The Best Maple Leaf Cream Cookies Recipe

My homemade Maple Leaf Cream Cookies are melt-in-your-mouth delicious! If they came in a box, you could easily devour every cookie in one sitting. They are that tasty!

The sweet, buttery cookies are made with pure maple flavorings sandwiched between a smooth maple buttercream filling. Though prominent, the maple is not overpowering to the palate. Instead, it brings a natural sweetness and hint of a caramel-nutty essence.

These scrumptious Maple Leaf Cream Cookies are tasty year-round but are perfect for the fall season and are great for a Christmas cookie swap! The toasty notes from the maple will surely warm your body and soul to get you more excited for the holiday season!

So grab a cozy blanket, hot cup of coffee or cocoa, and snuggle up by the fireplace while you enjoy these homemade Maple Leaf Cream Cookies!

What Are Maple Leaf Cream Cookies?

Maple Leaf Cream Cookies are a classic Canadian sandwich cookie. It is a shortbread cookie flavored with natural maple and shaped like a maple leaf, the national symbol of Canada, The Land Of Maple Leaf. The maple cream filling is sandwiched between two maple leaf shortbread cookies to create the ultimate bite of pure sweetness. 

Maple Leaf Cream Cookies are commonly found in grocery stores, local bakeries, and gift shops throughout Canada. The sandwich cookies might feel like another tourist trap souvenir gift, but they are so delicious everyone genuinely wants to take a box or two home.

So, although you can find these cookies in a Canadian home like you would find Oreos in an American home, they are more frequently used as gifts.

Maple Leaf Cream Cookies in Vancouver

Vancouver is one of the prettiest cities in the Pacific Northwest, known for its serene landscape, whale watching, sustainable seafood, and delicious cuisine. In our 3 days in Vancouver, we explored famous sights, like the Capilano Suspension Bridge, and ate at several incredible places.

One of the best places to find delicious bites is at Granville Island Public Market. It is a foodie haven with local produce markets, shops, and restaurants serving incredible dishes. You can easily order an eclectic meal of fried fish, sausage hot dogs, pad thai, honey-glazed donuts, and classic Canadian desserts – all under one roof. And that is exactly what we (almost) did.

We indulged in sweet chocolates, a quart of salmon candy, salmon puff pastries, and a handful of maple leaf cream cookies. Everything was delicious, but the maple leaf cream cookies were spectacular! They were perfectly sweet and just melted in my mouth. The cookies also had a sense of warmth and comfort, which we needed after a windy excursion at sea.

Read next: Best Places to Eat in Vancouver – a Foodie’s Guide

Just like when you buy a car, you suddenly see it everywhere. After our meal at Granville Island Public Market, we found maple leaf cream cookies at every corner. The popular Canadian cookies were at local bakeries and all the gift shops.

It was hard not to fill an entire suitcase with these scrumptious cookies. Instead, I created a recipe for homemade maple leaf cream cookies. Now I eat them at home all the time! But I wouldn’t mind a plane ticket to revisit Vancouver.

List of Ingredients for Maple Leaf Cream Cookies

The most important ingredients in this recipe are the maple flavorings – maple sugar, maple syrup, and maple extract all play an essential part in taste and texture.

The maple sugar is a natural sweetener with healthy vitamins and minerals. You can find it in specialty grocery stores, but it’s easy to buy online. If you want to opt out of the maple sugar, you can substitute for white sugar, but you will lose some maple essence, and the cookies will taste sweeter.

It is crucial that you use pure maple syrup, not the thick pancake maple syrup. Otherwise, the Maple Leaf Cream Cookies will taste artificial and way too sweet.

This is a brief overview. Please refer to the full recipe description at the end of this post.

• Unsalted butter
• Powdered sugar
• Maple sugar
• Pure maple syrup
• Maple extract
• Vanilla extract
• All-purpose flour
• Cornstarch
• Salt

How to Make Maple Leaf Cream Cookies

Making Maple Leaf Cream Cookies is easy! The hardest part could be rolling the cookie dough, but don’t worry, I have tips to help you.

This is a brief overview. Please refer to the full recipe description at the end of this post.

Maple Shortbread Cookie Dough

Cream – butter with the maple sugar for 60 seconds. Add the powdered sugar and beat until the mixture is light and fluffy about 2 minutes. Then add the maple sryup and maple extract and cream all the ingredients until combined.

Make dough – whisk the all-purpose flour, cornstarch, and salt in a separate bowl. Add into the mixing bowl and beat until the cookie dough comes together.

Rest – wrap the dough in plastic and chill in the refrigerator for 30 minutes. If you chill the dough for over an hour, let the dough sit at room temperature for about 15 minutes to soften and roll out.

Preheat – the oven to 350°F and line two cookie sheets with parchment paper.

Roll dough – about 1/8″ thick on a lightly floured surface. It also helps to sprinkle flour on the top of the dough and the rolling pin. If the dough sticks to the rolling pin, add more flour to the dough and rolling pin.

Cut dough – using a maple leaf cookie cutter. Press the cutter into the dough to cut out maple leaf-shaped cookies. Carefully place the cookies onto the cookie sheets lined with parchment paper. Repeat this process until you have cut out as many cookies as possible.

Bake – the Maple Leaf Cookies for 8 – 10 minutes until they are barely lightly golden brown on the edges. Remove from the oven and allow to cool completely on wire racks.

Maple Cream Filling and Assembly

Make buttercream – beat the butter, powdered sugar, maple syrup, vanilla extract, maple extract, and salt together until smooth and creamy.

Assemble cookies – spread a small portion of buttercream filling on one Maple Leaf Cookie. Then cover with a second cookie. Repeat until you finish.

Enjoy – immediately or store in an airtight container for up to one week.

Tips and Tidbits

Here are a few tips on ways to make rolling cookie dough easier, how to keep the cookies soft for days, my secret ingredient, and more.

Rolling Cookie Dough

The first tip to rolling cookie dough easier is flour. You always want a lightly floured surface when working with dough. The key is to flour everything that will touch the dough.

In addition to the surface, sprinkle flour on the dough, rolling pin, and cookie cutter. I like to place the cookie cutter in a small bowl of flour and shake any excess. It is also best to flour everything frequently but always lightly. Too much flour and the cookies will lose their soft texture.

Another way to easily roll cookie dough is to sandwich it between parchment paper. Put a sheet of parchment paper on the table, lightly dust with flour, place the cookie dough with a sprinkle of flour (for good measure), then put one more sheet of parchment paper on top. Now, use the rolling pin over the parchment paper.

How Many Times Should You Roll Cookie Dough

My rule of thumb for rolling cookie dough is, at most, three rolls. So you have the first roll, then you form a ball of dough from the scraps, roll again, and repeat one more time.

After three rolls, the cookie dough becomes cracked and overworked. Thus, it loses its soft texture, resulting in a tough cookie.

Cornstarch, My Favorite Secret Ingredient

Cornstarch is one of my favorite little secret ingredients. I use it in recipes you may never think of, like my Coconut Shrimp and Pumpkin Pecan Pie Cheesecake. 

So why use cornstarch in the Maple Leaf Cookies? It is the secret to providing the cookie with a light, tender, and soft texture. Trust me. Substituting a little cornstarch for all-purpose flour can go a long way to help give a cookie its perfect bite!

How to Keep Your Cookies Soft!

This tip is from my husband. It’s one of the best things he has ever taught me. Place a slice of bread with your cookies in an airtight container.

The cookies will absorb the moisture from the bread, which will dry out the bread and keep the cookies soft. Add a new slice of bread once it dries out, and the cookies will continuously taste fresh out of the oven.

Also, when you add bread, the Maple Leaf Cream Cookies are better the next day. They are melt-in-your-mouth soft!

More Fall Desserts and Cookie Recipes

• Caramel Apple Walnut Pie with a Streusel Topping
• Pumpkin Pecan Cheesecake – A Cheesecake Factory Copycat Recipe
• White Chocolate Cherry Cookies (a Soft Snickerdoodle Recipe)
• Triple Chocolate Biscotti – a Sweet Twist on the Classic Italian Biscotti