It’s that time of year again… time to break out the bakeware and get into a “triangular” state of mind! The Jewish holiday of Purim is all about triangle-shaped foods– classic Jewish baked goodies like bourekas, sambusak, and of course hamantaschen cookies. In the story of Purim, it is said that the villain Haman wore a triangular hat everywhere he went. Triangular foods like hamantaschen have three corners to represent Haman’s hat. My husband grew up in Israel calling these cookies oznei haman, which translates from Hebrew to “Haman’s ears.”Apparently, in some versions of the story, haman has triangular ears. There is also a theory out there that Haman had triangular pockets, since the word hamantaschen literally translates from Yiddish as “Haman’s pockets” (I tend to think the translation has more to do with the fact that these cookies are filled, like little pockets of dough). A more poetic interpretation links the three corners of the triangle shape to the three founding fathers of Judaism—Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. Whatever the reason, it’s traditional to eat triangular foods like hamantaschen on Purim… so eat them we must!
I hit upon this Dairy Free Hamantaschen recipe after a few years of experimenting in the kitchen, searching for a foolproof hamantaschen dough. I’m a perfectionist, so my go-to dough needs to be absolutely perfect! I had a long list of criteria for the dough. I wanted it to have the following qualities:
– Easy to roll out
– Easy to shape
– Won’t expand/open around the filling when baked
– Does not include margarine or shortening
– Bakes up delicate with a nice texture (not heavy)
– Wonderful flavor that will compliment any kind of sweet filling
This dough satisfies all the criteria… it is truly a wonderful dough. It does not require refrigeration before rolling out. It’s also very easy to work with– the “feel” of the dough is terrific. It’s the best texture I’ve developed for rolling and shaping. Most importantly, it creates the tastiest hamantaschen ever. My family is in love with these cookies!
You can use any hamantaschen filling you like with this dough; I’ve linked to the filling recipes available on my site below (both dairy and non-dairy fillings). The key to a good filling is to make sure it is thick enough to prevent running, but not so thick that it bakes up dry or tough. All of these filling recipes are tasty, and they all have the proper texture for use in hamantaschen. I will update this list of fillings as I add new ones to the site.
Hamantaschen Fillings
Rabbi Olitzky’s Chocolate Chip Cream Cheese Filling
Prefer a butter-based hamantaschen dough? Click here for my Buttery Hamantaschen recipe. To learn more about the holiday of Purim, click here.
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Dairy Free Hamantaschen
Ingredients
- 2 large eggs
- 2/3 cup sugar
- 1/4 cup canola oil
- 1 teaspoon orange zest
- 1 teaspoon vanilla
- 2 1/4 cups flour
- 1 teaspoon baking powder
- 1/4 teaspoon salt
- 1-5 teaspoons water (if needed)
- Nonstick cooking oil spray
NOTES
Instructions
- Before you begin making the hamantaschen, choose and make your filling and have it on hand to work with. This dough will dry out quickly if left to rest too long, so it's best to have everything ready to assemble when you start.Preheat your oven to 350 degrees F. In a mixing bowl, whisk together the eggs, sugar, canola oil, orange zest and vanilla.
- In another bowl, sift together the flour, baking powder, and salt.
- Slowly stir the dry ingredients into the wet, using a large wooden spoon and using circular motions until a crumbly dough begins to form.
- Knead until smooth and slightly tacky to the touch. Try not to overwork the dough, only knead till the dough is the right consistency. If the crumbles are too dry to form a smooth dough, add water slowly, 1 teaspoon at a time, using your hands to knead the liquid into the dough. Knead and add liquid until the dough is smooth and slightly tacky to the touch (not sticky), with a consistency that is right for rolling out. It can easily go from the right consistency to too wet/sticky, so add water very slowly. If the dough seems too wet, knead in a little flour until it reaches the right texture.
- Lightly flour a smooth, clean surface. Use a rolling pin to roll the dough out to 1/4 inch thick. Scrape the dough up with a pastry scraper, lightly reflour the surface, and flip the dough over. Continue rolling the dough out very thin (less than 1/8 of an inch thick). The thinner you roll the dough, the more delicate and crisp the cookies will turn out-- just make sure that the dough is still thick enough to hold the filling and its shape! If you prefer a thicker, more doughy texture to your cookies (less delicate), keep the dough closer to 1/4 inch thick. Lightly flour the rolling pin occasionally to prevent sticking, if you need to.
- Use a 3-inch cookie cutter (not smaller) or the 3-inch rim of a glass to cut circles out of the dough, cutting as many as you can from the dough.Gather the scraps and roll them out again. Cut circles. Repeat process again if needed until you've cut as many circles as you can from the dough. You should end up with around 35 circles.
- Place a teaspoon of filling (whichever filling you choose) into the center of each circle. Do not use more than a teaspoon of filling, or you run the risk of your hamantaschen opening and filling spilling out during baking. Cover unused circles with a lightly damp towel to prevent them from drying out while you are filling.
- Assemble the hamantaschen in three steps. First, grasp the left side of the circle and fold it towards the center to make a flap that covers the left third of the circle.
- Grasp the right side of the circle and fold it towards the center, overlapping the upper part of the left side flap to create a triangular tip at the top of the circle. A small triangle of filling should still be visible in the center.
- Grasp the bottom part of the circle and fold it upward to create a third flap and complete the triangle. When you fold this flap up, be sure to tuck the left side of this new flap underneath the left side of the triangle, while letting the right side of this new flap overlap the right side of the triangle. This way, each side of your triangle has a corner that folds over and a corner that folds under-- it creates a "pinwheel" effect. This method if folding is not only pretty-- it will help to keep the cookies from opening while they bake.
- Pinch each corner of the triangle gently but firmly to secure the shape.Repeat this process for the remaining circles.
- When all of your hamantaschen have been filled, place them on a lightly greased baking sheet, evenly spaced. You can fit about 20 on one sheet... they don't need to be very spaced out because they shouldn't expand much during baking.Place them in the oven and let them bake at 350 degrees F for 20-25 minutes, until the cookies are cooked through and lightly golden.
- Cool the cookies on a wire rack. Store them in a tightly sealed plastic bag or Tupperware.
Nutrition
Hi! This is my first time making hamantaschen and I can’t find canola oil in my local supermarkets. Can I use vegetable oil instead?
Thanks!
Yes.
Could I use orange juice to replace the water and olive oil to replace the canola? My favorite recipe had orange juice but I’m now dairy free so hoping to try yours!
I’m not sure about orange juice, would need to test it. Olive oil is fine as an oil replacement.
This recipe was an absolute life saver. My congregation has been doing gift bags during the pandemic for each of the holidays. I had to bake 4 dozen, Hamentaschen, which I hadn’t made in years. I tried a recipe with butter and had to toss the entire batch. The explanations about the recipe made total sense. I had to use at least 2 1/2 cups of flour, and didn’t need any water. Fig and apricot Hamentaschen are ready for gift bags and they are delicious. Thank you for this! I can’t believe they actually came out looking like the recipe said they would 🙂
I love the flavor of the orange zest in the dough! The recipe is well-written and easy to follow.
My hamantaschen came out very hard, though. They may have been slightly overbaked. I think next time I will try the butter dough in hopes they come out a bit softer. These taste amazing and look really god but aren’t something I’d share because of how hard the cookie part is. I will look forward to making another batch next year. I think for my very first time baking hamantaschen they came out really well.
Can I use a KitchenAid mixer to mix the dough? Is this something you would recommend?
You can, just be sure not to over-mix.
I learned a valuable recipe-reading baking lesson on these hamantashen and will try this recipe again before Purim begins in a couple days since I have extra filling. Even though I had a baking fail, this dough seems like it has a lot of potential. My big question is why does it say “prep time 15 minutes” and “cook time 45 minutes” at the top of the recipe? It’s more like the opposite. Making hamantashen is pretty labor intensive (not my first time either) to make the dough, roll it out, cookie cut, fill and fold them. That takes way more than 15 minutes. Then to say bake time is 45 minutes is misleading because in hindsight I now realize you’re probably talking about baking each cookie sheet for 20 to 25 minutes for a total bake time of about 40-50 minutes. I put both cookie sheets in and looked for the baking time and read 45 minutes at the top and nothing at the end of my printed recipe. I noticed them burning at 20 minutes and took them out. Puzzled, I looked at the recipe again this time on my phone and realized that the last step that says BAKE for 20-25 minutes got cut off of my printout and landed on page 3 which I didn’t print. Who needs a 3 page recipe?! Totally my fault because intuitively I knew 45 minutes sounded long but if the bake time at the top had said 20-25 minutes (per sheet) I wouldn’t have burned the corners of my hamantashen. Lesson learned.
You are absolutely right Ann, thank you for pointing out the prep time discrepancy. We transitioned to a new recipe input system and I had an assistant helping me with inputting all of the recipes (close to 1,000 of them!) on my site. Apparently she didn’t correctly estimate the prep time on this particular recipe. I’ve corrected it. Hope the next batch turns out as great as you hoped!
How much of a role in flavor does the orange zest add? (Basically, could I leave it out for my very very picky husband?)
Yes no problem, though it will render the dough a little more bland. Not a problem if you’re using a very flavorful filling.
I am so glad I found this recipe. What would you suggest if it needs to be egg free also?
I haven’t tried it, but aquafaba might work well as an egg sub here! I’d need to test it to be certain, though.
My son is allergic to eggs. We love Bob’s Red Mill Egg replacer. (It’s kosher and GF too).
This is a great dough recipe to work with. And, it works equally well with either regular all purpose flour, or if you need to be gluten free, any 1:1 ratio replacement gluten free flour. This is my go-to hamantaschen dough recipe. Thanks, Tori!
These worked out amazingly! Totally would recommend!
Celebrating Purim for the first time! This took me a while to make, but they turned out amazing! The orange zest was a perfect addition and I love that she made the instructions so detailed. Will definitely make this a new tradition and might try some other fillings besides the apricot and nutella next time.
Haven’t made yet! Preparing mentally as well as physically. I promise not to over knead. Do we have to sift the flour?
My granddaughter and I will ‘dig into’ the recipe tomorrow. She wants to fill half with Nutella and half, caramel apple!
Can’t wait. Will report back! ??
Yes, I do recommend sifting. Good luck!
You can “sift” the flour with a whisk if you don’t have a sifter. Works really well!!
Hi Tori,
Can I use whole wheat flour? Do I have to change anything in the recipe since whole wheat is denser than white?
I’m not sure Marcia, I haven’t tested it with whole wheat. So sorry I can’t be of more help!
Great dough! My husband rarely asks for anything baked. Even he loved these cookies. Are used organic strawberry jam as a filling and as a shortcut. Nice taste. He was very happy with them.
Do you know how to adjust these to high altitude?
Hi Amy, Tori’s assistant Ashley here. Since we don’t have experience with high altitude baking, I’d like to send you to this handy page from King Arthur Flour: https://www.kingarthurflour.com/learn/resources/high-altitude-baking There’s a lot of great info for making adjustments in high altitudes. Hope this helps!
I made 150 of these today with 12 – 6th graders. The recipe is perfect. They rolled out well, baked up crispy, not too sweet, so they balanced nicely with the fillings.
That’s very cool! 🙂
Hi Tori! These are delicious and I’ve made them in the past. I was wondering though, can I make the dough ahead of time and store in plastic wrap in the fridge? Or will it dry out? Thanks!
I have not tried it so can’t say for certain… it’s such a quick dough to put together that I never needed to make ahead. The buttery one can easily be made ahead and in fact refrigeration is recommended for best results, maybe try that one? https://toriavey.com/toris-kitchen/buttery-hamantaschen/
Hi! Yesterday I made a double batch of dough and the apricot filling. I couldn’t finish so I left the remaining dough in the bowl, covered with a double layer of damp paper towels, covered with an airtight lid and refrigerated it overnight. I took the bowl out this morning and left it for about half an hour then rolled it out and it was absolutely perfect! My husband, a self professed apricot hamentashen maven said these are the best he ever tasted!!!
Thanks so much for letting us know Harriet! Really glad you’re enjoying the hamantaschen. 🙂
Tori-have you ever made these with powdered egg substitute or soaked chia seeds for egg substitute? I have a vegan in my life and wanted to send a batch of these for Purim. If not, I’ll let you know how it goes!
I have not, but please give me an update if you try! Would love to post a vegan version if it works.
Incredible recipe. I could have eaten the dough raw but I held back and baked the Hamentaschen. Thank you for posting this great recipe.
Love this recipe. I make the apricot filling on the day before I make the dough. The dough is easy to manage and the finished product is delicious.
Thank you Tori Avey
Glad you’re enjoying it Barbara!