Dairy Free Hamantaschen
It’s that time of year again… time to break out the bakeware and get into a “triangular” state of mind! The Jewish holiday of Purim is all about triangle-shaped foods, such as classic Jewish baked goodies like bourekas, sambusak, and of course, hamantaschen cookies. Enjoy this recipe for Dairy Free Hamantaschen!
Prep Time: 1 hour
Bake Time: 25 minutes (per batch)
Total Time: 1 hour and 25 minutes
Yield: 3 dozen
Ingredients
- 2 large eggs
- ⅔ cup sugar
- ¼ cup canola oil
- 1 teaspoon orange zest
- 1 teaspoon vanilla
- 2¼ cups flour
- 1 teaspoon baking powder
- ¼ teaspoon salt
- 1-5 teaspoon water (if needed)
- Nonstick cooking oil spray
Equipment
- 2 baking sheets
- 2 mixing bowls
- Sifter
- Wooden spoon
- Rolling pin
- 3-inch cookie cutter or drinking glass with 3-inch diameter rim
- Pastry scraper
Method
- Before you begin making the hamantaschen, choose and make your filling and have it on hand to work with. This dough will dry out quickly if left to rest too long, so it’s best to have everything ready to assemble when you start.
- Preheat oven to 350°F.
- In mixing bowl, whisk together eggs, sugar, canola oil, orange zest, and vanilla.
- In another bowl, sift together flour, baking powder, and salt.
- Slowly stir dry ingredients into wet ingredients, using a large wooden spoon and using circular motions until a crumbly dough begins to form.
- Knead until smooth and slightly tacky to the touch. Try not to overwork dough, only knead until dough is the right consistency. If the crumbles are too dry to form a smooth dough, add water slowly, one teaspoon at a time, using your hands to knead the liquid into the dough. Knead and add liquid until the dough is smooth and slightly tacky to the touch (not sticky), with a consistency that is right for rolling out. It can easily go from the right consistency to too wet/sticky, so add water very slowly. If the dough seems too wet, knead in a little flour until it reaches the right texture.
- Lightly flour a smooth, clean surface. Use rolling pin to roll dough out to ¼ inch thick. Scrape dough up with pastry scraper, lightly re-flour the surface, and flip dough over. Continue rolling dough out very thin (less than ⅛ of an inch thick). The thinner you roll the dough, the more delicate and crisp the cookies will turn out – just make sure that dough is still thick enough to hold the filling and its shape! If you prefer a thicker, more doughy texture to your cookies (less delicate), keep the dough closer to ¼ inch thick. Lightly flour rolling pin occasionally to prevent sticking, if you need to.
- Use a 3-inch cookie cutter (not smaller) or the 3-inch rim of a glass to cut circles out of the dough, cutting as many as you can from the dough. Gather scraps and roll them out again. Cut circles. Repeat process again if needed until you’ve cut as many circles as you can from the dough. You should end up with around 36 circles.
- Place a teaspoon of filling (whichever filling you choose) into the centre of each circle. Do not use more than a teaspoon of filling, or you run the risk of your hamantaschen opening and filling spilling out during baking. Cover unused circles with a lightly damp towel to prevent them from drying out while you are filling.
- Assemble the hamantaschen in three steps. First, grasp left side of circle and fold it towards the center to make a flap that covers the left third of the circle.
- Grasp right side of circle and fold towards the center, overlapping the upper part of the left side flap to create a triangular tip at the top of the circle. A small triangle of filling should still be visible in the center.
- Grasp bottom part of circle and fold upward to create a third flap and complete the triangle. When you fold this flap up, be sure to tuck the left side of this new flap underneath the left side of the triangle, while letting the right side of this new flap overlap the right side of the triangle. This way, each side of your triangle has a corner that folds over and a corner that folds under – it creates a “pinwheel” effect. This method of folding is not only pretty, it will help to keep the cookies from opening while they bake.
- Pinch each corner of the triangle gently but firmly to secure the shape. Repeat this process for the remaining circles.
- When all of your hamantaschen have been filled, place them on a lightly greased baking sheet, evenly spaced. You can fit about 20 on one sheet – they don’t need to be very spaced out because they shouldn’t expand much during baking.
Place them in oven and bake at 350°F for 20 to 25 minutes, until cookies are cooked through and lightly golden. - Cool cookies on a wire rack. Store them in a tightly sealed plastic bag or covered container.
From toriavey.com
