These vegan sandwich cookies pair chocolate date soft cookies with a vanilla-maple buttercream filling. They are SO good and make for a healthier treat that's filled with fiber and done without refined white sugar or vegan butter. Also completely dairy-free, egg-free and nut-free, which makes them a fun kid's lunch box sweet treat!

There is a pile of vegan cookie sandwiches over a cooling rack showing the vanilla-maple filling.

Get ready for a nice healthy treat. These vegan chocolate sandwich cookies are stunning and so yummy!

I mean, how could they not be: sweet and soft chocolate cookies combined with a vanilla-maple frosting. Insanely delicious. And all vegan, of course.

They are actually an attempt to imitate Oreo cookies! Ok, they don't taste exactly like Oreo cookies, but they are much healthier and as satisfying as the classic cookie.

The chocolate cookie dough is made using medjool dates, which provides plenty of sweetness, plus boosts them with extra fiber and a nice caramelized flavor.

The vanilla cream filling also is made healthier with a flour-coconut oil base. Just like when making a vegan bechamel, the frosting is made by thickening flour to a paste consistency. Then combined with vanilla extract and maple syrup, the flavor of the cream filling is SO amazing even without using any refined white sugar, dairy cream or vegan butter.

As you might suspect, there are a few steps to this recipe, but it really goes smoothly if you follow the directives. It goes that way: thicken the frosting on the stove, chill and then whip. While the frosting is chilling, you can make the cookie dough, roll, shape and bake. Then, assemble and devour!

This recipe can make for a nice rainy afternoon kitchen project to make with your kids and you can also cut the cookies as you wish to create fun shapes depending on your mood and the season. Great for baby showers, Christmas, Halloween and Valentine's day, or any day you feel like treating yourself!

Hope you have fun baking! ❤️

View on a few vegan sandwich cookies over a circular cooling rack with cups of tea on the side.

Ingredients you'll need

Medjool dates: use large and plump medjool dates that are super soft and avoid the harder/drier ones for best results. I love the dates from Bard Valley.
Flour: I used all-purpose white flour, but I also tried them with whole wheat flour and it worked out well. You could definitely do 50% all-purpose + 50% whole wheat to make these cookies even healthier and higher in fiber.
Coconut oil: you will need some to make both the cookies and the filling. Use a refined coconut oil to avoid any coconut flavor.
Baking powder: just a little leveling agent to puff the cookies, but know that the cookies won't rise very much.
Raw cacao powder: you can also use cocoa powder if that's all you have.
Maple syrup: used to make the filling. Agave nectar might work too in place of the maple syrup, but I haven't tried it yet.
Coconut milk: use full-fat canned coconut milk (and not the drinkable coconut milk you keep in the fridge).
Vanilla extract: you will need a whole tablespoon to flavor the filling!

Showing are the ingredients needed to make this recipe.

How to make them

Make the vanilla-maple dairy-free filling

In a small sauce pan, combine the coconut oil with the flour and warm up on medium heat until melted. Then, whisk constantly while it sizzles for about a minute, just enough to cook the flour. Then, add the maple syrup, coconut milk and vanilla extract and whisk well.

The mixture will look very liquid-y at this point, this is normal!

Keep whisking and warming on medium heat until bubbly. The mixture will eventually thicken and even be hard to whisk. This should take a few minutes.

Once super thick, remove from the heat and transfer to a large bowl (large enough to handle whipping). Chill in the fridge for an hour (pssst: this is a good time to bake the cookies while the frosting is chilling).

Once chilled, whip the mixture using electric beaters. You will have to whip for a few minutes: the frosting will slowly become more pale and lighter. Be patient and keep whipping until it reaches desired consistency.

In process picture: a whisk mixing a flour-coconut oil mixture in a small pot.

In process picture: a whisk is whisking a thick brown mixture.

Make the chocolate cookies

Line a baking sheet with parchment paper and pre-heat the oven to 350º.

Pit + roughly chop the dates and transfer to a tall skinny container (easier for immersion blending). Pour the boiling water over and press on the dates to ensure they are all covered with the water. Let them soften for about 10-15 minutes.

Then, DON'T DRAIN and blend the dates within the water. I love using an immersion blender to do this, but use the blender you have on hand. Blend until as smooth as you can.

Transfer the date purée to a mixing bowl and add the flour, cacao powder, baking powder and salt. Stir the batter using a spatula or wooden spoon until combined and uniform, but without over mixing. You should end up with a ball of dough that's soft, but holds well together.

Transfer the dough over a piece of parchment paper on the counter top and top with a second piece of parchment paper. Use a rolling pin to roll the dough to about ¼ inch thick, not less. A thicker cookie is better!

Then, use a circular cookie cutter to create 26-30 rounded pieces (you might need to gather the scraps and roll again!). Transfer each of them on the prepared baking sheet (they won't spread, no need to leave much space in between). Then, bake for 11-12 minutes and watch carefully so they don't burn. Leave the cookies on the baking sheet until cooled down. Bake in 2 batches if necessary.

In process picture: close up on a jar with an immersion blender crushing dates into water.

In process picture: a spoon mixing a chocolate cookie dough.

Build the sandwich cookies

Make sure the cookies are nicely cooled down before building the sandwiches or the filling might soften/melt too much.

Also, I highly recommend transferring the filling to a frosting piping bag to frost the cookies. It works better, limits the mess and makes for a beautiful design, but you can also use a spoon or butter knife if you don't have any.

To assemble, simply flip the cookies to expose their underneath side and add a generous layer of filling over half of the cookies. Then, top with a second cookie and voila!

In process picture: There is a frosting piping bag adding a filling over cookies.

In process picture: a second cookie adding over a frosted cookie.

Watch how to make them

Baking tips

Make sure to start by making the filling! It takes an hour to cool down before whipping, which gives you plenty of time to make the cookies.
Make sure to roll the dough in between 2 sheets of parchment paper as the dough is pretty sticky. And don't use any extra flour when rolling the dough!
Don't overwork the cookie dough! You want to avoid developing the gluten by over manipulating the flour or the cookies might end up chewier.
If your can of coconut milk comes in 2 layers with the bottom in coconut water and top solid cream, then you will have to first whisk the coconut milk until smooth and uniform and then measure the ½ cup you need.

Front angle view on a few vegan sandwich cookies over a cooling rack. Focus on the filling from one cookies.

Customization and serving suggestions

These cookies are great to serve for many holidays. The cookies won't spread as they bake and hold on their shape well, so you can easily shape them into Valentine's hearts, Christmas trees, Easter eggs, etc and even color the vanilla filling.

You can use a healthier vegan food coloring option such as this one from Junk Free Kitchen Supply (add the coloring after the frosting is whipped).

Other filling you might want to use include vegan peanut butter frosting or dark chocolate ganache. The medjool date frosting from these vegan carrot cupcakes would also work well if you want to avoid using maple syrup. Another quick filling option would be to scoop some vegan ice cream in the middle!

Storage

You can make the cookie dough ahead of time or keep any extra scraps of dough wrapped in plastic cling in the fridge for a few days and use it differently.

The cookies store well in the fridge for 4-5 days in an air-tight container. I noticed that filling from the ones I kept at room temperature softened a bit and squeezed out when eating the sandwich compared to the ones in the fridge that were holding up better.

Close up on a vegan chocolate sandwich cookies standing up on a cooling rack to show case the vanilla filling.

Showing a vegan sandwich cookie with a bite taken off to show middle texture.

More vegan cookie recipes you might like

I hope you like these vegan sandwich cookies as much as we do! If you try them, please leave a comment below and rate the recipe to let me know how they were. Your feedback is so helpful!

Let's stay in touch with Instagram, Pinterest and Facebook. Also, don't forget to subscribe to my newsletter to be sure not to miss anything.

Vegan Sandwich Cookies