Remember the maple cream cookies from a few weeks back? Well, I couldn't resist making a chocolate sandwich cookies version, because maple butter + chocolate (plus some vanilla almond milk) is a very delicious thing.
These chocolate maple cookies are super flavorful, largely thanks to the maple butter used in the filling. I shared all kinds of tips on how to use maple butter in my previous post about maple cookies, but one thing I've been getting questions on since I shared that recipe is what maple butter is and how to make your own if you can't find it at the shops? The answer is both a good and a not-so-good one.
The good part is that maple butter is simple to make in theory: you just cook some maple syrup to a specific temperature, then cool and whisk it to a thick buttery consistency. The not so good part is that the whisking is a real arm workout. You'll have to whisk for 20 mins nonstop to get that lovely maple cream for your cookies. That's why I usually buy mine :P (it's typically available in most larger grocery stores here in Canada, health food shops, and online in places like Amazon and Well.ca, and so on).
That said, if you still wanted to give making your own maple butter a try, here's a helpful Youtube video of how it's done:
If you do buy the maple butter for these maple cookies, make sure that the kind you get is made out of 100% pure maple syrup. It also sometimes goes by the name "maple cream."
Last but not least, I highly recommend giving the dark maple syrup in the cookies a try over regular maple syrup. You can get by with the regular stuff, but the dark syrup is pure gold here. It adds so much flavor to these cookies.
Oh wait, one more thing! If you're in a gluten-free and vegan chocolate sort of a mood, you might like these double chocolate peppermint cookies, or this older recipe for delicious vegan cut out cookies (though they're not oil-free, unlike these chocolate maple cookies here, if that matters to you).
Chocolate Maple Cookies
Prep Time: 20 minutes- Total Time: 20 minutes
Yield: 6 sandwich cookies
Category: cookies
Method: baked
Cuisine: dessert
Print Recipe
Pin RecipeDescription
Delicious gluten-free, vegan chocolate sandwich cookies, filled with natural maple butter. Refined sugar-free and oil-free.
Ingredients
Cookies:
- 8 tbsp white rice flour
- 3 tbsp dark maple syrup*
- 2 tbsp cashew butter
- 1 tbsp cocoa powder
- 1 tsp pure vanilla extract
- ⅛ tsp salt
Cream:
- ~ 2 tablespoon maple butter**
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 350F***. Line a cookie sheet with parchment and set aside.
- Process all cookie ingredients in a food processor until the mixture begins to form a ball****. Form the mixture into a ball with your hands and knead briefly, then flatten into a disk. Place the disk between two sheets of parchment paper on a flat surface and use a rolling pin to roll out into an ⅛” thickness. Use a 2" round cookie cutter (this is the kind I used here) to cut out as many cookies as you can — carefully transfer those onto the prepared cookie sheet. Gather remaining dough scraps, form into a ball, and repeat the process of rolling out and cutting out more cookies until you run out of dough. Note: I got about 12 2″ in diameter cookies, which makes 6 sandwich cookies.
- Bake in a pre-heated oven for 10 mins (or bake longer for slightly crispier cookies to your liking, just keep an eye out that they don’t burn). Remove from oven and allow the cookies to cool a few minutes (they will seem on the soft side at first but will firm up a bit as they cool off).
- Once the cookies are fully cooled off, flip one cookie upside-down, place about a third of a teaspoon of maple butter in the center of it. Cover with another cookie and gently press down to make a sandwich. Be careful not to overfill the cookies so the filling doesn’t spill out over the sides too much. Enjoy!
Notes
*I recommend going with a dark or very dark maple syrup if possible for a deeper flavor. But if you can’t find that, then regular maple syrup will work fine too.
**Maple butter / maple cream should be made of 100% pure maple syrup.
***Note: you can also bake these at 375F, which results in crunchier / drier cookies.
****The texture of the dough can be different depending on the cashew butter used. For example sometimes you might get a batch that’s more “oily” other times one that’s more dry + brands vary, etc. The dough should be soft and pliable. If for some reason the mixture feels too sticky at this point, add a bit more flour and process again to incorporate; if too dry, add a bit more maple syrup or cashew butter (or even a little splash of water). I just add a teaspoon of flour or liquid at a time, for instance, until the consistency is just right.
