character cookies

Adorable, vegan, black cocoa cat cookies with crisp edges, a slight chew, and subtle bitterness balanced out by the sugar. They&#39;re decorated using vegan royal icing with my favorite recipe linked down in the notes. Feel free to swap in regular butter, milk, and royal icing if there are no dietary dairy restrictions.

Black Cocoa Cat-Shaped Cookies (Vegan)

all-purpose flour ((150 grams,  0.39))

cocoa powder ((0.12))

tbsp black cocoa powder ((0.24))

½ tsp baking soda ((0.01))

salt ((0.01))

dairy-free unsalted butter,

sugar ((50 grams,  0.10))

brown sugar ((50 grams,  0.27))

tsp vanilla extract ((0.42))

milk

In a medium bowl, whisk together all of the dry ingredients: all-purpose flour, cocoa powders, baking soda, and salt.

In a stand mixer using the paddle attachment (can alternatively use hand mixer or whisk), mix the butter and sugars on medium speed until combined. Scrape bottom of bowl. Add vanilla and mix again.

Dump in all of the dry ingredients and mix until combined.  If the dough is crumbly, slowly add 2-4 tbsp of dairy-free milk until it comes together. The finished dough should be thick.

Preheat oven to 350°F/177°C and line two baking trays with parchment paper or silicone mats.

Use small cookie dough scoop to gather dough (about 1 ½ tablespoon each). Shape dough into ball, then place onto lined baking tray. Flatten with palm of your hand or bottom of a cup. This will be the cat&#39;s head.For the ears, take ½ tsp of dough and shape into a triangle with your fingers Place the ear on the upper left or right side of the head and repeat for the other ear. Place cats about 3-4 inches apart. They will not spread much while baking.

Bake for 10-13 minutes. Cookies should look slightly puffy and soft in the center with set edges. They will not brown because of their black color. Be careful to not over bake so they don&#39;t get crispy! They will continue cooking when cooling on the pan.

Let cool on pan for about 5-10 minutes, then transfer to wire rack. Let cool completely.

To add the faces, use pink, yellow, and black colored vegan royal icing (recipe in notes below). Place into small piping bags and cut a small tip for each one. Have a toothpick or cookie scribe on hand to help you move the icing in the direction you want as you decorate the cookies.First, start with the eyes using the yellow royal icing: outline the eyes by piping 4 dots that you can connect into a circle. After connecting the circle for each eye, move onto the next cat. This allows the yellow outlines to somewhat dry, allowing you to flood the middle with the remaining yellow icing. After piping the eye outlines for each cat, flood the circles with the yellow icing. While that dries, use the pink royal icing to add the noses and inner ears for each cat.Take black icing and pipe whiskers on the left and right sides of the cat&#39;s face. Finally, using the black icing, add the pupils to the cat&#39;s eyes within the yellow circle. Leave a small perimeter of the yellow around the pupils as pictured in my photos.

Enjoy!

These heart matcha thumbprint cookies are buttery, not too sweet, and full of matcha + strawberry flavors! The cookie dough is quick and simple to make, requiring no chilling. And with the ganache being made right in the microwave, this recipe is easy to recreate at home for your loved ones this Valentine’s Day! &lt;3

Matcha Frog Thumbprint Cookies with Strawberry Ganache

all-purpose flour ((180 grams))

salt ()

unsalted butter, softened ((1 stick butter/8 tbsp))

sugar ((50 grams))

egg, room temp ()

tsp vanilla extract

matcha powder ()

tbsp white chocolate, melted ()

heavy cream

tbsp freeze dried strawberry powder

pink or red food coloring, optional

edible markers

In a stand mixer using the paddle attachment (can alternatively use hand mixer, whisk, or fork!), mix the butter and sugar on medium speed until combined. Scrape bottom of bowl.

Add in the egg, vanilla, and matcha powder. Stir until combined.

Dump in all of the flour and salt, mixing until no dry spots remain.

Use small cookie dough scoop to gather dough (about 1 ½ tablespoon each). Shape it into a very smooth ball, then place onto lined baking tray. Repeat for about 16 cookies, making sure you have leftover dough for the eyes.Place balls about 3-4 inches apart. They will not spread much while baking.

Using your thumb, pinky, or thin end of a rubber spatula, press heart indents into the cookie dough balls. The deeper the cavity, the more strawberry ganache you&#39;ll be able to fit in later on! *Tip: If the dough cracks on the sides, you can use your fingers to smooth it out.

For the frog eyes, take about 1 tsp of dough and split it into two equally sized balls. Place them on top of the frog heads, making sure the doughs are completely touching. You can even use your finger to smooth out the sides where the dough meet. This ensures the eyes don&#39;t fall off after baking.

Bake for 11-13 minutes. Cookies should have slightly firm edges and retain their green color. They should not be browned.

Let cool on pan for about 5-10 minutes, then transfer to wire rack.

For the cookie dough:

Add the white chocolate and heavy cream into a microwave-safe bowl. Microwave for 30 seconds, then stir. Microwave at 10-second intervals, stirring in between, until the chocolate is completely melted.

Stir in the freeze dried strawberry powder. If you want a deeper color, add in a drop of oil-based red or pink food coloring.You’ll want to use oil-based food coloring or the chocolate will seize up and become lumpy. However, if you don’t have oil-based food coloring, you can try mixing in a tsp of neutral oil (canola, vegetable) at a time! The chocolate should come back together. Maaagic.

If the ganache seems too liquidy, add in a few pieces of white chocolate chips and melt. If it&#39;s too thick, add a splash of heavy cream.

Use a small spoon to fill each cavity with ganache.

For the strawberry ganache:

Draw on the eyes and mouth with a black edible pen. Add blush with a red edible pen.

For the frog faces:

These matcha sugar cookies are earthy, slightly sweet, and chewy. They&#039;re naturally colored because of the matcha powder and are decorated using my easy cookie icing recipe.

Frog Matcha Sugar Cookies

all-purpose flour ()

½ teaspoon baking soda ()

table salt ()

unsalted butter

sugar

brown sugar (packed)

vanilla extract ()

matcha powder (sifted)

milk (see notes)

water (see notes)

food coloring (pink, black)

In a medium bowl, whisk together all of the dry ingredients: 1 ¼ cup all-purpose flour, ½ baking soda, and ½ tsp salt.

In a large bowl or bowl of stand mixer using the paddle attachment (can alternatively use hand mixer or whisk), mix the ½ cup melted butter, ¼ cup granulated sugar, and ¼ cup light or dark brown sugar on medium speed until combined. Scrape bottom of bowl using rubber spatula.

Add 1 tsp vanilla extract and 1 tbsp sifted matcha powder. Mix until smooth.

Dump in all of the dry ingredients and mix until mostly combined. If the dough is too crumbly, slowly add 2-4 tbsp of milk until it comes together. The finished dough should be thick. Make sure to scrape the bottom of the bowl to get any dry bits.

Optional: cover the dough and let it rest in the fridge for 20-30 minutes. This will let the flour hydrate cool the butter, yielding chewier cookies. This step isn&#39;t necessary, though. So if you&#39;re in a rush, don&#39;t fret!

Make the matcha sugar cookie dough:

In a small bowl, add ¼ cup granulated sugar for rolling the dough.

Use small cookie dough scoop to gather dough (about 1 ½ tablespoon each). Shape into a ball and roll in granulated sugar. Place onto lined baking tray, about 3-4 inches apart.*If you&#39;d like to make frogs, roll ½ tsp of dough into sugar. Place two of these balls on top of each cookie for the frog eyes.Repeat with remaining dough.

Bake for 10-13 minutes. Cookies should look slightly puffy and soft in the center, in addition to retaining their green color. They should not be browned.Be careful to not over bake so they don&#39;t get crispy! They will continue cooking when cooling on the pan.

Shape and bake matcha cookies:

*If you don&#39;t have piping bags, you can use ziploc bags and cut the tip off of one corner. You can also use a toothpick or cookie scribe.

In a small bowl, add 2 tbsp powdered sugar. Add ¼ tsp of water at a time, mixing until you get a pipeable consistency. If it&#39;s too liquidy, add more powdered sugar. If it&#39;s too stiff, add more water.

Add pink food coloring to the whole mixture then fold it in. Save 1-2 tsp and put this aside. This will be for the blush.

Add black food coloring to the remaining pink icing and mix. This will be for the eyes and smile.

Decorate the frogs as you want!

Enjoy your delicious matcha sugar cookies!

I never used matcha for baking before, but these cookies were cute enough for me to buy matcha for baking... I came here looking for cute frog cookies or cakes, and there are a lot of cute froggy and matcha things on here. It was my first recipe tried from this website (mostly because I already had all of the ingredients) and the reason why I want to go through a lot of the recipes. 

This recipe is SO EASY to follow, it tastes delicious when you're done and they're just so cute!!! 
I recommended it to my friends too. I'm so happy to find this. thank you for sharing your recipes!!!

Great recipe! 
As an amateur at baking this recipe was nice and easy to follow. 
Had lot's of fun making this &amp; they turned out super cute.

This recipe is phenomenal! I love how quick and easy the recipe is. And I appreciate the fact that Bianca made a recipe that does not require fancy tools (but you can choose to use em if you have them). The cookies are so soft and chewy, and I admire how easy it is to make the icing for the faces. My family tore these babies up the day I made them. Bookmarking this recipe for the future! Will gladly make these bad boys again and again!

These cute frog cookies are sure to brighten anyone's day! They are adorable and easy to make. I had a blast baking these cookies. Thank you for the recipe Bianca! 💖

This was the perfect project for a self care day! I realized that I hadn’t cooked or baked anything for the sheer joy of it in a whiiiile and knew I had to try some of Bianca’s animal cookies. The recipe was really simple to follow and a lot of fun! I decided to use a toothpick instead of a piping bag because piping doesn’t spark much joy for me and after getting used to the process dropping the glaze/icing on I was able to draw some pretty cute faces. I’m really happy with how they came out and they tasted wonderful. After an initial crunch it has that perfect melt in your mouth soft/chewy texture. I’m matcha neutral and found that while the matcha is pretty potent the brown sugar and vanilla balance it well. Definitely worth a whirl if you want to make something that will cheer you up! ✨💛

this recipe is 5 stars for sure! I made them earlier and me and my whole family loved them! I'm usually not very good at baking but this recipe was very easy to make and just so delicious!! I recommend trying this recipe 100%!!!!

These cookies are so easy to make and taste amazing, especially with the sugar layer on top! Highly recommend making them!

Super delicious cute and easy recipe!! Very chewy on the inside if you let it rest in the fridge I definitely recommend trying this awesome recipe

Absolutely loved making these cookies with my friend. Super easy and fun! Definitely recommend it :)

Super easy and delicious recipe. I get compliments it every time I make it and have been told multiple times that it’s the best sugar cookie they’ve had!

SO GOOD AND ADDICTING. I made a dozen to share but now I want the rest to myself...

I love matcha so this was one of my favorite recipes to bake! These cookies have a good balance of matcha and sweetness. It’s not too earthy or too sweet. It’s a perfect blend.  Can’t wait to make more recipes!

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