Hamantaschen Cookies with Poppy Seed Filling
A gluten-free, vegan, refined sugar-free version of traditional poppyseed hamantaschen cookies.
- Prep Time: 20 minutes
- Cook Time: 13 minutes
- Total Time: 33 minutes
- Yield: 8 cookies
- Category: Cookies
- Method: Baked
- Cuisine: Dessert
Ingredients
Hamantaschen Cookie:
- ¾ cup white rice flour
- 5 tbsp maple syrup
- 1 tsp pure vanilla extract
- ½ tsp almond extract (optional; omit for nut-free)
- ⅛ tsp salt
- 13 tbsp sunflower seed butter
- ⅓ - ½ cup water, room temp (or warm)
Poppy Seed Filling:
- 6 tbsp poppy seeds, ground into a meal {I used my magic bullet for this}
- 3 tbsp maple syrup
- 1½ tbsp non-dairy butter
- 1 tsp pure vanilla extract
- ⅛ tsp salt
- 3 tbsp raisins
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 350F. Line a cookie sheet with parchment paper. Prepare a rolling area with two additional sheets of parchment paper for that, and have your cookie cutter handy {I used a 2½" round cutter here}. Set aside.
- Place all filling ingredients in a food processor and process until combined {I just added everything to my magic bullet after grinding the seeds down and processed it in there}. Set aside.
- To make the cookie base, place rice flour, maple syrup, vanilla, almond extract, salt and 5 tbsp sunflower seed butter into a food processor and process to combine. Add in another 5 tbsp sunflower seed butter and process again. Then add the remaining 3 tbsp and process (this helps the sun butter blend into the dough better than processing all at once). Add ⅓ cup water and process again. At this point you should have a very sticky, stretchy, pliable mixture, but one that can be lumped into a ball. If it seems a little dry still, add a bit more water and process again (I only used ⅓ cup of water with the sun butter for this recipe, but found other nut-butters required a slightly greater amount of water).
- Wet your hands a little and lump ½ of the dough into a ball, kneading it lightly. Flatten into a disk and place on a piece of parchment paper (if at this point the ball is cracked all around the edges, you'll need to return it to the processor and add a bit more water and process again -- that's an indication the mixture is too dry. A bit of cracking is normal though). Cover with a second sheet of parchment paper and roll out into an ⅛" thickness. Cut out circles using a round cookie cutter (or a glass rim).
- Transfer the cookies onto the prepared cookie sheet. Place about 1 tsp of the filling in the center of each circle. Then lift two edges of the circle up over the filling and pinch to seal a "corner", then life the remaining side of the circle and pinch to seal the other 2 corners. Make sure you seal those corners well, as otherwise the cookies will open up as they bake. Touch up any cracks at this stage.
- Repeat step 3 & 4 with the other half of the dough.
- Bake in a pre-heated oven for 13-15 mins (the longer they bake the crunchier they'll be). Cool on a rack completely and enjoy!