These gluten free hamantaschen cookies are traditionally served during the holiday of Purim. This version are tender shortbread cookies made with a really good quality gluten free flour blend and simply filled with sweet fruit jam.
A Little about Purim and Hamantaschen
Purim is upon us! The festival of fun and laughter, games and noise. I remember celebrating Purim when I was little in Jewish school. Now I like to create fun twists on the cookies, such as with my savory hamantaschen bar! How fun does that sound?
Hamantaschen is broken up into "Haman" which was the "Bad-guy" of the story of Purim and "taschen" meaning pockets. The story I remember when I was little was that the shape of the Hamantaschen cookie is a triangle shape because that was the shape of Haman's hat. We would make the cookies and eat them, rejoicing and in a sense, praising the destruction of the villain.
How to Make Hamantaschen
This recipe uses a good quality gluten free flour. I used Bob's Red Mill All Purpose Gluten Free Flour with great success.
1) In a large stand mixer (or hand mixer), cream the butter until light and soft. Add sugar and mix together.
2) Add 1 egg, vanilla and orange zest and mix well.
3) In another bowl, sift together the gluten free flour and salt.
4) In about two batches and with the mixer on low speed, slowly add the flour mixture. Mix until just combined and use a spatula to scoop down the sides making sure everything is incorporated well.
5) Once mixed, take dough out and knead onto a lightly floured surface until a smooth ball forms. Form the dough into a round, flat disk and wrap in plastic wrap.
Place in refrigerator for about 2 hours or in freezer for about 1 hour.
6) Remove dough from freezer or refrigerator and flour surface very well. Using a good, heavy rolling pin, begin to roll out the dough. The dough will feel hard so just get going with it. I let it rest on the counter for about 20 minutes in between pounding and then it begins to create more flexibility to roll out.
7) Roll out to about ¼ thick.
8) Use a 3-inch round cookie cutter to cut out circles (or a drinking glass may work well too).
Don't discard scraps, knead and roll out again and cut more circles.
9) Take one circle and place a teaspoon of filling in the center.
10) Take one side of circle and fold in.
11) Take other side and fold in, bringing the top corners together.
12) Now here's the tricky part. Take the bottom part and fold up while making it overlap the 2-sides (if that makes sense? So essentially, you want the left side-corner to be OVER the bottom flap and the right-side corner under the flap.
13) Secure and pinch the corners and place them on a greased baking sheet (or parchment paper, if using). Brush with egg wash.
14) Bake at 350 degrees Fahrenheit for about 20 minutes, rotating halfway through.
Let cool on baking sheet for about 5 minutes before transferring to a cooling rack.
Gluten Free Hamantaschen for Purim
LittleFerraroKitchen.com
Equipment
Ingredients
- 12 tablespoons unsalted butter softened
- ⅔ cups sugar
- 2 eggs (1 for dough, another for egg wash)
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- 1 teaspoon fresh orange zest or lemon zest
- ¼ teaspoon Kosher salt
- 2 ¼ cups gluten-free flour I used Red Mills All Purpose Gluten Free Flour
Various fillings: (Make sure GF if using)
- ¾ cup fruit jam
Instructions
- In a large stand mixer (or hand mixer), cream the butter until light and soft. Add sugar and cream together.
- Add 1 egg, vanilla and orange zest and mix well.
- In another bowl, sift together the flour and salt.
- In about 2 batches and with the mixer on low speed, slowly add the flour mixture. Mix until just combined and use a spatula to scrape down the sides making sure everything is incorporated well.
- Once mixed, take dough out and knead on a lightly floured surface until a smooth ball forms. Form the dough into a round, flat disk and wrap in plastic wrap and place in refrigerator for about 2 hours or in freezer for about 1 hour.
- Remove dough from freezer or refrigerator and flour surface very well. Begin to roll out the dough and if the dough is too hard to roll, let it rest on the counter for about 20 minutes and pounding with a rolling pin if needed. This will help the dough create flexibility to roll out.
- Roll out dough to about ¼ thick and use a 3 inch round cookie cutter to cut out circles, or a drinking glass may work well too. Don't discard scraps, knead and roll out again to cut more circles.
- Take one circle and place a teaspoon of filling in the center. Take one side of circle and fold in. Take other side and fold in, bringing the top corners together.
- Now here's the tricky part. Take the bottom part and fold up while making it overlap the 2-sides. So essentially, you want the left side-corner to be OVER the bottom flap and the right-side corner under the flap. Overlapping, creating a secure triangle.
- Pinch the corners and place the hamantaschen on a parchment lined baking sheet. Whisk the other egg with a bit of water and brush egg wash onto hamantaschen cookies.
- Bake cookies at 350 degrees Fahrenheit for about 20-25 minutes, rotating the pan halfway through.
- Let cool on baking sheet for about 5 minutes before transferring to a cooling rack and serving.
Notes
Nutrition
This post was originally published March, 2012 and updated March 2022 with nutritional information and clearer instructions.
Seven says
Great recipe! I almost never comment on recipes, but I wanted to let you know. I was looking for a gf recipe bc a family member recently went gf. Yours was the most similar to my old (and, yes KOSHER!!) family recipe, butter and all. (The dairy doesn't bother us since we're vegertarian, and my kitchen is dairy only anyway.) The dough was a little tricky to handle (only a little trickier than my regular), but they came out great. I filled them with (our family tradition) prune butter (steamed prunes, ground in a food processor with lots of cinnamon & cloves, plus a little of the steaming water) and apricot butter (same, but nutmeg instead of cloves). The thicker filling doesn't leak, even if the hamantaschen seal doesn't hold. Thanks!
Samantha Ferraro says
Fantastic Seven. Thank you so much for the feedback. Samantha.
Seven says
I also have to say that the comments that say "This recipe isn't kosher" were unnecessary! It is my opinion that, especially in the world today, there is NO such thing as a recipe that is inherently non-kosher. You can buy kosher "bacon", pareve "chicken", non-dairy "cheese", etc. If you change a recipe before preparing it, nobody is going to send the recipe police to your home to arrest you! I am willing to test this by admitting here that I made slight changes to the recipe to make it work for me. And is it even vaguely possible that ANYONE who keeps a kosher kitchen with separate meat and dairy doesn't know that there's a new (only about 100 yr. old) invention called margarine that can be used to replace butter? Insulting, name calling, and accusing are unnecessary. In fact, they are part of "sinat chinam" (baseless hatred) which we are told was the reason for the destruction of the Second Temple. In fact, we are required to "ladun l'kaf zchut" (give the benefit of the doubt, literally "judge from the perspective of innocence"). I assume the negative comments were written quickly before the comment writers had a chance to thoroughly consider their choice of words.
Samantha Ferraro says
Well said, we couldn't agree more. Some people are only fulfilled if they are objective. Thanks Seven. Samantha
hilary says
I love your recipe and have used it for years now 🙂 Use Cup4Cup and never have any issues with the dough (though it is hard at first it is workable after its out on the counter and really easy to re-roll.
Samantha Ferraro says
Hilary, So glad you make this recipe a part of your celebration. Samantha.