These Gluten-Free Vegan Orange Cookies are soft and chewy, slightly fluffy and perfectly citrusy! They're covered in a rich, creamy orange buttercream frosting too! The perfect sweet treat for Christmas!
Course Dessert
Cuisine American
Keyword gluten-free vegan cookies, orange cookies, vegan cookies
1teaspoonbaking powder(ensure gluten-free if necessary)
For the frosting:
75g(½cup)cashew nuts soaked in cold water overnight or in hot water for 15 minutes
4tablespoonsmaple syrup(or sub any other sweetener)
4tablespoonsorange juice(around ½ medium-sized orange)
Instructions
For the cookies:
Preheat oven to 180 degrees Celsius (350 degrees Fahrenheit).
Place the coconut oil in a large bowl and melt over a saucepan of boiling water or in the microwave.
Add the maple syrup, orange juice, orange zest and vanilla, and mix well.
Measure out the dry ingredients (ground almonds, gluten-free flour and baking powder) and mix well.
Add the dry ingredients to the wet ingredients and mix well until you get a soft dough but one that’s firm enough to mould.
If the dough looks too wet, placing it in the fridge for an hour will help it firm up. If it looks too dry, add a splash of any type of plant-based milk.
Use your hands to shape the cookie dough into patties – you should be able to make 7 large cookies. To make super fluffy cookies, I like to make sure the centre part of the cookie is slightly thicker than the rest. And don't worry, unlike traditional cookies, these ones won't spread as they bake .
Transfer the cookies onto a baking tray/baking sheet lined with greased baking paper.
Bake in oven for around 10-12 minutes, until very lightly browned – be careful not to over-bake!
They will be slightly soft when you remove them from the oven – leave to cool completely to let them harden before applying the frosting.
For the frosting:
Drain the soaked cashews and add to a food processor or blender with the maple syrup and orange juice.
Whizz until completely smooth, adding some plant-based milk or water to thin out if necessary.
Taste and add extra orange juice and/or maple syrup if necessary.
Use a knife to spread a bit of frosting over each of the cookies.
Taste best when fresh, but keep covered in the fridge for up to a few days.
Video
Notes
*You can alternatively use almond flour.Don’t worry about the cracks on top – I found it was impossible to make these vegan and gluten-free orange cookies without cracks forming on top. The cracks don’t affect the taste or the texture at all, and the yummy frosting will completely cover them up!
For optimum orange flavour, I would recommend using fresh oranges (not ones that you've had sitting in your fruit bowl for weeks!) and organic ones if possible.
You can use orange juice from a carton too, but I'd recommend using a juice made from fresh oranges rather than from concentrate.
You have to be careful when baking with orange juice as the acidity and orange flavour can really vary depending on the oranges you use.
For the frosting, I would recommend tasting it as you're making it and adding extra orange juice (or even some orange zest or orange extract) if necessary.
For the orange zest, make sure you use unwaxed oranges.
If you can't get hold of unwaxed oranges, you can use orange extract instead.