Gluten Free Strawberry Matcha Sugar Cookies
A delicious swirl of strawberry, matcha, and vanilla sugar cookie all in one! These vegan and gluten free sugar cookies are easy to make, beautiful, and delicious!
Servings: 10 -13 cookies
Ingredients
- 1/2 cup vegan butter softened
- 3/4 cup organic cane sugar
- 1 tsp vanilla bean paste
- 1/4 cup plant milk room temperature
- 1 1/2 cup gluten free flour I use Bob's Red Mill 1-1
- 1 1/2 tsp baking powder
- 1/2 tsp baking soda
- 1-2 tsp ceremonial grade matcha powder
- 1/2 cup freeze dried strawberries processed into a fine powder
- natural plant based food dye (optional)
Instructions
- Preheat your oven to 350F and line a baking tray with parchment paper or a baking mat.
- Whip vegan butter, sugar, vanilla bean paste and plant milk until smooth.
- Sift in gluten free flour, baking powder and baking soda and mix with a spatula until a smooth dough forms.
- Divide the dough into 3 equal parts in 3 bowls. Leave one bowl of dough as is, add matcha powder to another and strawberry powder (and food dye, if using) to the third. Mix well, until matcha and strawberry powder are incorporated.
- When ready to bake, take a heaping tablespoon each of plain, matcha and strawberry dough. Roll them together between your hands to form a smooth ball, then gently press down on your baking sheet. Flatten slightly, but not too much.
- Repeat with remaining dough and make sure there is at least 2 inches between each cookie as they will spread in the oven.
- To assemble, take about 1 tablespoon of dough from each bowl and roll together into a ball. Gently press down onto the baking mat. The cookies won't spread too much, so do press them down into more of a cookie shape.
- Bake for 11-13 minutes, until edges are golden brown, keeping in mind the cookies will firm up as they cool.
Notes
Secrets to Success
- Sugar: I highly recommend sticking to the recipe and using organic cane sugar for the best colour results. If you prefer a refined sugar-free alternative, coconut sugar will work, but it will result in a darker cookie, and the colours will not show through.
- Pink Colour: Because the pink colour is derived from strawberries, the colour is more on the faint side. I experimented with 3 batches of these strawberry cookies, and in the last batch, pictured here, I added a touch of natural plant-based dye. I recommend this natural plant-based food dye brand if you want to achieve true pink! If you choose to add colour, be sure not to skip the freeze-dried strawberries, as they give the pink dough so much strawberry flavour.
- Cool Surface: Make sure that the surface you’re working on isn’t hot or warm. When I made this cookie over my counter while the dishwasher was heating up and drying the dishes, the cookie batter was negatively affected.
- Spreading: These strawberry cookies will spread in the oven, so you want to make sure to give them ample space to spread, I like to flatten them down just a little bit with my hands, but they should find out quite nicely once in the oven.
- Overbaking: Be careful not to overbake them, as that will negatively affect the color payoff.
- Equipment: To make your life easier, you can absolutely use a stand mixer to make these gluten free sugar cookies, and you can customize the patterns however you’d like, but I always like to grab a half small cookie scoop amount of goal of each color, grab all three balls, and roll them together.
- Frosting: Often, sugar cookies have royal icing or buttercream frosting and sprinkles, but I opted for no icing. They have a ton of flavor on their own, and I think the frosting would take away from that!
- To store, let the strawberry cookies cool completely on a cooling rack, then put them in an airtight container. Store them in a cool dark place. Matcha powder will oxidize, and the color will turn darker brown over time, especially when exposed to oxygen and the sun.