Light and zesty orange cookies filled with a smooth vanilla buttercream and topped with little matcha cookie leaves. These cute sandwich cookies are a fun twist on the beloved creamsicle and are sure to please all citrus lovers!
Key Ingredients
- Almond flour. Keeps the cookies light and airy.
- Tapioca starch. Helps to make a crisp and firm texture to the cookies.
- Oat flour. Rounds out the other two flours. Use gluten free if necessary.
- Coconut oil. Gives a richness to the cookies.
- Agave syrup. The light color is essential to get a nice orange color for the cookies. Maple syrup will make the cookies more dark/brown.
- Orange zest. Gives the cookies a fresh citrus flavor. Use a medium sized organic orange.
- Orange extract. For an extra boost of orange flavor.
- Food coloring. Use as much or as little as you like. I went for a pale orange using water based food coloring (further details are in recipe card).
- Granulated sugar. Used to sprinkle on top of the cookies to create an ‘orange peel’ look.
- Matcha. This is used to make the leaf cookies.
How To Make The Dough
For this recipe I make 2 separate doughs – one orange cookie dough and a half batch of matcha dough for the leaves.
- Start by making the orange cookie dough by mixing the dry ingredients.
- Mix the wet ingredients and add the food coloring.
- Pour the wet into the dry and combine. Form the dough into a ball and let it chill in the fridge while you move on to the matcha dough.
- Repeat the process with the matcha dough and set aside.
- Roll out the orange dough, cut out cookies and transfer to a cookie sheet.
- Roll out the matcha dough and cut out the leaves. Place the leaves onto half of the cookies and sprinkle with a bit of sugar.
- Bake for 9-10 minutes. Let cool.
How To Make The Buttercream
This easy vanilla buttercream only requires 4 ingredients – vegan butter, icing sugar, vanilla extract and almond milk. Make sure that your butter is at room temperature as that will make it much easier to whip and less chance that the buttercream will split.
- In a bowl add the butter and whip with a hand mixer.
- Add half of the icing sugar and whip.
- Add the remaining icing sugar and vanilla extract and whip again.
- While mixing slowly add the almond milk until it becomes smooth and creamy.
- Pipe or spread the buttercream on to the bottom cookies.
Why You Will Love These Sandwich Cookies
✓ Bright and fresh
✓ Sweet and zesty
✓ Cute for kids
✓ Fun for entertaining
✓ Allergy friendly
✓ Vegan and gluten free
Looking For More Cookie Recipes?
- Easy Dark Chocolate Cookies
- Earl Grey Stained Glass Floral Cookies
- Double Chocolate Tahini Cookies
- Gingerbread Stained Glass Cookies
- Coconut Bird Nest Cookies
Or More Citrus Recipes?
- Ginger Lemonade Popsicles
- Blueberry Lemon Donuts
- Vegan Key Lime Pie Popsicles
- Lemon Tarts
- Coconut Lemon Donuts With Mini Easter Eggs
- Vegan Lemon Curd
These sandwich cookies are bursting with zesty orange and sweetened with a smooth vanilla buttercream. I think that they make a fun and cute treat for people of all ages. If you love citrus, especially creamsicles I think that you will fall in love with these. I hope that you enjoy this recipe and please let me know what you think in the comments!
Orange Vanilla Sandwich Cookies Vegan Gluten Free
Bright and zesty orange cookies with a sweet vanilla buttercream.
Ingredients
Orange cookies
- 1 cup almond flour
- 1/4 cup oat flour
- 2 tablespoons tapioca starch
- 1/4 teaspoon baking soda
- 1/8 teaspoon sea salt
- 3 tablespoons coconut oil, melted
- 2 tablespoons agave syrup
- 1/2 teaspoon orange extract
- 1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
- zest of 1 small organic orange
- food colouring *see notes
- 1 teaspoon organic cane sugar, to sprinkle on top of cookies
Matcha leaf cookies
- 1/2 cup almond flour
- 2 tablespoons oat flour
- 1 tablespoon tapioca starch
- 1 teaspoon matcha powder, sifted
- 1/8 teaspoon baking soda
- 2 tablespoons agave or maple syrup
- 1 tablespoon coconut oil, melted
Vanilla Filling
- 1 cup icing sugar, sifted
- 1/2 cup vegan butter, room temperature
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- 1-2 teaspoons almond milk, as needed to thin
Instructions
Cookies
- Start by making the orange cookies. In a medium sized bowl mix the dry ingredients – almond flour, oat flour, tapioca starch, baking soda and sea salt. Mix until there are no clumps.
- In a small bowl mix the melted coconut oil, agave syrup, orange extract, vanilla extract and orange zest and stir. Add food coloring. I used water based food coloring, 5 drops of red and 30 drops of yellow. The food coloring won't completely mix with the liquid because of the oil, but once it is poured into the dry ingredients it will mix in. The color should be quite bright because it will fade when baked. Pour the mixture into the dry ingredients and mix well until the color is even. Use your hands to form the dough into a ball. It should be slightly soft and sticky. Cover the bowl and place it into the fridge for 20-30 minutes.
- In the meantime make the dough for the matcha leaves. It is essentially half a batch of the orange cookie dough without the orange. In a small bowl mix the dry ingredients – almond flour, oat flour, tapioca starch, baking soda, sea salt and sifted matcha powder. Stir until there are no clumps. Add the melted coconut oil and agave straight into the dry ingredients and mix. The dough should be sticky and hold together. Form into ball and set aside. If the dough is soft place it into the fridge but I found that mine was firm enough.
- Preheat the oven to 350℉. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper.
- Once the orange dough has chilled, roll it out between 2 pieces of parchment paper to 1/4" thick or less. Cut out the cookies with a circle cookie cutter. Using an offset spatula transfer them to the lined baking sheet . Leave 1/2" space between the cookies. Gather up the scraps of dough and roll out again. You should be able to make 20 cookies.
- Next, roll out the matcha dough between to same 2 pieces of parchment paper, to 1/8-1/4" thick. I used a pairing knife to cut out free from small leaves. I cut out 2 small leaves per cookie, a total of 20 leaves. You can use your fingers to gently shape them if needed. Place the leaves on to half of the orange cookies and lightly press them down. Sprinkle a bit of cane sugar on to the cookies with leaves. You will have leftover matcha cookie dough which can be cut out and baked. They taste great as sandwich cookies as well.
- Bake the cookies for 9-10 minutes, until they start to turn a light golden brown around the edges. Let them cool on the baking sheet for 20 minutes and then transfer to a cooling rack.
Vanilla filling
- In a medium sized bowl add the room temperature butter. Using a hand mixer, whip until it is smooth. Add half of the sifted icing sugar and whip. Add the remaining icing sugar along with the vanilla extract and whip. The mixture will be clumpy. Slowly add the almond milk while using the hand mixer until it becomes thick and smooth.
- Spread or pipe the buttercream onto the bottom side of half of the bottom cookies. I used a #12 piping tip. Place the top cookies on top and lightly press down.
- The cookies are best eaten the same day. They can be kept stored in the fridge but the cookies will become softer the longer they are stored. Enjoy!
Notes
*I used water based food coloring. I used 5 drops of red and 30 drops of yellow. It fades quite a bit when baked so make sure to that the color is very bright in the dough. If you’re using gel food coloring it can be added straight to the mixed dough. The amount of food coloring needed will vary depending on the brand.
*There will be leftover matcha cookie dough. I like to cut the rest out into circles and make them into sandwich cookies as well since will also be some leftover vanilla icing.
*For a quicker version of these cookies, you can omit the matcha dough and put fresh mint leaves sandwiched between the tops of cookies.
Nutrition
Serving: 1 sandwich cookie | Calories: 204kcal | Carbohydrates: 13g | Protein: 4g | Fat: 16g | Potassium: 17mg | Fiber: 2g | Sugar: 6g | Vitamin A: 162IU | Vitamin C: 1mg | Calcium: 32mg | Iron: 1mg
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