Vegan Hamantaschen in 30 minutes!

Like so many of my recipes, the evidence vanishes before I even think of taking a picture! The above picture comes from Beer & Nosh, and the cookies look just like mine (though they use a silpat instead of parchment paper). The folks at B & N have some terrific filling ideas. I used what was in the fridge!

[Click here for a picture of some I made after writing this post.]

This dough recipe makes 16 to 18 cookies and uses one cookie tray. The only odd ingredient is parchment paper, which is an absolute necessity for making these cookies properly (you won't have to clean up stray jam goo from your cookie sheet). I like the fact that the ingredients in the dough, with the exception of the salt, descend in a ratio of two to one.

In order to make these cookies in 30 minutes, you need to locate a rolling pin and a glass to serve as a cookie cutter (I use a wine glass that is 3" in diameter), and get some jam jars out of the fridge. My favorite jam to work with is "simply fruit" (apricot and raspberry) because it seems to have a high amount of pectin. If you have a little spoon (you know, the kind you use with espresso), that would be helpful. Otherwise a 1/4 teaspoon measuring spoon will do.

Ready, set, go! Preheat the oven to 350 degrees, cut a piece of parchment paper and place it on your cookie sheet.

1 cup flour
1/2 cup white sugar
1/4 cup canola oil
2 T soy milk (or a little more, or a little less, depending on the weather)
1 T vanilla extract
1/4 t salt

Mix all the ingredients with a spoon, adding the soymilk last, a bit at a time, and knead the dough for two or three minutes until it is smooth. Roll it out on a floured board so that it is fairly thin, and cut 16 to 18 circles.

Put 1/4 teaspoon of jam (no more than that!) in the middle of each circle, fold the dough into a nice 3-cornered hat shape, pinch the edges together well, and put each cookie onto your parchment-paper-lined cookie sheet. These cookies do not rise very much, so you can put them fairly close together. And you can eat the remaining bits of raw dough: it doesn't have any eggs or baking powder!

Pop them in the oven, and after 15 minutes or so (15 minutes is enough in my oven--the dough should have just a hint of gold in it) take them out. Use what remains of your 30-minute time period to let them cool, and then share them with someone you love.

N.B. Some people refrigerate their cookie dough before rolling it. I find that when I use oil rather than butter (or a butter substitute) in cookie dough, refrigeration doesn't make any difference at all in the way the dough handles or tastes.

2022 UPDATE !

If you want to try something fun and different for Purim, try this recipe with an oatmeal twist. It can easily be veganized by substituting unflavored oil for the butter and a flax mixture for the eggs.