VeganMoFo: Mom's Hamantaschen

Yum yum yummmmm!

Recipe: Hamantaschen
Family Member: Mom

Brief Description: Probably one of my all time favorite cookies, my mom’s Hamantaschen are not overly-sweet. Hamantaschen are a traditional Jewish dessert made for Purim. I’d imagine that the sugar cookie-like pocket containing fruit filling would very much appeal to pro-pie folks. Make a big batch and share them with friends!

Original Ingredients:
1 cup butter, softened
2 cups granulated sugar
1 tsp vanilla extract
3 eggs
4 cups flour
½ tsp salt
Fruit filling (my mom always used Baker Fine Dessert Filling in poppy, apricot, prune, almond, and cherry)

Original Directions:
1. Beat butter, sugar, vanilla, and eggs in a large mixing bowl. Add flour and salt. Mix well until a stiff dough has formed.
2. Roll flat and use a round cookie-cutter to cut circles. Fill the center with fruit filling. (Not too much!) Pinch corners to achieve a triangle shape.
3. Place on a greased cookie sheet and bake at 350* for 20 minutes.

Vegan Notes: I used 4 1/2 tsp EnerG Egg Replacer and 6 tbsp warm water for the eggs and Earth Balance for the butter.

Other Notes: I don't have a round cookie cutter, so I used the rim of a large glass, dipped in flour. Make sure you're working on a well-floured surface with a well-floured rolling pin. The consistency of my dough wasn't wet enough, so I added a splash of water. Make sure you fill and form the cookies quickly, or else the dough will dry out and it will be more difficult to get them in the right shape. You also want to make sure to pinch the corners really well so that the fruit filling doesn't ooze out during baking. Also, I couldn't find the fruit filling that my mom uses, so I used some apricot preserves and some cranberry/apple butter. Both came out deliciously! I baked my cookies about 25 minutes. It all depends on what kind of cookie sheet you use. Mine is lighter in color, so it takes longer for things to bake. I got over two dozen cookies out of my batch.

Pre-shaping

Pre-baking

Pre-eating