Nosh, nosh a hamantasch

BS"D

Yes, it's that time of year again. Another holiday with a specific, gluten and egg based food of which my girlies cannot partake. Or can they?

I searched my cookbooks and on various gluten free blogs for a gluten free and egg less version of the traditional triangular shaped cookies eaten on Purim. They are named "hamantaschen" after Haman, the villain of the Purim story, and are said to resemble a three cornered hat he wore. After no luck locating an appropriate recipe, I emailed the good people at Better Batter, as they have a lot of ethnic and vegan recipes, to see if they had any suggestions. Their staff said I could just substitute their product for wheat flour in any recipe. My search continued. Lillie wanted me to make separate gluten free hamantaschen with eggs for her and egg less, wheat flour hamantaschen for Rosie. I told her I didn't have time to do two separate batches, while I munched on a store bought, egg full, wheat hamantaschen.

Then, my answer came in a manila envelope sitting most unexpectedly in my mailbox. I love getting large manila envelopes in the mail, as they usually contain something good. This was padded---even better. I looked at the senders name and address, and was puzzled as it was from my friend Shuli's mother. I had no idea why she would be sending me something. It was actually from Shuli's sister, visiting from out of town, who is the mother of a severely food allergic child. Her son is now outgrowing many of his allergies, and she was kind enough to pass on to me her copy of Simply Tempting: The Allergy Friendly Kosher Cookbook, by Blimie Frank and Beverly Israel. The cookbook actually claims to contain recipes which are egg, milk, nut, sesame and pea free. However, there are many Passover recipes which use potato starch, and thus are also gluten free. Included are egg less and wheat less cakes and kugels. Such recipes I have been wanting desperately! As I flipped through the book, I was pleased to see an egg less hamantaschen recipe. It calls for wheat flour, but following Better Batter's advice, I decided to go ahead and substitute gluten free flour. So enjoy, and nosh, nosh an egg free, dairy free and wheat free hamantasch!



This recipe is very large, but it can easily be halved. If dough seems too soft to work with, chill for 30-60 minutes before rolling out. I recently read that 2 Tablespoons to 1/4 cup gluten free flour should be added when substituting for wheat flour, as the gluten free flour doesn't absorb liquids as well. If this particular dough seems too liquidy, begin adding additional gluten free flour 2 Tablespoons at a time, until it achieves a firmer, but not stiff consistency.

Purim Hamantaschen
from Simply Tempting, second edition, page 106

6 cups gluten free flour blend (I use Better Batter)
1 cup sugar
4 teaspoons baking powder
4 sticks margarine
2 teaspoons vanilla sugar (or pure vanilla extract)
1 1/3 cup (plain) seltzer
desired filling (jam, prune lekvar, chocolate spread, poppy seed filling)

Preheat oven to 300F degrees.

Combine all ingredients. Knead into a soft dough.

Roll out onto a floured surface (roll between two pieces of waxed paper, or silicone mat with waxed paper on top, so dough doesn't stick to rolling pin or rolling surface). Cut into circles (use a glass or biscuit cutter). Fill with 1 teaspoon of desired filling (do not overfill, as the filling will spill over when baking). Fold all three sides together (to resemble a tri-cornered hat), and pinch closed as much as possible.

Bake 20-30 minutes (gluten free dough sometimes requires extra baking time ...an additional 10 minutes may be needed). Do not over bake; dough should not turn brown.

Cool on wire racks.

Store in airtight containers, or freeze in zip top plastic bags.

See Cookie Baking Tips.