Easy, paleo hamantaschen cookies are perfect for a fun and healthy Feast of Purim celebration! With only a few, grain-free ingredients, filled with jam, and sweetened with honey, they’re a treat that’s sure to become a favorite. Though you definitely don’t have to be celebrating Purim to enjoy them….
A Purim Favorite.
At the end of every winter, there’s one feast my kids always look forward to: the Feast of Purim. Even if you’ve never heard of it, chances are you’ve heard of Queen Esther, the beautiful Jewish girl chosen to be the queen of the Persian empire after a beauty contest.
As the Bible tells the story in the Book of Esther, the Persian king’s right-hand-man, Haman, hated the Jews and tried to have them annihilated. (Side note: is it just me, or is some nation or another always trying to annihilate the Jews?). The new young queen Esther risked her life to plead for her peoples’ safety. The king listened and allowed the Jews to fight against Haman and his followers. The Jews were able to defeat their enemies and Queen Esther has been heralded as a savior of the Jewish people ever since.
To celebrate their victory, the Jews hold a feast every year – the Feast of Purim. The name comes from the word ‘pur’ which means to cast lots or dice. Purim is a time to celebrate and thank God for His protection over His chosen people throughout the years. It typically comes with a reading of the Book of Esther, in which kids and adults alike dress up like their favorite characters from the story and boo every time the villain’s name is mentioned. It also includes lots of yummy food, most notably hamantaschen cookies.
Haman-what?
If you’ve never heard of hamantaschen before, you’re not alone, don’t worry. These tasty cookies aren’t super famous outside of the Jewish community. And even though I’m not Jewish, my family has been celebrating the Feast of Purim for a few years now, and these little cookies have become a favorite! They’re called hamantaschen after their triangular shape, which is supposedly the same shape as Haman’s hat.
Was his hat really triangular? Nobody really knows. And I don’t think anybody really cares. ‘Cause these cookies are fun enough to cover over a crazy-shaped hat mis-story. Filled with jam and made from a tasty grain-free almond dough, everyone is willing to eat something named after a villain.
Easy paleo Hamantaschen cookies.
This easy version has come after a few years of practice. I say a few years, because even though I make them yearly, I really only make them once a year. For Purim. Though they’re definitely tasty enough to enjoy year-round. And I say practice because, well, it takes a while to get the right consistency in a grain-free dough that allows you to fold up the sides and bake without the dough falling to bits and jam oozing out everywhere.
If you’re a long-time reader of this blog, you might remember a cinnamon apricot hamantaschen version I had up for a few years. That recipe was just so much work to get right I figured it was time to make it easier and more fool-proof. Sooo… here you go.
A few notes on the ingredients.
There are a few subs you can use when making these paleo hamantaschen cookies. First off, you can leave out the arrowroot powder, if you really need to. I wouldn’t suggest it though, unless you have to because you’re doing the GAPS Diet or something. It really does help the consistency of the dough.
You can also leave out the egg. But again please don’t unless you have to. The egg really does help with the pliability of the dough.
Lastly you can use maple syrup if you don’t want to use honey.
And lastly, lastly, you can really use any jam you want to in these cookies. I like to use my mixed berry chia jam, or a variation of it with whatever fruit I have on hand. I’ve included a simple recipe below.
MORE PALEO COOKIES.
- Molasses-Free Gingerbread Cutout Cookies
- Dark Chocolate Banana Coconut Cookies
- Spiced Sweet Potato Cookies
- Chocolate Walnut Coconut No-Bake Cookies
- Chewy Peanut Butter Coconut Cookies
In the recipe card I’ve linked to some of the products from my affiliate partners that I like to use. Purchasing through these links won’t cost you anything extra. Thanks!
Easy Paleo Hamantaschen Cookies
Free from grain, gluten, eggs, dairy, and refined sugar.
Ingredients
For the cookie dough:
- 1 cup almond flour
- 1 tablespoon arrowroot powder (you can leave this out for the GAPS Diet)
- 1 tablespoon honey
- 2 tablespoons avocado oil
- 1 egg
- 1/4 teaspoon Himalayan salt
For the filling:
- 1/2 cup fruit & chia filling (recipe below), or any no-sugar added jam
Instructions
In a medium-sized bowl, combine all cookie ingredients until they come together into a soft ball. Cover with plastic wrap and refrigerate for 1/2 hour.
Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
Lay a large piece of plastic wrap over your table or countertop and place the chilled dough on the wrap. Cover with another piece of plastic wrap and roll out until the dough is about 1/4 inch thick (you can go a little thinner, if you want).
Remove the plastic wrap and cut the dough into circles using a 4-inch cookie cutter.
Carefully transfer the circles to an ungreased cookie sheet.
In the center of each circle, place 1-2 teaspoons of jam.
Using a small pancake turner or your fingers, carefully lift up two adjacent sides of the circle and pinch them together to make a corner. Repeat the process with the remaining side and pinch then next two corners together to make a triangle. Press the corners firmly, but gently, so that they won’t separate when baking.
Repeat this process with all the circles.
Bake for 8 minutes, or until the cookies are starting to turn golden-brown on the edges.
Cool for a few minutes before eating.
Notes
Recipe can be easily doubled.
Fruit & Chia Filling
Free from grain, gluten, eggs, dairy, and sugar.
Ingredients
1 cup chopped fruit of choice, frozen or fresh (I used some frozen mango and papaya for this recipe)
2 teaspoons chia seeds
Instructions
In small saucepan, bring fruit to simmer. Let it simmer, uncovered, until fruit is easily smashed (about 10 minutes, depending on the fruit).
Turn off heat and stir in chia seeds.
Cool, then store in covered jar in the fridge or use for your paleo hamantaschen cookies.
How many hamantaschen does this make
About 12.
I made these Hamantaschen 3 times already! So impressed! They came out delicious!
Yay! I’m so glad you’re enjoying them!
Any other recommendations for the fruit? Have you tried raspberry or blueberry? If so, please advise
You can basically use any jam or fruit preserves you like in the filling. 🙂 I usually use apricot or strawberry, but we’ve done peach before, too. Basically whatever’s on hand. 🙂 You don’t need to go out and spend extra money on a specific flavor, unless that’s what you want to do. 🙂
I was looking for a keto hamantaschen recipe and couldn’t find one i liked so I used this recipe to make my hamantaschen dough but i changed a couple of things: i used xanthane gum instead of arrowroot, keto honey (so not the real thing). i didn’t have avocado oil and Himalayan salt so i used coconut oil and regular sea salt instead. The dough came out great, i thought it would fall apart but it held really well and was crunchy too. I used a different filling.
Glad you enjoyed them!
I tried making these twice being careful to follow the directions to a “t” and both times it came out super squishy and sticky. There would have been no way I could have formed these into a triangle. I had to add extra almond flour to get it to form into a soft dough.
Other than this, the cookies turned out great and everyone loved them!
Sorry you had trouble with the dough, Kayla! I’m glad you were able to enjoy them anyway. 🙂
I’m allergic to avocados – what oil would you recommend I use instead? Coconut oil?
Yes, that should work. 🙂