Chag Purim Sameach! Or Happy Purim, Y’all! I’m not Jewish, but I like holidays. And this one strikes a particular chord because it’s the story of Esther- the “foreign” queen who saves her people from genocide. Yaaaas, queen! On a side note, can we please have more celebrations of women who do awesome things?
In honor of this day, I made some hamantaschen. What is that, you ask? They are cookies that symbolize the holiday’s origins. You see, Haman was the evil dude who wanted to get rid of the Jews. So he bribed King Xerxes, but Esther helped to save her people, and Haman was executed.
Some say that hamantaschen are supposed to be “Haman’s Pockets” as in the money that he bribed King Xerxes with; others say it’s “Haman’s Ears” as in the cutting off of criminals ears which happened to Haman, as well as being executed (?). I didn’t do a thorough fact check on this, so forgive me if that’s incorrect.
Now, I am on a very particular diet, which is grain free, gluten free, sugar free, caffeine free, alcohol free, gmo free, cage free, organic, grass fed, wild caught, fair trade, and a lot of other hippy dippy stuff that limits what I can eat. So I’ve had to look up ingredients from every where and modify my own hamantaschen recipe.
ANYWAY. COOKIES. YOU WANT THESE COOKIES. Here’s what you’ll need:
1 & 1/2 cups of almond flour
2 tablespoons of xylitol (can be found at whole foods/natural grocers/wheatsville)
1/2 teaspoon of salt
2 tablespoons softened butter
1 tablespoon coconut oil
2 tablespoons milk
1 tablespoon almond extract (or vanilla, I prefer almond)
Circular cookie cutters
Jams that you like (with no sugar added)
Parchment paper
Baking Sheet
Time
Step 1: Mix your dry items together in a bowl. On a slow speed (if you’re using a mixer), mix in your wet ingredients. This is the order I mixed it in: started with butter, then milk, then extract, and lastly coconut oil. The consistency may seem crumbly at first, but if you mash your finger into it, and it seems soft and doughy, then it’s good for the next step.
Step 2: Get two pieces of parchment paper and roll out your dough between them. You can make them as thick or thin as you want, but thinner dough is a little bit more difficult to shape them and cut without it crumbling apart (because almond flour is not as sturdy as regular). Then refrigerate until your dough is firm (30 min-1 hr).
Step 3: Once your dough is firm, using circular cookie cutters, cut out your dough. My first attempt, I rolled it too thin in spots, and the dough would crumble.
Step 4: Set your oven to bake on 350 degrees, and add your jam!!! Now, I’m not going to tell you how much or how little to put in your hamantaschen… that choice is yours. You might want to test. I put in one spoon for the smaller ones, and two spoons for the bigger ones. The choice is yours. Oh, also, you might want to do a test run of folding them before you put all your jam in them… because I ended up getting jam all over my arms, but eventually found a way of folding the dough into triangles that worked for me.
Step 5: Bake for about 8 minutes, let them cool off for about 5 minutes, and then eat and enjoy!!!
