Recipe rē•spin: Butter-less Hamantaschen

The perfect simple and healthy recipe for traditional hamantaschen cookies to celebrate the power of community and coming together. 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, or sweet or savory fillings you can imagine.

We used a variety of fruit jams and caramel sauce to stuff ours, but classic hamantaschen commonly feature “Mohn,” or poppy seed paste, which you can make at home or buy in European grocery stores. Feel free to add your favorite spices and sub in other fruit, nuts, seeds, chocolate, citrus zest, and herbs to make hamantaschen that’s truly one for the books.

Ingredients:

• 3/4 cup of High Polyphenol Olive Oil 
• 1 1/4 cup sugar
• Four large eggs
• 1 tsp vanilla extract
• 1/4 cup orange juice
• 2 tsp baking powder
• 1/2 tsp salt
• 5 cups all-purpose flour 
• Jam or various desired fillings

Directions:

1. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F. Line two baking sheets with parchment paper and set them aside. 
2. In a large bowl, combine the oil and sugar until creamy. Mix in the eggs, juice, and vanilla and blend till smooth.
3. Slowly pour in the flour, salt, and baking powder. Mix till the dough comes together.
4. 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.
5. Cut out circles from the dough using a 3″ round cookie cutter. Remove the scraps from around the dough.
6. 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 three corners to seal.
7. Bake for 10-12 minutes until lightly golden on the bottom and around the edges.