Growing up in a family of bakers meant there were always lots of yummy treats and desserts to be eaten and being Jewish meant there were some that only came out certain times of year. With Purim right around the corner hamantaschen are the staple dessert to be shared. Now you might not know what they are but probably have seen them close to St Patrick’s Day in the grocery store- triangle shaped cookies with jam filled centers.

Hamantaschen represent the three sided hat Haman, the villain, in the story of Purim wore. We eat these cookies to show how Queen Ester defeated him and saved the Jewish people. Not only do we have these delicious treats to share, we dress up and make lots of noise to celebrate this victory! It’s like Mardi Gras and Halloween wrapped all up in one holiday.

Traditional Hamantashen are laden with butter, eggs and flour. Which may taste amazing for most but not worth eating with food allergies and intolerances which is why this recipe is so special. All the yumminess without the allergens!

I found a great recipe to start with from Kali Foxman at JewishBoston and tweaked it a bit further to make it vegan and top 8 allergen free. This is also the first time I am using a vegan cream cheese! It’s from Daiya and after many recommendations that’s it a great substitution for the real thing. I also subbed the eggs for a flax egg and added apple cider vinegar instead of orange zest.

My dough looked good but because of timing I refrigerated it for almost 6 hours. Think with my flour mix and wet ingredients it became too dry and brittle so it didn’t take well to being formed.

I will definitely try this recipe again and tweak it some more. Stay tuned for round two!