These vegan matcha thumbprint cookies are an Asian twist to the original! They’re delicious, melt-in-your-mouth, and so easy to make. Besides, who doesn’t love a matcha and strawberry combination? Make these cookies for your matcha lover in your life!
What’s The Best Matcha To Use?
Find yourself a high-quality, culinary-grade matcha powder. Culinary grade are often sold in bigger batches, compared to ceremonial-grade. Ceremonial-grade matcha is often consumed on its own when whisked with hot water. While culinary-grade matcha is often added to lattes, desserts, and more.
Use High-quality Matcha Powder
So, high-quality matcha can get quite expensive. But you'll know it's good quality because it's vibrant in color, smells a bit sweet, and tastes smooth. Yes, it’s pricey, but you’re getting your money’s worth out of it. Not only that, but you’ll create better-tasting vegan matcha thumbprint cookies!
✨Why You’ll Love This Recipe
- Strong matcha flavor. Use good quality matcha for the best matcha flavor!
- Delicious strawberry jam filling. Matcha and strawberry is one of the best flavor combinations ever! But, you can switch out the jam for a different flavor.
- You'll only need 8 ingredients and it's extremely easy to make these delicious vegan matcha thumbprint cookies.
✏️Ingredient Notes
- Vegan Butter - You'll want to start this recipe with softened butter, as it'll help incorporate with the dough evenly.
- Fruit Jam - Use any kind of fruit jam you like, I used strawberry jam. It's such a classic thumbprint cookie flavor, and it's one of my favorite flavor of jam.
- Powdered sugar - Using powdered sugar will help with the texture of the cookies, it will give it that lovely crumbly, melt-in-your-mouth shortbread type of texture.
- Culinary-grade Matcha - You want to get the most vibrant matcha powder you can get. The color pays off and the flavor will be worth it. My favorite brand to use is Mizuba.
See the recipe card below for a full list of ingredients and measurements.
📝Substitutions & Variations
- Substitute any flavor of fruit jam you like!
- You can make these bigger by using a tablespoon to scoop out the dough and using a teaspoon to make the indentation.
This recipe has not been tested with other substitutions or variations. If you replace or add any ingredients, please let us know how it turned out in the comments below!
🍴How to Make Vegan Matcha Thumbprint
Top Tip: Use a food scale to weigh out the ingredients. That way, you'll only need one or two bowls, and you won't have to wash a bunch of measuring cups!
Step 1: Preheat the oven to 350° Fahrenheit and line two rimmed baking sheets with parchment paper. Then, whisk flour, matcha powder, cornstarch, and salt together in a small bowl. Set these aside until ready to use.
Step 2: Using a stand mixer fitted with a paddle attachment, cream the softened vegan butter and powdered sugar, until light and creamy. Then add the non-dairy milk and vanilla extract, and continue to mix until well combined.
Step 3: At low speed, gradually add the flour mixture and mix until a dough forms.
Step 4: Transfer the dough to a lightly floured surface, and lightly knead until you get a smooth cohesive dough.
Step 5: Then, using a half-tablespoon measuring spoon or 15 grams, scoop the dough and roll it into smooth balls.
Step 6: Place them on the baking sheet about 1 ½ inch apart. Make indentations using the back of a rounded ¼-teaspoon and gently press down about halfway.
Step 7: Without overfilling, fill each cookie with the strawberry jam. Then bake for 15-17 minutes or until lightly golden.
Step 8: Remove from the oven and cool on the baking sheet for about 10 minutes, then carefully transfer the cookies to a wire rack to cool completely. Serve and enjoy!
⭐Expert Baking Tips
- Measure your flour properly. A common reason baked goods fail is incorrectly measured flour. I always recommend using a scale for accuracy when baking. This greatly improves your chance for success and lessens room for error. My recipes are 100% tested in grams.
- Jam too thick? If your jam is too thick to pour into the cookies, measure a small amount in a heat-proof bowl and heat it in the microwave for a few seconds!
💭Common Questions
I have not tested this using gluten-free flour, but for a cookie recipe like this, I think a 1-to-1 all-purpose gluten-free flour will work!
A few cracks are normal, you can smooth them out with your finger. But it could also mean that there could be too much flour in the dough. Make sure to properly measure out the flour, I always measure my ingredients using a food scale. Check out my top tips for more information!
🥣Storage & Reheating
- Room temperature
Store in an airtight container at room temperature for up to a week. - Freezing Instructions
You can freeze baked and cooled cookies in an airtight container for up to 1 month. When ready to eat, place them on the counter at room temperature for about an hour to thaw.
Did you try this recipe? Please leave a 5-star ⭐️ rating and comment below! Tag @flouredframe on Instagram & Facebook!
📖 Recipe
Vegan Matcha Thumbprint Cookies
Equipment
- Food scale highly recommended
- Stand mixer or electric hand mixer
- Mixing bowl
- ½ tablespoon
- Rounded ¼ teaspoon
- Parchment Paper or silpat mat
- Wire cooling rack
Ingredients
- 300 grams All-purpose flour
- 12 grams Culinary-grade matcha powder (I used Mizuba)
- 1 tablespoon Cornstarch (leveled and sifted)
- ½ teaspoon Salt
- 226 grams Vegan butter (softened at room temp)
- 1 teaspoon Vanilla extract
- 150 grams Powdered sugar
- 1 tablespoon Non-dairy milk
- 100 grams Strawberry jam (I used Smuckers)
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 350° Fahrenheit and line two rimmed baking sheets with parchment paper. Then, whisk flour, matcha powder, cornstarch, and salt together in a small bowl. Set these aside until ready to use.
- Using a stand mixer fitted with a paddle attachment, cream the softened vegan butter and powdered sugar, until light and creamy. Then add the non-dairy milk and vanilla extract, and continue to mix until well combined.
- At low speed, gradually add the flour mixture and mix until a dough forms. Transfer the dough to a lightly floured surface, and lightly knead until you get a smooth cohesive dough.
- Using a half-tablespoon measuring spoon or 15 grams, scoop the dough and roll it into smooth balls. Place them on the baking sheet about 1 ½ inch apart. Make indentations using the back of a rounded ¼-teaspoon and gently press down about halfway.
- Without overfilling, fill each cookie with the strawberry jam. Then bake for 15-17 minutes or until lightly golden.
- Remove from the oven and cool on the baking sheet for about 10 minutes, then carefully transfer the cookies to a wire rack to cool completely. Serve and enjoy!
Notes
- Measure your flour properly. A common reason baked goods fail is incorrectly measured flour. I always recommend using a scale for accuracy when baking. This greatly improves your chance for success and lessens room for error. My recipes are 100% tested in grams.
- Use softened butter. This recipe calls for room temperature butter, so when you make it, you’ll need to plan ahead. Remove the butter from the fridge or freezer a few hours before you start baking. Don’t try to speed up the process in the microwave. If you do, there’s a good chance that your cookie will spread more and will be a greasy mess.
- How to prevent cracks in your dough. As mentioned earlier, make sure to measure your ingredients properly. If you add too much flour, the ratios of wet and dry ingredients could be off and can cause the cracks in the dough. Another trick is to warm up small balls of dough by kneading it lightly between your hands before roll and make the indentation
- Jam too thick? If your jam is too thick to pour into the cookies, measure a small amount in a heat-proof bowl and heat it in the microwave for a few seconds!
Leave a Reply