Easy Vegan Cinnamon Pecan Cookies (Gluten-Free, Dairy-Free, Refined Sugar-Free, Healthy)
Easy Vegan Cinnamon Pecan Cookies (V, GF): an easy recipe for chewy on the outside, soft on the inside buttery gluten free pecan cookies bursting with pecan crunch and a cinnamon kick! Made with healthy ingredients. Vegan, Gluten-Free, Dairy-Free, Whole Grain, Refined Sugar-Free.
When I was a little kid, I loved those royal blue cookie tins. Well, I loved the cookies inside. My grandmother would always have one of those tins at her house. Sometimes multiples, in case tons of us grandkids were over for a family gathering.
There was just something about holding one of those tins in your hands, running your fingers along the bumps and ridges that outlined each cookie image on the lid that felt so satisfying. And when you pried that tin open, omigosh… the smell!
Buttery cookies at its finest—at least in my 8-year-old opinion. 😉
Even though I was all about the chocolate, all day and all night, there was just something about those buttery cookies that I absolutely loved. There were usually only a few chocolate chip ones in the bunch—and those chocolate chips were pretty much just for decoration. Not much chocolate taste there.
Anyway, my absolute favorites were the ones with itty bitty pieces of pecans in them: the shortbread cookies! While it’s been on my baking bucket list (please, someone find a way to help me phrase that in a less morbid way) to sort that recipe out… I hereby take this very special December date to share an equally friggin GOOD buttery-like pecan cookie.
Gather ‘round, as I present to you my Easy Vegan Cinnamon Pecan Cookies. They’re chewy, just a bit soft on the inside, bursting with just the right amount of buttery vibes courtesy coconut oil, a delicious twist of cinnamon, and, of course, beautifully chopped pecans. <— I mean, any way you chop ‘em, they’re gonna be beauts! 😉
I absolutely love these cookies for holiday gift-giving, sharing with friends for a coffee date, a family bake day, or straight up baking them for yourself. They’re based off of my reader fave, Vegan Chocolate Chip Cookies Recipe, so rest assured they’ve been kitchen tested and totally approved… ‘round the world. Yeah!!
A couple more easy vegan cookie recipes for your holiday cookie platter: .
- Gluten Free Vegan Oatmeal Chocolate Chip Cookies
- Paleo Chocolate Coconut Macaroons Recipe (my fam’s absolute fave)
- Gluten Free Vegan Oat Flour Chocolate Chip Cookies
- 3 Ingredient No Bake Peanut Butter Oatmeal Cookies
- Easy Gluten Free Vegan Oatmeal Raisin Cookies
- Easy Vegan Peanut Butter Cookies
BAKING HINTS – COCONUT OIL & GETTING THE RIGHT TEXTURE FOR PERFECT COOKIES
See Above? The cookie on the right is made with coconut oil that isn’t solid enough—the coconut oil might’ve been too melty and warm to start with, or just been heated up too much during the “cutting” process. The dough was very sticky and soft, almost like semi-melted cookie dough (think Salvador Dalí/Persistence of Memory-eqsue cookie dough lol.) The dough was more like very thick cake batter than cookie dough. As a result, the cookie baked up flat, pancake-life and quite soft. The cookie on the left is made with perfectly solid coconut oil. Once cut into coconut sugar, there was a sand-like texture. Once the dough came together, it was thick and firm, just like regular cookie dough. This resulted in firm, chewy and thick cookies.
A quick hint in case you have any troubles with the solid coconut oil: If you find that your coconut oil isn’t hard enough to begin with, simply place the jar of coconut oil into the freezer before you get started. If the jar is too large to freeze quickly here’s what I like to do: line a bowl with plastic wrap OR use a silicone muffin cup placed on a plate, then pour in the measured amount of coconut oil. Chill in the freezer until solid. Then use as directed.
Another hint in case your coconut oil isn’t solid by the time you cut it into the coconut sugar OR you don’t get the sand-like texture I mention in the recipe: make the cookies as directed, right up until you’re about to scoop them. Simply cover that bowl of cookie dough and chill in the freezer or fridge until it’s very firm throughout, just like normal cookie dough. Once it’s very firm, scoop and drop the cookies. Then bake as normal!
Helpful Hint: Making Cookies with Homemade Oat Flour
Lastly, remember if you’re using homemade oat flour: grind your gluten free oats until very finely ground–just like store-bought flour! The more coarse and grainy your flour is, the more crumbly your cookies will be. I often get emails (with photos, thank goodness!!) of crumbly cookies–this is because the flour isn’t finely ground enough. This can also affect baked goods like quick breads and muffins. If you’re using homemade oat flour for recipes like the following, make sure it’s finely ground: Healthy Gluten Free Orange Cardamom Muffins, Vegan Cinnamon Raisin Quick Bread Recipe, Vegan Gluten Free Pumpkin Muffins, Easy Gluten Free Vegan Dark Chocolate Muffins, Moist Gluten Free Chocolate Pumpkin Muffins, Best Moist Chocolate Chip Banana Bread Recipe, Vegan Cinnamon Quick Bread.
That’s all for today, folks! Since this post is a tad (okay, a lot) more lengthy than usual, I’m gonna skip the usual bulletpoints about these fabulous easy vegan cinnamon pecan cookies! So… are you ready to get your bake on? Let’s do it! It’s truly the best thing ever to share in these recipes and kitchen moments with you. Here’s to making life sweeter with the people we love. Wishing you an amazing holiday season! ‘Til next time…
Sending you all my love and maybe even a dove, xo Demeter ❤️
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Vegan Gluten Free Holiday Cookies Recipes
If you enjoyed this Easy Vegan Cinnamon Pecan Cookies recipe, then you’ll just love these healthy gluten free dairy-free cookies recipes & more:
- Vegan Cinnamon Cookies
- Chewy Healthy Oatmeal Chocolate Chip Cookies
- Ultimate Chewy Paleo Coconut Cookies
- 4 Ingredient Gluten Free Soft Peanut Butter Cookies
- Pumpkin Chocolate Chip Oatmeal Breakfast Cookies
- and… Vegan Gluten Free Chocolate Cupcakes, just for fun!
Easy Vegan Cinnamon Pecan Cookies (Gluten-Free, Dairy-Free, Refined Sugar-Free, Healthy)
- Yield: 14-18 cookies (mine made 16 cookies) 1x
Description
Easy Vegan Cinnamon Pecan Cookies (V, GF): an easy recipe for chewy on the outside, soft on the inside buttery gluten free pecan cookies bursting with pecan crunch and a cinnamon kick! Made with healthy ingredients. Gluten-Free, Vegan, Dairy-Free, Refined Sugar-Free, Healthy.
Ingredients
Dry Ingredients
- 1 1/3 cups gluten free oat flour – if using homemade, make sure it’s very finely ground (not coarse)
- 1/4 teaspoon baking powder
- 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
- 3/4 teaspoon ground cinnamon
- 1/4 teaspoon salt
Wet Ingredients
- 1/4 cup + 2 tablespoons solid coconut oil*
- 2/3 cup coconut sugar
- 1 1/3 modified flax eggs (4 teaspoons ground flax + 4 Tablespoons water, whisked together, set for 15 mins)
- 1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
Add-In Ingredients
- 1/2 cup + 2 tablespoons pecans, chopped
Optional Topping
- 2 tablespoons pecans, chopped
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 375°F. Line a cookie sheet with parchment paper or greased foil.
- In a medium mixing bowl, whisk together the dry ingredients: flour, baking powder, baking soda, cinnamon and salt. Set aside.
- Add solid coconut oil* and coconut sugar to a large mixing bowl. Using a pastry cutter or fork, cut the sugar into the solid oil—this will take a few minutes. Cut until only small coconut oil clumps remain and the texture is like clumpy wet sand.
- Add in the remaining wet ingredients: modified flax egg and vanilla extract. Whisk until just incorporated. The mixture will be wet and chunky.
- Using a hand mixer, gradually add the dry ingredients into the wet ingredients bowl. Mix until well-incorporated and a cohesive dough forms. Don’t worry about the small clumps of solid coconut oil—this is expected. Fold in chopped pecans.
- If the cookie dough is sticky and wet, like thick cake batter, the coconut oil was not solid enough. This will result in soft, cakey cookies. The cookie dough texture should be firm and very thick, just like cookie dough. To fix this: cover cookie dough and chill in the freezer for 15-25 minutes, until firm throughout.
- Using a 2-tablespoon cookie scoop, scoop and drop balls of cookie dough onto the prepared baking sheet. Optionally, press pecans into the top of cookies. Bake 10-14 minutes. Mine took 12 minutes. After removing from the oven, give the baking sheet a few light taps to flatten the cookies to perfection.
- Transfer baking sheet to a cooling rack. Allow cookies to cool on the baking sheet for 10 minutes. Afterward, use a heatproof spatula to transfer cookies directly onto the cooling rack for to finish cooling. Enjoy! Storing instructions below.
Adapted from my Vegan Chocolate Chip Cookies Recipe.
Also try my Chewy Oatmeal Raisin Cookies and my Gluten Free Gingerbread Oatmeal Breakfast Cookies.
Notes
– *Helpful hints with coconut oil: If your coconut oil is liquidy, do the following: line a small bowl with plastic wrap OR place a silicone baking cup on a plate. Pour measured amount of coconut oil into the silicone cup, or the bowl, directly over the plastic wrap—this will help you easily remove it later. Refrigerate for 15-30 minutes, or until solid. Keep a close eye on the coconut oil—you want it to be solid, but just slightly soft enough for cutting. Once it’s solid, lift the plastic wrap out of the bowl and dump the coconut oil into your mixing bowl, or pop it right out of the silicone baking cup.
– If using Homemade Oat Flour, make sure to grind it until you get a very fine (like store-bought flour) texture. The more coarse/grainy your flour is, the more crumbly the cookie will be.
– Store in an airtight container at room temperature for 1-3 weeks.
- Category: Cookies, Holiday, Christmas, Dessert, Vegan, Gluten-Free, Dairy-Free, Healthy
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SHOP THE RECIPE
Here are a few items I used in today’s recipe. 🙂
KitchenAid Hand Mixer | Gluten Free Oat Flour | Coconut Sugar | Coconut Oil | Cookie Sheet | Unbleached Parchment Paper | 2-Tablespoon Cookie Scoop | OXO Mixing Bowls | Cooling Rack | Stainless Steel Measuring Cups
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Hi! I love the sound of theses cookies being that they are gluten and refined sugar free, but I am not vegan. Is it possible to make these with an egg instead of flax eggs?
Thank you!
Hi Stacey! Yep, that should be totally fine. Happy baking!
These cookies tasted as good as gluten cookies with eggs!
I replaced half the oat flour with rice flour.
The taste was great. The cookies were crumbly when warm, but after they cooled down the texture was solid, too.
Hi there! Yep, I definitely recommend cooking the cookies and other desserts completely first to avoid any issues like that. Glad to hear that the rice flour worked out for you.
I have made this multiple times for my vegan kids and even non vegan friends! everyone loves them..! wonderful recipe, must try!!
Seriously, that’s so great to hear! Love knowing that a recipe satisfies everyone’s tastes. 🙂 Thanks Tejbir!
Delicious. I just made them but I used chia gel instead. Loved them a lot. Loved the cinnamon taste. Healthy in my opinion.
Thanks a bunch.
That’s wonderful! Good to know it worked out for you with chia gel, thanks for sharing!
Can I use honey or maple syrup instead of the coconut sugar?
Hi Connie! Swapping the coconut sugar for a liquid sweetener would likely change the texture of the cookies a bit. Organic brown sugar, or a similar granulated sweetener, would be a better swap. Hope you enjoy!
What a great recipe! My family loved it, so I will for sure make it again
Thanks so much, Adriana! Happy baking! 🙂