Triple Citrus Vanilla Bean Thumbprint Cookies (Vegan, GF, Refined Sugar Free, Nut-Free)

Another thumbprint cookie for your recipe feed, and this time it's a little off-season. Introducing: my Triple Citrus Vanilla Bean Thumbprint Cookies. A golden, tender, citrus-infused (vegan) butter cookie meets a delicious, sweet, creamy curd bursting with lemon, lime, and orange flavor. And OH MAN are these cookies good! The curd is a delightful creamy, gooey texture, unlike other vegan and non-vegan curds out there which can be gelatinous and off-putting. And to make those thumbprint centers prettier, I color them naturally orange, yellow, and green with superfoods. An (optional) vanilla bean icing brings it all together for a wickedly scrumptious and attractive cookie. Tbh this cookie might be my new #1. They are so simple and are made with a clean ingredients list. As always, they are gluten-free, vegan, and refined sugar free. Go make them for yourself for a break from the heavier, denser flavors of fall and winter.

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I know I say this EVERY time, but I think this is my new favorite cookie. For real. A sweet, buttery, soft-baked cookie meets delicious citrusy curd and a gooey vanilla bean icing. And these cookies are pretty. The fact that they're vegan, gluten-free, refined sugar free, and naturally colored are just added bonuses.

Plus these cookies are relatively easy to make. The longest and hardest part is making the citrus curd but even that is highly beginner-friendly.

These cookies kind of give creamsicle vibes (with lemon & lime, not just orange) but are more wholesome, comforting, and tasty. They will brighten up your late/fall winter or are the perfect cookie for summer and even spring.

Honestly I just want to get around to posting this recipe, so I'll keep this post short.

Want to see some cakes I've been working on? Keep reading!

Some cakes I've been making recently for a possible cake cookbook (*gasp*) I plan on releasing in 2026:

Pumpkin Macchiato Cake:

Whacky/whimsical floral cake and pressed flower cake:

Spiderweb Cheesecake (2025 [belated] Halloween Cake!! 👀 ~ coming to the blog soon):

Also: don't mind my spider design on top of the cheesecake- I referenced a picture from a graphic design on Google images with a spider that had 12 legs and didn't even notice so my spider looks more like a beetle 😭 (I know all spiders have 8 legs and my prototype of my cheesecake from last year even had a spider with 8 legs but oh well):

Ok, back to this recipe post:

Substitutions

I've only included the ingredients here that you can substitute (or that are advisable to use):

Maple sugar

in the cookies, golden coconut sugar is a perfect substitution but even brown (regular) coconut sugar would work too. Date sugar might work, BUT I haven't tried it and can't endorse this substitution, as date sugar is less sweet and more absorbent than other sugars. If more-highly refined sugar is ok, try demerara, panela, sucanat, or turbinado sugars. I haven't tried this recipe with sticky sweeteners and can't suggest a substitution there. For the curd, golden coconut sugar is an acceptable substitute. Although I haven't tried it and can't guarantee results, maple syrup, agave, OR honey (if not strictly vegan) might work in the curd. For the icing, try additional maple syrup OR powdered coconut sugar instead, although the results might be a little darker

Vanilla bean powder

use an additional 1/4 tsp vanilla extract in the cookies. For the curd, use 1/2 tsp vanilla extract. For vanilla bean icing, use 1/2 tsp extract

Gluten-free 1-to-1 baking flour

try gluten-free all-purpose flour OR paleo 1-to-1 baking flour

Full-fat coconut milk

in the curd, instead of full-fat coconut milk, try a thin plant milk like almond milk, cashew milk, soy milk, or even thin (cartoned, not canned) coconut milk. If you need a nut-free plant milk, try oat, rice milk, hemp milk, or pepita (pumpkin seed) milk. In the icing, try any unsweetened plant instead, homemade or store-bought. Just make sure whatever plant milk you use for any part of this recipe, it's unsweetened if you can't have refined sugar

Just Eggs brand name vegan eggs

use aquafaba (chickpea water) instead. And aquafaba from any type of bean works!

Cornstarch

use potato starch, arrowroot starch, OR tapioca starch

Vegan butter

in the curd, try coconut oil instead. The vegan butter in the cookies cannot be replaced

Turmeric/dunaliella salina/green spirulina

These 3 colorants are used to achieve a natural yellow, orange, and green hue in the curd, respectively for a natural citrus color and are perfectly optional (if you leave out these superfoods, the curd will still be a natural yellow color). Instead of turmeric, try carrot powder or natural/vegan yellow food dye. Instead of dunaliella salina, try natural/vegan orange food coloring. Instead of green spirulina, try pure matcha or natural/vegan green food coloring

Maple syrup

in the icing, try agave OR honey. Also, additional powdered maple sugar/powdered coconut sugar works. And if refined sugar is ok, you can replace the sweeteners in the icing with powdered turbinado, powdered sucanat, powdered panela, powdered demerara, or even powdered cane sugar

Citrus in icing

you can use the juice or zest from limes, lemons, and/or oranges. Alternatively, you can use natural lemon extract, lime extract, or orange blossom water. Use only a couple drops of the lemon or lime extracts as they're very potent and concentrated. The citrus flavor in the icing is perfectly optional, and you can omit it for a simple vanilla bean icing

Citrus juices/zests

in any part of these cookies (dough, curd, or icing), you can use a single citrus to juice and zest for the recipe (lemons, limes, or oranges), or any combination of these, i.e. they don't have to be triple citrus thumbprints, they can be lemon vanilla bean thumbprint cookies, double-citrus thumbprint cookies, etc.

Like This Triple Citrus Vanilla Bean Thumbprint Cookie Recipe! More new recipes coming soon + Fruity Newsletter is launching this weekend + keep an eye out for us on Insta!

The header says it all. See you back on the blog soon (and on socials... and in emails ☺️).

And if you liked this recipe, feel free to give it a like and leave your feedback in the comments!

Once again, thank you for visiting my little healthy nook of the internet!

As always,

Enjoy <3

-K. 🍂