These vegan and gluten-free hamantaschen are also grain-free and can be refined sugar-free if you use my raspberry chia seed jam. These are absolutely scrumptious and fun to make. This is a perfect recipe to get the kids and the whole family involved! This recipe is paleo-friendly too!
What is Hamantaschen?
Hamantaschen is a triangle-shaped cookie filled with different kinds of fruit, poppy seed paste or chocolate, eaten by Jews on Purim. This cookie has morphed over time as traditions evolved between families.
Nowadays, there are a lot of varieties of hamantaschen, making it a great option to please a group with different flavor preferences. My vegan chocolate-filled chocolate chip hamantaschen are always a HUGE hit!
Hamantaschan is typically made with eggs, butter, refined sugar, all-purpose flour and store-bought jam. This vegan and gluten-free hamantaschen recipe is absolutely delicious and exactly like the real deal but without any animal products, refined sugars or refined flours.
The cookie crust is easy to work with and won't break apart. Most importantly, they taste amazing. So let's make these traditional Purim cookies!
What is Purim?
Purim is a time of celebration for the Jews, so you’ll usually see festivals and kids dressing up and all kinds of fun. Purim usually falls in early March, marking the end of winter and the journey into spring. Hamantaschen are a staple of these festivities.
Vegan and Gluten-Free Hamantaschen
This simple recipe uses almond flour, tapioca flour (otherwise known as tapioca starch) and arrowroot starch as the base of the dough. The dough comes together super quickly. The addition of coconut oil, maple syrup and vanilla and almond extracts kick up the flavor making it a true cookie dough. It comes out buttery, crumbly, and super delicious.
I recommend the raspberry chia seed jam to add some sharpness, but you can play around with whatever fillings you’d like! Feel free to use more than one filling to let people mix and match.
Making Hamantaschen
Making Hamantaschen can be a fun activity for your Purim celebration. Place all the dry ingredients into your food processor.
Add the wet ingredients to the food processor and mix until a ball of dough forms.
Transfer the ball of dough to parchment paper. Place another sheet of parchment paper on top of the dough. The dough will be sandwiched between the two sheets of parchment paper. Refrigerate the dough for an hour.
Once it’s nice and chilled, take it out and roll it out to be about a quarter of an inch thick. Use a circle cookie cutter (or a cup — anything about 2.5-inches in diameter will do!) and cut out circles from the dough. This the perfect step for little hands! Repeat the same process for any leftover dough.
You should get around 11 circle cookies from this recipe depending on exactly how thin you roll out your dough (and the size of your circle cookie cutter).
Fill each circle with the filling (i.e. jam or Nutella) and fold the edges in to form a triangle. Less is more in this recipe - if you overfill it they will overflow while baking.
Pinch the corners slightly to make sure it is sealed. Place them on a parchment-lined baking sheet and refrigerate for 10-15 minutes (or freeze for 5 minutes). Then, bake for 15 minutes — these won’t get too brown, so don’t wait on the color to avoid over-baking.
Add more kid-friendly recipes to your Purim table:
- Quick and Easy Hummus or Simplified Israeli-Style Hummus
- Easy Creamy Vegan Tahini Sauce
- Crispy Vegan and Gluten Free Potato Latkes
- Vegan Sour Cream
- Toddler & Kid-Approved Creamy Vegan Carrot Soup
- Maple Roasted Cauliflower
- Perfectly Roasted Sweet Potatoes
- The Best Vegan Mac 'N Cheese
- Vegan Chocolate Sweet Potato Cupcakes with Chocolate Sweet Potato Frosting (gluten-free + refined sugar-free + nut-free)
- Vegan and Gluten-Free Sugar Cut-Out Cookies
Now, Let’s Make Some Vegan and Gluten-Free Hamantaschen!
This vegan and gluten-free hamantaschen recipe will be an instant favorite for Purim. It is egg-free, dairy-free, grain-free, paleo-friendly, peanut-free and refined sugar-free so it works well for many types of diets.
I cannot wait for you to give these vegan and gluten-free hamantaschen a try! Let’s get baking!
Print
Vegan and Gluten-Free Hamantaschen with Berry Chia Jam
- Total Time: 25 minutes
- Yield: 11 1x
- Diet: Vegan
Description
These vegan and gluten-free hamantaschen are also grain-free/paleo and can be refined sugar-free if you use my raspberry chia seed jam. These are absolutely scrumptious and fun to make. This is a perfect recipe to get the kids, and the whole family involved!
Ingredients
- 1 ¼ cup blanched super fine almond flour (I buy mine at Costco)
- 1 cup tapioca flour (also known as tapioca starch)
- 2 tablespoons arrowroot starch (also known as arrowroot powder)
- ⅛ teaspoon fine salt
- 5 tablespoons vegan butter or coconut oil, solid (not melted)
- 3 tablespoons pure maple syrup
- 2 teaspoons pure vanilla extract
- ¼ teaspoon almond extract
- Filling: ½ cup raspberry or blackberry chia jam* (or use my homemade nutella)
Instructions
- To a food processor add the almond flour, tapioca flour, arrowroot starch and salt. Process for a couple seconds until all dry ingredients are evenly distributed. While the motor is running, add the wet ingredients to the food processor (butter or coconut oil, maple syrup, vanilla extract and almond extract). Process until all ingredients are well incorporated. Scrape down the sides if needed and process again. A ball of dough should form.
- Place the dough on parchment paper in the refrigerator for an hour or longer if possible. The longer you allow it to chill the easier it will be to work with.
- When you are ready to bake the hamantashen preheat the oven to 350 degrees Fahrenheit.
- Place the dough on a rimmed half sheet pan lined with parchment paper or a silicone baking mat. Place a sheet of parchment paper on top and use a rolling pin or glass to roll out the dough until it is ¼ inch thick. Form it into the shape of a large rectangle. Even out the sides and roll again if needed. Cut the dough into circles using the rim of a glass cup (2.5 inches in diameter). Roll out extra dough and repeat until you have about 11 circles. Add ½-1 teaspoon of raspberry chia jam to the center of each circle. Gently fold in the edges of the circle to form a triangle overlapping each edge over the next edge to seal the cookie. You can pinch the edges of the triangle to help with this. If the dough starts to fall apart you probably didn’t chill it for long enough. If this happens you can stick the entire pan back into the fridge or even the freezer for a quick chill. This will make it easier to work with.
- Place the hamantaschen on a parchment paper lined baking sheet. Chill in the refrigerator for 10 minutes or in the freezer for 5 minutes (this extra chill time after they are formed helps them hold their shape while baking).
- Bake for 15 minutes until just slightly golden brown around the edges.
- Allow the hamentashen to cool before enjoying. Store in an airtight container in the refrigerator for up to five days. Enjoy at room temperature.
Notes
* other fillings include nutella, other flavors of jam, nut or seed butters.
- Prep Time: 10
- Cook Time: 15
- Category: dessert
- Method: oven baked
- Cuisine: Jewish
Lori says
The dough was in the refrigerator overnight. It is hard like a rock. I’m watching for it to soften so I can roll it out
Elaine Gordon says
Yes, same! Totally normal. I'm about to roll mine out too and make some more. As you roll it out it softens up pretty quickly... You can work it with the warmth of your hands if needed. LMK how it goes for you! What kind of filling are you planning on?
P.S. - I'm making no-bake Hamantashen today as well using sandwich bread... cutting one slice with a circle cookie cutter and then rolling that out, placing almond butter and jelly in the center and pinching the edges together to form a triangle. My kids are loving it right now. So cute!
Erin says
Made these and thought for sure they would taste healthy, but they don’t! They taste like the real thing! So good.
Elaine Gordon says
Thank you so much, Erin! I'm so happy to hear you enjoyed them as much as the real deal! That is always the goal 🙂 Best, Elaine
Shayna says
My son needs to follow a keto diet (plus is allergic to eggs, gluten and dairy). Tapioca and arrowroot aren't keto friendly. Can this be made with all almond flour or with some other combos (coconut flour maybe?)? Thanks!
Elaine Gordon says
Hi Shayna: Unfortunately I cannot say for sure as I haven't tested it with that combination. GF, vegan baking really depends on the balance of specific flours and each flour offers different binding properties/density and different texture + flavor. So, in this type of baking I would not recommend making substitutions. I wish I could be more helpful to you. Best, Elaine
Ilana says
This is the best recipe ever!! I tested 2-3 recipes and love this one so much more than any others. Holds up beautifully. I chilled the dough for several hours/overnight and then put it back in the fridge before each baking, because they definitely seem to do better the more they stay chilled. They are perfectly sweet which is amazing since there is so little sweetener. The only thing was I felt like 5 tbsp of coconut oil was too much for my dough - the first time I made them they felt too oily so I added a little more tapioca/arrowroot and that helped. Second time I made them I used 3 tbsp of oil and it was great, making them a third time now! I used orange ginger jam and then raspberry jam as the filling and it was incredible. I don’t know what regular gluten hamentashen taste like, but I am just going to bet that these taste like the real thing! I am going to show these to friends that are veteran hamentashen makers and I am sure they will be super impressed! Thank you sooo much for creating this recipe!
Elaine Gordon says
Thank you so much for the comprehensive review, Ilana! I am so happy to hear you enjoyed them so much. I hope you had a wonderful Purim. Best, Elaine
Sher Jacobson says
Can these be frozen for a couple of weeks before serving them. Any suggestions?
Elaine Gordon says
Hi Sher: I would think that should be fine. I would separate them with parchment paper as you freeze them so they don't stick together and then when you are ready to enjoy move the container over to the refrigerator to thaw out. I haven't tested this and I'm not sure how the jam will do but I think it could work. Please let me know! Happy early Purim! Also, be sure to see my new recipe for chocolate filled hamantaschen: https://www.eatingbyelaine.com/vegan-chocolate-filled-hamantaschen-purim-cookies/ - Best, Elaine
Lisa says
Sadly disappointed!
I had such faith in thia recioe I doubled the recipe. I did not have arrowroot but looked up replacements and used Xanthan gum (big mistake!). Tapioca flour made hands slimmy when washed my hands. Anyway, sadly the taste was too Tapioca flour slimmy to the tongue too. Wasted a lot of special flour (no Costco in Israel). So sad it did not work for us.
Elaine Gordon says
I'm so sorry to hear that, Lisa. You definitely cannot substitute arrowroot for xanthum gum in this recipe. Gluten-free and vegan baking (combined) is a science and it really is best to follow the recipe exactly and not make substitutions. I highly recommend this new hamantaschen recipe that uses oat flour and almond flour: https://www.eatingbyelaine.com/vegan-chocolate-filled-hamantaschen-purim-cookies/ - LMK what you think! Best, Elaine