It seems like all of the holidays we celebrate, at least where I live, revolve around food. I am being a bit of an early bird on this one, but wanted to test out a healthier update to my usual recipe for these delicious hamentashen cookies – a key symbol for the holiday of Purim which we will be celebrating in a month’s time. These healthy vegan hamentashen cookies, made using a combination of whole wheat flour and spelt flour, are just as delicious as my original recipe and had my son running to ask for a cookie (or two, or three) daily, sometimes even at breakfast.
For the egg substitute I used flax eggs, because I didn’t have quite enough aquafaba for the recipe. It is really easy to make a flax egg instead of buying egg replacer – for each egg in your recipe you will combine one tbsp of ground flax seeds with 3 tbsp of water. Give it a stir and then let the mixture set in the fridge for about 10 minutes. You’ll find it turns into a thicker, slightly gelatinous liquid, similar to a watery egg white. Flax eggs are a great substitute when baking cookies, but do I plan on making these with aquafaba as my egg replacer next time to compare the results.
I also plan on trying out this recipe with a gluten-free flour blend to see how they hold up, which I will post about in a couple of weeks time.
My favourite fillings for hamentashen cookies are chocolate and jams, which I have used in this batch.
To prepare your own deliciously easy vegan chocolate ganache, you need just two ingredients – semi-sweet (or dark if it is your preference) chocolate chips and a can of coconut cream. Place the coconut cream standing in the freezer for 30 minutes, remove, and turn it upside down. You’ll find that the thick, rich cream has separated from the coconut liquid and is waiting for you at what is now the top of the can. Scoop it out and add it to a small pot with your chocolate chips. Warm it on the stove, stirring continuously so that the chocolate won’t burn. Once smoothly combined, remove and let cool, allowing it to thicken. (FYI – this is delicious straight off the spoon and is a perfect coating for making chocolate dipped fruits, and is the same chocolate ganache I use as a topping for my chocolate beet cake recipe).
Another easy filling to make is date paste, made by easily pureeing pitted, soaked medjool dates and water to make a smooth puree. See proportions for both these options in the recipe below.
Ready to try it yourself? Here is my recipe for delicious, healthy vegan hamentashen.
- Dough Ingredients
- 2 cups whole wheat flour
- ½ cup spelt flour
- ⅔ cup cane sugar
- 1 tsp baking powder
- ½ tsp vanilla extract
- ¼ tsp salt
- 9 tbsp aquafaba (chickpea brine) or 3 flax eggs
- ½ cup grapeseed oil
- 3 tbsp warm water (if needed)
- Date Paste Filling
- 1½ cups organic dates, pitted
- 1 cup water
- Chocolate Ganache Filling
- 1 cup chocolate chips
- ⅓ cup full fat coconut cream (separated from a can of coconut liquid by putting in the freezer for 30 minutes and then turning over before opening. the full fat cream will be on top)
- Date Paste Filling
- Soak the dates in water for 10 minutes to soften.
- Pour off ½ cup of the water and add it and the dates to your food processor or blender, draining off any extra water.
- Pulse until you have a smooth puree and set aside.
- Chocolate Ganache Filling
- Add the chocolate chips and coconut cream to a small pot and heat on low heat.
- Stir frequently, until you have a smooth chocolate sauce. Be careful not to let the chocolate burn.
- Remove from the burner and let cool while you prepare the cookie dough.
- The Dough
- Preheat your oven to 180C and prepare two baking sheets, lined with parchment paper.
- Mix the flour, sugar, baking powder and salt together in a bowl.
- Add the aquafaba, water and oil and combine until uniform.
- Sprinkle flour on a clean surface and on your rolling pin, and roll out the dough until it is between ¼ and ½ cm thick.
- Using a cookie cutter or a clean glass or jar lid, cut 3" circles of dough and place them on your cookie sheets. Keep combining the scraps of dough until you have used all of it.
- Drop a ½ tsp of date paste onto the center of each circle of dough.
- Lift the edges of the dough and fold the sides in to form a triangle (try not to pinch the corners!)
- For best results, layer the sides so each is overlapped on the left, and overlaps on the right (so that each side is tucked in on one corner)
- Bake for 20 minutes, or until the dough has turned a golden colour and is just starting to brown.
- Remove and let cool.
Nutritional Information is provided for 1 cookie with date filling.
Welcome!
These look really yummy. Are they like thumbprint cookies?
it’s sort of like a pocket cookie. You have a bit more filling than a thumbprint (though you could totally use the dough to make thumbprint cookies too!). I use a large glass to cut circles of dough, and then fold in the sides to create the pocket, but you could easily just make smaller dough balls and then make the thumbprint and add a filling 🙂