The perfect simple and healthy recipe for traditional hamantaschen cookies, to celebrate the power of community and coming together this Purim. Made with olive oil, this dough is dairy-free and rich in cancer-fighting polyphenols. Easy to make and endlessly customizable, the dough requires no chilling and can be stuffed with whatever jams, spreads, sweet or savory fillings you can imagine.
We used a variety of fruit jams and caramel sauce to stuff ours this year, but classic hamantaschen commonly features “mohn,” or poppy seed paste, which you can make at home or buy in European grocery stores. Feel free to add your favorite spices, sub in other fruit, nuts, seeds, chocolate, citrus zest, and herbs to make hamantaschen that’s truly one for the books.
Pre-heat the oven to 350 F degrees. Line two baking sheets with parchment paper and set aside.
In a large bowl, combine the oil and sugar until creamy. Mix in the eggs, juice, and vanilla and combine till smooth.
Slowly pour in the flour, salt, and baking powder. Mix till the dough comes together.
Cut the dough in half. Remove a piece of the dough and roll it out between 2 pieces of parchment paper till it’s about 1/4" thick.
Using a 3" round cookie cutter, cut out circles from the dough. Remove the scraps from around the dough.
Place a tsp of jam or desired filling into the center of each circle. Fold in the two sides and pinch at the top to close. Bring the bottom side up, forming the cookie into a triangle shape. Pinch all 3 corners to seal.
Bake for 10-12 minutes until lightly golden on the bottom and around the edges.
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