It’s that time of year, friends! Purim is just a week away, and these vegan & gluten-free hamantaschen are the perfect little something to bake for the holiday, or just for fun!
We’ve got a classic apricot jelly filled cookie, and a fun spin with chocolate & peanut butter. There are endless possibilities for how you can fill these, and I can’t wait for you guys to make them.
This is my first year testing a homemade hamantaschen recipe, and I’m so happy with how it turned out. Since I personally have no allergies to gluten or dairy, I love enjoying the traditional cookies every year during this holiday.
I know that’s not the case for many of my followers, so I wanted to create a recipe that’s both vegan and gluten-free for everyone to enjoy.
The dough is made with only 9 ingredients, and takes about 5 minutes to prep. The hard part is waiting for the dough to chill, but the good news is that it can be made overnight so it’s ready to work with in the morning!
There are so many ways to fill your cookies, you can really get creative with them. I listed some of my favorite ones below.
Filling options for your gluten-free Hamantaschen
Classic Jelly
I love a classic apricot filled hamantaschen. You can use any jam you enjoy most, but I love to get one that’s naturally fruit-sweetened
Chocolate Peanut Butter
For this version, I shaped my cookies into a triangle, filled them with vegan chocolate chips, baked them, and then drizzled them with a simple peanut butter chocolate sauce made with melted chocolate chips and peanut butter.
Funfetti
I know this flavor isn’t traditional, but it’s definitely a fun flavor to make! For a funfetti hamantaschen, mix your dough with rainbow sprinkles while rolling it out. Form your triangles and leave them empty. Freeze them for 20 minutes, and then bake them as instructed. Once they’re baked and cooled, fill them with your favorite vanilla icing. I love using this dairy-free one!
Nutella
For a nutella version, fill the center of your cut out dough with 1 tsp of your favorite nutella (like this vegan one), fold it up into a triangle, and bake as instructed.
Tips for the best hamantaschen
- Don’t overfill your cookies! I suggest filling with no more than 1 tsp of jam or other topping
- Let the dough chill for at least 1 hour, but the longer the better
- Work with half the batch at a time so that the dough doesn’t soften
- Make sure to pinch the corners tight so that they don’t open
- Optional but suggested if you have some extra time: stick the shaped and filled hamantaschens in the freezer while your oven preheats, and bake them straight from the freezer. This will help them hold their shape
Be sure to read through all of the notes and steps before making your cookies. I tried to be as detailed as possible to help any first timers, but you can always leave a comment below, or message me on Instagram, if you have any questions!
Other gluten-free cookie recipes you may like:
Banana Oatmeal Breakfast Cookies
Gluten-free Oatmeal Raisin Cookies
Almond Flour Chocolate Chip Cookies
Gluten-free Hamantaschen
Ingredients
- 2 cups fine almond flour
- 1 cup tapioca flour
- 1/3 cup light brown sugar. You can also use coconut sugar, just note the color of the cookies will be darker
- 1/4 cup cold vegan or dairy butter, cubed- mine was salted
- 1/4 cup almond milk, or other plant-based milk
- 1 tsp vanilla extract
- 1 tsp orange zest
- 1/2 tsp baking powder
- 1/4 tsp salt
Filling
- Fruit jam, I used apricot
- Dairy-free chocolate chips
Toppings
- Powdered sugar, to top
- Chocolate peanut butter drizzle: melt 2 tbsp of chocolate chips with 1 tbsp of peanut butter
Directions
- PREP YOUR DOUGH: In a medium sized bowl, mix together the sugar, milk, vanilla, butter and orange zest. It’s fine if the butter is still a little clumpy.
- Add in your almond flour, tapioca flour, baking powder, and salt. Begin mixing together with your hand to break up the butter and incorporate it into the dry ingredients to create a dough. Make sure to scrape the sides of the bowl to get all of the flour off.
- CHILL YOUR DOUGH: Once the dough is formed, remove it from the bowl and cover it in plastic wrap. Refrigerate for at least 1 hour.
- After one hour, preheat your oven to 350 F.
- PREP YOUR COOKIES: Remove half of the dough and leave the other half in the fridge while you work with the first batch. On a lightly floured or greased surface (I like to sprinkle more tapioca flour), roll the dough out so that its about a 1/4″ thick. The dough is easier to remove if its thick, so you can always roll it out thicker, then flatten it with your fingers once you transfer it to the baking sheet.
- Using the top of a glass or cookie cutter that’s about 3″, cut out rounds and place them onto a baking sheet lined with parchment paper. Continue rolling and cutting out the dough until all rounds are on the baking sheet. Each batch of dough should make 6-7 rounds.
- FILL YOUR COOKIES Jam: if you’re filling your cookies with jam, place about 1/2- 1 tsp worth in the center of the dough. Bring up the three corners of the circle and pinch them in to form a triangle- I lightly wet my hands when folding up the dough Chocolate: pinch up the corners of the dough to create a triangle, and fill each center with 1 tsp of dairy-free chocolate chips
- BAKE YOUR COOKIES: Bake your cookies for 12-15 minutes, until they start to brown on the edges. Remove from oven and let them cool for 10 minutes. While the first batch bakes, repeat steps 5-7 with the remaining dough.
- After they’re cooled, drizzle the chocolate ones with the peanut butter chocolate mixture, and top both versions with powdered sugar.
- Keep them stored in a ziplock bag in a cool place for up to 1 week, or freeze for up to 2 months. I prefer them kept in the fridge or freezer.
Oh my goodness, I’m shocked how absolutely delicious these are! These are definitely better than the old bakery ones that I used to eat before I became a GF vegan.
I read all of the comments first so that I would end up with the best possible results. I followed the directions exactly.
My best looking ones were on the larger side. The sides pinched perfectly and they didn’t crumble at all. I made the opening much smaller than your photos because that’s how I remember the ones from bakeries looking. The big ones took an extra 2 minutes to bake, but they tasted perfect. I used fresh orange zest and I really think that the touch of orange was a game changer in making the flavor pop.
Thank you for creating this recipe!!
Yes you can refrigerate it overnight! I haven’t tested any nut free flour options for this recipe so I can’t say if it would work well unfortunately.
This is my 4th year in a row making this recipe and they always come out so perfect! I’ve used regular white sugar and it works just as well. They taste delicious, need a little bit of patience to shape perfectly but they come out great. Thank you so much for this awesome recipe so I can share in the holiday fun.
I’m so happy to hear that! Happy purim 🤍
Hi Emily, I personally haven’t tried this with ghee but I think it can work. You can add a small pinch of salt to the dough