These Pumpkin Protein Cookies are the best healthy fall cookies packed with 16 grams of protein.
If you love healthy pumpkin chocolate chip cookies, they are the perfect match for you.
Ingredients
All you need to make these delicious pumpkin cookies with protein powder are:
- Rolled Oats – Oats are packed with proteins and fiber, and make delicious protein cookies without using refined flour.
- Maple Syrup or any liquid sweetener you love like coconut nectar or agave syrup.
- Almond Butter – Packed with healthy fats, almond butter is also high in plant-based proteins.
- Vanilla Protein Powder – I use vanilla pea protein powder made from pea protein, natural vanilla flavor, and natural sweeter. It’s natural and has only three ingredients to add proteins without additives to your homemade protein cookies. Feel free to use any plant-based vanilla protein powder you like, such as hemp, soy, or peanut-based protein powder.
- Pumpkin Puree – I use canned pumpkin puree. This is not pumpkin pie filling. Pumpkin puree is made from only one ingredient: pumpkin with no added oil and no added sugar. Also, you can make your own pumpkin puree for this recipe.
- Melted Coconut Oil or light olive oil.
- Pumpkin Pie Spices – This adds the pumpkin pie flavor to the cookies. If you can’t find a pumpkin spice blend in-store, try a mix of ground cinnamon, ground ginger, and nutmeg.
- Dark Chocolate Chips
How To Make Pumpkin Protein Cookies
It’s so easy to make homemade protein cookies, and for fall, adding pumpkin puree to your protein cookie recipe is a must.
- In a large mixing bowl, whisk all the dry ingredients together (photo 1). Set aside.
- In another mixing bowl, stir the wet ingredients (photo 2). Preheat the oven to 350°F (180°C). Line a large baking sheet with a silicone mat or parchment paper. Slightly oil the paper with cooking oil spray. Set aside.
- Pour the wet ingredients into the bowl with the dry ingredients (photo 3).
- Add the oats (photo 4) and stir the ingredients together with a silicone spatula until the cookie batter comes together.
- Half way, add the chocolate chips and keep stirring (photo 5). The cookie dough starts to be dry and difficult to stir.
- Use your hand to squeeze the ingredients together to form a dough that you can easily roll into balls (photo 6). If it is too dry, this can happen if you add too much protein powder, then add a splash of water or a bit more pumpkin puree.
- Using a cookie dough scoop, grab some cookie batter, press in the cookie scoop to pack the cookie batter. Release on the prepared baking sheet (photo 7). Repeat this step until all the batter has been formed in to pumpkin protein cookies.
- Slightly press the top of each cookie dough ball to form a flatter cookie. If the sides cracks wet your fingertips and rub sides of the cookies to shape the cookie nicely (photo 8).
- Place the baking sheet on the center rack of the oven and bake until the sides of the cookies are golden brown, and crispy. It takes about 20 minutes.
- Remove the cookies from the oven and cool at room temperature for about 20 minutes on the baking sheet.
- Then, slide a spatula under the cookies to release on a wire rack to cool completely.
Alternatives
These pumpkin cookies are the best healthy dessert or protein treats to fix a sweet craving in the afternoon. You can tweak the recipe to create different flavors or textures.
For example, you can swap chocolate chips for:
- Chopped walnuts
- Chopped pecans
- Unsweetened shredded coconut
- Dried raisins or cranberries
You can also swap some of the pumpkin puree with the same amount of unsweetened applesauce or mashed ripe bananas.
Storage Instructions
Store the cookies in the fridge in a zip-lock bag or airtight container for up to one week.
Freeze in an airtight container for up to one month. Thaw at room temperature the day before.
Allergy Swaps
Below are some ingredient substitution options if you need them.
- Gluten-Free – Pick a gluten-free oats brand. All the other ingredients are gluten-free.
- Nut-Free – Swap the almond butter for sunflower seed butter, tahini, or pumpkin seed butter.
Frequently Asked Questions
Below are my answers to your most common questions about this high-protein fall cookie recipe.
Protein cookies are great on-the-go breakfast post-workout or snack to fix a sweet craving in the afternoon.
It depends on the amount of calories and proteins per serving your protein cookie contains.
A protein cookie with about 300 kcal or more can be used as a breakfast replacement. Cookies with 150kcal or less are more considered as a snack.
More Protein Cookie Recipes
If you like cookies loaded with protein, you’ll love these:
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Pumpkin Protein Cookies
Ingredients
- 2 cups Rolled Oats
- ⅓ cup + 2 tablespoons Protein Powder
- ½ teaspoon Pumpkin Pie Spices
- ¼ cup Almond Butter - unsalted
- ⅓ cup Maple Syrup
- ⅓ cup + 1 tablespoon Pumpkin Puree
- ¼ cup Coconut Oil
- ⅓ cup Dairy-Free Dark Chocolate Chips
- ¼ teaspoon Salt
- ½ teaspoon Vanilla Extract
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 350°F (180°C). Line a large baking sheet with parchment paper. Slightly oil the paper with cooking oil spray. Set aside.
- In a large mixing bowl, stir the dry ingredients together: rolled oats, plant-based protein powder, salt, and pumpkin pie spices. Whisk until all the dry ingredients are evenly combined. Set aside.
- In another bowl, add cooled, melted coconut oil, unsalted almond butter, maple syrup, vanilla extract, and pumpkin puree. Whisk all the wet ingredients together until smooth.
- Pour the wet ingredients into the bowl with the dry ingredients.
- Stir to bring the ingredients together, and stir in chocolate chips halfway. Keep going until the dough is moist, but stick together. You may have to use your hand to squeeze the ingredients together.
- If it is too dry, add one tablespoon of extra pumpkin puree or a splash of melted coconut oil.
- Use a cookie dough scoop to grab the pumpkin cookie dough, and use the palm of your hand to press and pack firmly the batter in the scoop.
- If the sides crack, wet your hands and press/rub the sides to smoothen the edges and pack the cookies.
- Release the cookie dough on the prepared baking sheet and press on top to flatten.
- Repeat until you form 8 large protein cookies, leaving half a thumb of space between each cookie.
- Bake at 350°F (180°C) on the center rack of your oven until golden brown on the edges – about 17-19 minutes.
- Cool down on the baking sheet without touching the cookies for 15 minutes. They need to rest on the cookie sheet to firm up. Don't touch them, or they may fall apart when warm.
- Slide a spatula under each cookie to gently transfer them to a cooling rack. Let them cool completely at room temperature before storing.
Storage
- Store the protein oatmeal cookies in a cookie jar or airtight sealed container in the fridge for up to four days. Freeze for up to one month. Thaw at room temperature.
Can you sub almond flour? Oats spike my sugars too much.
No, it wouldn’t work well. I’d rather start from my almond flour pumpkin cookies and add chocolate chips!
These look great! Can I use Collagen protein powder to make these?
Thank you! I haven’t tried collagen protein powder, so I’m not 100% sure how it would behave.
Can you make these smaller? I need at least a dozen cookies for an event.
Absolutely! You can half them, they freeze very well or store well in the fridge too.
Hi, I made these and they were delicious. I was curious if they need to be baked in order to eat them. I had a little extra batter left over and rolled it into a cookie ball and ate it like that. Just curious what your thoughts are on that
You can absolutely eat the cookie batter raw, it contains no eggs, no flour nor dairy, that are often the ingredients that must be baked to avoid bacteria. If unbaked you must store in the fridge because the pumpkin puree turns bad after a few days if uncooked.