cooking oats

4 teaspoons gluten-free pumpkin pie spice

1 ripe banana

15 oz (1 can or about 2 cups) pumpkin

2 tablespoons olive oil

                Frosting:

                Zest and juice from one orange

                Half of a package, more or less, of powdered sugar

Directions:

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

Mash banana in a small-ish bowl.  Whisk pumpkin and olive oil into the mashed banana.

In a large bowl, mix together entire cake mix, spices, and oats.

Mix wet ingredients into dry ingredients until incorporated.  The mixture will be very thick.

Drop by large tablespoon-fulls onto a large bar pan.

Bake for 24-25 minutes at 350 degrees.

Allow to cool completely and then frost with:

                Orange frosting: Mix together juice and zest of one orange and enough powdered sugar to obtain a spreading consistency.

Savor.

And if you are feeling really adventurous, these cookies might be super yummy with grated carrot added to the mix.  Another day, another creation for me, though.  Right now, I need to go eat some cookies. J