In Israel there is something called Halva cream, which is basically a spreadable form of the halva dessert common here, it is sweet, creamy and delicious. I particularly love it when it is oozing out of a chocolate rugelach, the combination is amazing.
For these hamantashen I used my own healthier version of halva spread, feel free to sprinkle in some chocolate chips. I also made my dough with coconut oil and spelt flour and while it was a little more difficult to work with, the results were some of the best hamantashen I ever had.
If you’re looking for more traditional hamantaschen dough and/or other fillings check out our Top 10 Hamantaschen Recipes.
Spelt Hamantashen with Halva Filling
Servings
24 Servings
Ingredients
- 1 cup coconut oil
- 1 cup sugar
- 2 teaspoons orange juice
- 2 eggs
- 3 cups spelt flour plus more for rolling
- 2½ teaspoons baking powder
- 1 teaspoon orange zest optional
- ½ cup halva spread or chocolate halva
Instructions
- 1 Mix coconut oil, sugar and orange juice in a large bowl until well blended. Add eggs and mix again.
- 2 Add flour, baking powder and orange zest and mix until dough forms, adding more flour if needed.
- 3 On a well floured surface, roll out dough and cut out circles. Fill with halva spread or chocolate halva* or your preferred filling. Place on a baking sheet lined with parchment paper. Bake at 400 for 12 minutes.
- Halva spread is a mix of tahini with date honey, you can make a chocolate halva filling by combining tahini 1:1 with melted chocolate (I usually place tahini with chocolate pieces in the microwave just until melted and mix well)
These came out horrible. The dough totally went flat in the oven after I shaped them into beautiful hamentaschen. SO sad.
So sorry to hear that, I made the same recipe this year as I do every year and they worked great. I wonder what happened. Maybe the oven wasn’t preheated enough. Or the dough got too warm. I have tried chilling the dough but haven’t found it makes a huge difference so didn’t put that in the instructions.
You can use butter or vegan butter or any oil if you prefer just not to use coconut oil. I think coconut sugar would work well, not sure about any other sweetener. The orange juice adds a bit of liquid and also flavor, you can use lemon juice or vanilla extract.
A few questions
1. Is there anything I can replace the oil with?
2. Can I use coconut sugar or other sweetener?
3. What is the purpose of the orange juice?
Thanks