Cute, not-too-sweet matcha cookies shaped like frogs! They’re fast and simple to bake, making these cookies an excellent activity to do with friends or kids.
About these frog cookies
These dairy-free frog matcha sugar cookies are earthy, slightly sweet, and chewy. They’re a favorite amongst my friends, family, and one of the top recipes on my blog!
To make these cookies dairy-free, I swapped in high quality vegan butter made for baking. Make sure to use a good brand—some brands are very high in water content and melt at lower temperatures, yielding very flat cookies. I recommend brands like Miyokos and Country Crock.
In addition, these frogs don’t need any eggs in the cookie dough batter, just a splash of any type of milk. And lastly, the icing is super simple and only requires water and powdered sugar.
If you’re interested in other animal-shaped cookie recipes I have, check out these recipes!: Soft, Less Sweet Ube Sugar Cookie Bears (Dairy-Free!), Pig-Shaped Snickerdoodles (Vegan), Cat-Shaped Black Cocoa Cookies (Vegan), and Chick-Shaped Lemon Cookies.
FAQ
Can you make these non-vegan?
ABSOLUTELY. Swap in regular butter and milk—you’ll get the same results.
Can you make these gluten-free?
YES! I recommend using 1:1 gluten-free flour.
Tips for baking and decorating
Properly measure the flour
I always like to measure my ingredients with a kitchen scale for consistent, accurate results. But if you’re measuring with cups, make sure you follow this tip: gently spoon in the flour into the cup until it’s full, then scrape the excess off using the back of a knife or offset spatula.
If you scoop the cup directly into the flour bag or container, the flour may get compacted, and you will be adding in more flour than necessary. On the other hand, if your flour is clumpy, you could be adding in chunks of flour into the cup with gaps in between them, possibly adding less flour than required. These instances can cause tougher or even really flat cookies, since the proper ratio of dry:wet ingredients isn’t met.
So, for best results, use a scale. If you don’t have one, gently spoon and level the flour into your
Shaping the sugar cookie dough into frogs
To make each frog head, roll 1 & 1/2 tablespoons of dough into a ball, coat it in granulated sugar, and place it onto a lined baking tray. For each of the eyes, roll 1/2 teaspoon of dough into a ball, coat in granulated sugar, and place the dough on the upper left or right side of the head. As they bake, the eyes will connect to the head and you will get these cute frog-shaped matcha cookies! Once they are cooled, you can decorate them with vegan royal icing or melted vegan milk/dark and white chocolate.
I really hope you enjoy this recipe. If you make these frog matcha sugar cookies, I’d love to see them. You can tag me at #bitesbybianca / @bitesbybianca on Instagram. Enjoy! 🙂
Storing the cookies
Store these froggie cookies in an airtight container at room temperature for up to a week!
I really hope you enjoy this recipe. If you make these cute frog cookies, I’d love to see them. You can tag me at #bitesbybianca / @bitesbybianca on Instagram. Enjoy!
Check out my other animal-shaped cookie recipes: Soft, Less Sweet Ube Sugar Cookie Bears (Dairy-Free!), Pig-Shaped Snickerdoodles (Vegan), Teddy Bear Chocolate Chip Cookies
Frog Matcha Sugar Cookies (Vegan)
Ingredients
Dry ingredients:
- 1 ¼ cup all-purpose flour (150g)
- 1 tbsp matcha powder
- ½ tsp baking soda
- ¼ tsp salt
Wet ingredients:
- ½ cup dairy-free unsalted butter, melted and cooled (1 stick butter/8 tbsp)
- ¼ cup granulated sugar (50g)
- ¼ cup light or dark brown sugar (50g)
- 1 tsp vanilla extract
- 2-4 tbsp dairy-free milk
For rolling:
- 2 tbsp granulated sugar (25g)
Decoration for face:
- 2 tbsp powdered sugar
- ½-1 ½ tsp water
- food coloring (pink, black)
Instructions
For the cookie dough:
- In a medium bowl, whisk together all of the dry ingredients: all-purpose flour, matcha powder, 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 too crumbly, slowly add 2-4 tbsp of dairy-free milk until it comes together. The finished dough should be thick. If you want, you can cover the dough and let it rest in the fridge for 20-30 minutes. This will let the flour hydrate and let the butter cool, yielding chewier cookies. But, this step isn't necessary.
- Preheat oven to 350°F/177°C and line two baking trays with parchment paper or silicone mats.
- In a small bowl, add 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. This will be the frog's head.For the eyes, take ½ tsp of dough, roll into sugar mixture, shape into ball. Place the eye on the upper left or right side of the head and repeat for the other eye.Place frogs 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, in addition to retaining their green color. They should not be browned.Be careful to not over bake so they don'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.
For the frog faces:
- *If you don'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 powdered sugar. Add 1/4 tsp of water at a time, mixing until you get a pipeable consistency. If it's too liquidy, add more powdered sugar. If it'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.
- Add black food coloring to the remaining pink icing and mix.
- Decorate the frogs as you want!
- Enjoy!
Notes
- Store cookies in an airtight container at room temperature for up to a week.
- You can swap in regular butter and milk if you don’t want to make it vegan!
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!
I have made these cookies too many times to count and they always turn out super yummy! The perfect amount of chewiness on the inside and crispiness on the outside.
Made these and they were easy and delicious. My matcha is a little pale so I had to add a drop of food coloring. They came out so cute that I made this recipe again with freeze dried raspberry powder instead of matcha to make hearts.
Hi Michal! Thank you so much for the review, I appreciate it. Raspberry sounds delicious!
These were the first recipe I tried and I was shocked at how good they turned!! The recipe is super straight forward, which I love! Cute AND delicious <3 😋😋
I forgot to add the rating, 5 stars of course!!! 🙈
Good recipie, easy to follow, tastes good, realized halfway throught that I was using green tea powder instead of Macha, worked well too.
i made these today as a test batch cause i wanna make them for christmas and they came out so goofy looking but it’s so cute. i also used cane sugar instead of regular white sugar with the butter because i didn’t have enough and it did really well. they’re not super sweet either which my family likes
hi bianca ! these look sooo cute and sound delicious i might try them this weekend! thank u for the lovely and adorable recipes 💚
love you, evie!! <3