Tender almond flour pastry filled with a sweet poppy seed filling. The traditional Jewish cookie gets a low carb, grain-free makeover.
No, no, I haven’t suddenly converted to Judaism. This recipe is by special request from my friends at A Sweet Life Diabetes Magazine. They are, in fact, Jewish, and wanted a healthy, low carb version of the traditional Purim cookie. I was more than happy to oblige, given that I’ve seen several yummy looking hamantaschen recipes on a number of recipe blogs.
You have to hand it to Jewish bakers, they know great pastry. I am not being flip when I say that. In my experience, some of the tastiest baked goods come out of Jewish bakeries. Rugelach, babka, and challah, to name a few.
And hamantaschen, little triangular cookies filled with any number of possible fillings. Not that I can eat any of these things now without giving them a major overhaul. Maybe rugelach should be next on my list.
I was intrigued by the idea of making the traditional sweet poppyseed filling. I haven’t had too may poppy seed sweets in my day but when I have, I’ve always quite liked them. But if you aren’t a poppyseed fan or you’d prefer to have fruit-filled pastries, try using my low carb raspberry chia seed jam instead. Either way, the results will be delicious.
Poppy Seed Hamantaschen
Ingredients
Filling
- 6 tbsp poppy seeds
- 2 tbsp chia seeds
- 1/2 cup unsweetened almond milk or cashew milk
- 3 tbsp powdered Swerve Sweetener
- 1 tsp orange zest
Pastry
- 2 cups finely ground almond flour
- 1/4 cup Swerve Sweetener
- 1/4 tsp salt
- 1 tsp lemon zest
- 1 large egg
- 2 1/2 TBSP butter, melted
- 1/8 tsp stevia extract
Instructions
- For the filling, grind poppy seeds and chia seeds in a food processor or coffee grinder until they resemble flax seed meal.
- Combine ground seeds, nut milk and sweetener in a small pan over medium low heat. Stir and let come to a simmer. Cook until milk is absorbed and mixture has thickened. Set aside.
- For the pastry, preheat the oven to 325F and line a large baking sheet with parchment or a silicone liner.
- Combine almond flour, sweetener, salt and lemon zest in a medium bowl. Add egg, melted butter and stevia extract and stir until dough comes together.
- Turn out dough onto a large piece of parchment paper and top with another large piece of parchment. Roll out to 1/8 inch thick. Using a 3 inch round cookie cutter, cut as many circles as possible. Gently loosen circles from parchment with a sharp knife or an offset spatula and transfer to prepared baking sheet. Cover with plastic wrap while you continue, so pastry does not dry out.
- Reroll dough and cut out more circles (you should get about 18). Spoon abut 3/4 of a teaspoon of the filling into the center of each circle and then gently fold in 3 sides to form a triangle, pinching the corners together.
- Bake 12 to 15 minutes, until edges are just golden brown. Remove and let cool.
Notes
Nutrition
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I need to know how to store these please. I put them in a sealed glass container on the countertop and the next morning they were soft and doughy instead of crunchy like the day before. Thanks
Made these for Purim and I am very happy with them! I used the raspberry chia seed jam – first time making that too, very good and very easy! The cookie held its shape well and the lemon zest is a perfect flavor. Thanks Carolyn! Hoping for that rugalach makeover, it’s my husband’s favorite.
Thank you so very much!!! I’m going to be at a zoom baking hamentaschen session on Tuesday, with synagogue women’s group. . I was just going to make some for hubby
But it’s so exciting to make some that I can eat! I looked at the recipe, and they said that we can use your recipe for cheesy raspberry jam. So I plan to use Chia seeds strawberry jam, because I love strawberries more.
Thank you ever so much! Love you to pieces!
I saw that the Swerve or, equivalent of choice, does not list a type. Should it be granulated or powdered?
It’s always granulated if it doesn’t specify. Think about it like this: you say “sugar” and it’s granular. You say “powdered sugar” if you mean the kind meant for frostings. 🙂
I saw the recipe makes about 18 cookies but how many are considered a serving? Thanks in advance!
That’s the breakdown for each individual cookie. So 1 cookie is technically a serving, although you could probably have two if you felt like it fit your diet.
I am craving challah. I hope you develop a recipe for it!
Can I have the recipe I don’t see one here. Thank you
Please click the link that says “Please see my…”
I just searched for Rugelach here on your site hoping you might have posted a version before I became a devoted reader… So glad to see you’re considering a low carb makeover! I’ve had a wonderful recipe for over 40 years from a neighbor’s cousin, but it doesn’t exactly fit our current lifestyle…. I’ll make some to share since it’s Christmas, but am anxiously awaiting the Carolyn touch!
Thanks for all you do, and have a wonderful Christmas with your family!
Tory
You too, Tory. I actually tried rugelach but wasn’t satisfied with how they turned out. I need to try again.
I have great faith in you Carolyn! You help keep us all on the straight and narrow.. In the meantimeI I’ll give the Hammantaschen a try! Thanks!
What a yummy cookie – I really appreciate how light they are. The dough was easy to work with. A quick question – there’s no mention of the orange zest in the instructions although it’s listed as an ingredient for the filling.
I’m gonna plotz!!!! And I’m not even Jewish!
I second the rugelach proposal.
Thanks Carolyn
so excited about this recipe! My Austrian grandmother made cookies like this at Christmas except, of course, with sugar, traditional flours AND raspberry or apricot fillings. I have not made them in years because it was so high carb. Now I can make these and feel the connection with grandma .. and hubby can have his fave cookies again.
If you can come up with a low-carb[less] rugelach I will praise your name from the mountaintops!!!!!!
Ready, set, go! 😀
I adore rugelach. I have to try it!
From the moment I had my first bite of hamantaschen, I was hooked. That was about 45 years ago when I first moved to the lower east side of Manhattan. Although, I indulged occasionally while in NY, it has now been over 20 years (except in my dreams).
I look forward to baking up some of these angels. Thanks.
Hope they live up to your old memories of the ones in Manhattan!