Hamentashen are a traditional Jewish cookie, served at the holiday Purim. They are shaped like the three-cornered hat of Hamen, the villain in the Purim story.

Oh today we’ll merry, merry be.
Oh today we’ll merry, merry be.
Oh today we’ll merry, merry be.
And nosh some Hamentaschen.  :)

How to shape the dough

Years ago, I wanted to try making gluten-free Hamentaschen. So I searched the web and found a recipe by someone named Ellen Switkes. It works great! I have been making this recipe for years. The Hamentashen come out tasting a bit more like cookies and a bit less like bread dough than traditional Hamentashen — they are very yummy.

This year my son and I tried making this recipe vegan. The Hamentashen came out great that way too!

The one thing that I will do differently next year is that this year I used some teff flour in my flour mix, and teff makes dough look brown and whole-wheat-y. So next year I plan to use a flour mix next year that doesn’t have any teff in it, so that the Hamentashen come out looking more of the color of traditional Hamentashen.

Hamentashen after baking

Twice I have made Rainbow Hamentashen. Someday I will post the recipe! The batch in the picture below was particularly neat because all of the coloring was done with food: beets, cocoa powder, and spinach. Yum!

Ellen Switkes says: Don’t wait until Purim.

Print Recipe

Hamentaschen - gluten-free and can be vegan!

Hamentashen are a yummy traditional dessert food for the Jewish holiday Purim. These are gluten-free, and optionally vegan. Happy Purim!

Prep Time20 minutes mins

Cook Time10 minutes mins

Total Time30 minutes mins

Course: Dessert

Cuisine: Jewish

Servings: 29 Hamentaschens

Author: Valerie Mates

Ingredients

Dough

• 2 eggs or 2 flax eggs
• 2 1/4 cups flour mixture for example 3/4 cup each quinoa flour, garbanzo flour & potato starch - or whatever flour mix you prefer
• 3/4 cup sugar
• 1 teaspoon xanthan or guar gum only if you used gluten-free flour, and only if it doesn't already contain this
• 2 teaspoons baking powder or 2/3 teaspoon baking soda + 2/3 teaspoon cream of tartar
• 1/2 cup oil eg. organic canola oil
• 1/2 teaspoon gluten-free vanilla extract

Filling

• chocolate chips or other traditional Hamentashen filling such as jelly or stewed dried apricots

Instructions

• Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
• If you are using flax eggs, mix them up and let them sit while you mix the rest of the ingredients.
• In a mixing bowl, mix all dry ingredients, to prevent lumps.
• Add the wet ingredients, including the eggs or flax eggs. Stir well.
• The dough should have the consistency of fabulous fresh playdough, straight from the can. If it is wetter or dryer than that, add some flour mix or a tablespoon of water and stir again, and repeat until you have a dough with the perfect consistency.
• Break off a blob of dough that is about 1 inch in diameter. Roll it into a ball, then pat it into a flat circle on a fabulously non-stick cookie sheet. The circle should be about 2 1/2 inches wide. Carefully pat any raggedy edges together, so that you end up with edges that are perfectly smooth and round.
• Put 1-2 teaspoonfuls of filling in the middle of the circle. Less filling works better than more -- you can always add another dab of filling after the cookie is shaped if you want to. Then carefully fold each of the three sides upward, forming a triangle. Pinch the corners together, so that it will hold its shape. If it cracks, just pat it back into shape, seal the crack, and it should be fine.
• Bake for 10 minutes.
• Yum!
• Ellen Switkes says: Don't wait until Purim.