Orange Vanilla Sandwich Cookies Vegan Gluten Free

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.

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