Pillowy, soft pumpkin spice cookies with gooey chocolate chunks are the treat you need this fall season — made even more special with my own nut butter blend with Ground Up PDX!

Today we’re sharing some very exciting news, and it’s more than a delicious one-of-a-kind Pumpkin Spice Chocolate Chunk Cookie (although be sure to stick around for that too)! 

If you’ve been around here for a while, you know that I LOVE nut butter. Cashew, almond, or peanut, I’m not picky. A variety of nut butter is always a staple in my pantry for both sweet and even savory dishes like my Broccoli Crunch Salad with Creamy Almond Butter Dressing. 

When I first started on this path of recipe development and content creation, I knew that I only wanted to work with brands that I truly loved and used myself.

One of those brands is Ground Up PDX, a nut butter company based out of Oregon (my home state) that provides job training to women overcoming adversity in Portland. 

I started to DM them back in 2021 when I was a baby content creator and was just excited when the brand responded to my message.

Over the years, I’ve been a supporter of the brand and tagged them organically in my posts and stories. It wasn’t until November 2023 that I received a shocking email that they wanted to collaborate with ME! 

Choosing a flavor may have been the hardest part and we went through several rounds of taste testing to land on the perfect blend.

We landed on… Pumpkin Pie! This is a flavor that I’ve always wanted to see from Ground Up and I was shocked that they hadn’t created one in the past.

The almond and cashew blend is naturally sweetened with maple syrup and date sugar with NO palm oil! It truly was a perfect brand fit to work with them since all of Ground Up’s nut butters are super clean and don’t contain any unnecessary oils or sugars.  

While this nut butter is delicious spooned into warm oatmeal, gluten-free toast, or straight out of the jar, you know that I had to create an extra special recipe for you all dedicated to this little jar of joy!

These gluten-free pumpkin pie chocolate cookies are out of this world! They have just the right amount of sweetness and are soft and pillowy. The addition of chocolate chunks makes these fall-inspired cookies just a bit more decadent. 

I hope you give them a try and also grab a jar of my Ground Up Pumpkin Pie Nut Butter (use code OLIVIA10 for a discount). Enjoy! 

Key Ingredients for Gluten-Free Pumpkin Chocolate Chip Cookies

Keep these items stocked so you have a quick and simple pumpkin treat ready in under 20 minutes all fall long! 

• Almond Flour: Use fine for a smooth consistency and texture. 
• Tapioca Flour: A bit of this gluten-free flour helps ensure the cookies are light and airy. 
• Pumpkin Pie Spice: If you’re using my Pumpkin Pie nut butter, you’re already getting added pumpkin-y flavor, but the addition of a bit of this fall spice helps round out the flavors even more. 
• Ground Up Pumpkin Pie Nut Butter: Of course, I’d love it if you’d grab a jar but you can also substitute with creamy almond butter. 

• Coconut Sugar: We’re keeping these cookies refined sugar-free with this natural sugar. 
• Maple Syrup: Pumpkin and maple syrup — two essentials for fall baking, in my opinion. 
• Dark Chocolate Chunks: I love to do a rough chop on @hukitchen dark simple dark chocolate but you can always use your favorite chocolate chips! 
• Flaky Sea Salt: A bit of salt over each cookie is the perfect finisher. 

How to Make Pumpkin Chocolate Chip Cookies

Let’s get baking! Start by preheating the oven to 350°F. 

In a medium-sized mixing bowl, add the almond flour, tapioca flour, baking soda, pumpkin pie spice, and salt. Whisk until just combined. 

In a smaller mixing bowl, add the nut butter, coconut sugar, vanilla extract, and maple syrup. Stir with a spatula until just combined. 

Add the wet ingredients to your dry ingredients and stir or mix with a hand mixer until no lumps are remaining. 

Using a spatula, gently stir in the chocolate chunks.

Roll into 1-inch balls or use an ice cream scoop to make even-sized balls. You should get 12 cookies out of this batch. Place them on a parchment or silicone-lined baking sheet. 

Pop your cookies in the oven for about 13 minutes. Top each cookie with flaky sea salt. 

Serve and ENJOY!

Other Pumpkin Recipes To Try:

• Gluten-Free Pumpkin Bread
• Dairy-Free Pumpkin Alfredo 
• Pumpkin Cream Chia Pudding
• One Bowl Chocolate Chip Pumpkin Muffins