I can’t believe it took me this long to come up with this hamantaschen flavor! I love pumpkin and I love chai, but I guess since this isn’t pumpkin season, this idea hasn’t hit me-until now. And I’m so happy I thought of it! I always have Oregon Chai tea concentrate on hand because I love making my own chai tea lattes during the winter. I use the chai tea concentrate as the liquid in the dough, and to further bring out that flavor I make my own chai spice blend. The spice blend has a lot of ingredients, but they are all so amazing, once you own them, you will find yourself using them in sweet and savory dishes! I love pumpkin but don’t really like pumpkin pie. But this hamantaschen recipe needed a pumpkin pie filling, so I was on the hunt for a filling even I would love. I remembered seeing a recipe I thought I would like by Bakerella (one of my idols and the inventor of the cake pop). She uses cream cheese along side the pumpkin in her pie bites recipe; so I did the same thing but used dairy-free tofutti cream cheese and spiced it with my chai spice blend. Holy deliciousness! My dough is soft, tender, and so easy to work with. The dough needs no refrigeration and doesn’t lose it’s shape. These cookies are packed with flavor and freeze so well. The dough and filling can even be prepared the day before, just wrap and chill in the fridge. The next day, just shape and bake. I’m not sure which hamantaschen are my favorite anymore. These are definitely on par with my cookies n’ cream recipe, but a bit more sophisticated than my funfetti hamantaschen. Just try them all!
- ½ cup shortening
- 1 cup sugar
- 2 tsp. vanilla extract
- 1 egg
- 1 egg yolk
- 2½ cups flour
- ¾ tsp. baking powder
- ½ tsp salt
- 2 tsp. chai spice mix
- 3 Tbs. chai tea concentrate (such as Oregon Chai)
- ½ cup pumpkin puree
- 4 oz. dairy-free cream cheese (such as Tofutti)
- ¼ cup sugar
- 1 egg
- 1 tsp. chai spice mix
- 2 tsp. cinnamon
- ¾ tsp. ginger
- ¾ tsp. cardamom
- ⅛ tsp. clove
- ⅛ tsp. nutmeg
- ⅛ tsp. black pepper
- 1 cup confectioners sugar
- 3-4 Tbs. cold water
- Stir the spices together and set aside to use in the dough and the pumpkin filling.
- In the bowl of an electric stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, beat the shortening with the sugar and vanilla extract until light and fluffy. Add in the eggs and mix until combined. Add in the flour, baking powder, salt, and spice mix and slowly mix on low speed. Pour in the chai tea concentrate and mix until a dough is formed. You can use the dough right away, but if the dough is too sticky, wrap and chill in the refrigerator for half an hour.
- In the bowl of an electric stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, mix the cream cheese with the sugar until smooth and no longer lumpy.
- Mix in the pumpkin, egg, and spices.
- On a lightly floured surface, or on a floured sheet of parchment paper, roll out a piece of the dough until thin. Use a round cutter (2½ to 3 inch in diameter) and cut out circles of dough. Fill each round with 1 tsp. of filling and pinch the seams together to form a triangle. Transfer to parchment lined baking sheet and bake in 350 degree oven for 8-10 minutes until the edges begin to brown. Allow to cool before drizzling the icing.
- Mix the confectioners sugar with a little bit of water and mix until combined. Keep adding water until the desired consistency. I like a thick and opaque icing. Drizzle the icing on the cooled hamantaschen and allow to dry.
Snickerdoodles are one of my favorite cookies. The classic version is a simple vanilla cookie rolled in cinnamon and sugar and baked until lightly golden on the edges. The cookie is crispy outside and moist and chewy inside. That, to me, is cookie perfection. Since snickerdoodles are so simple, they are able to be flavored in new and exciting ways. My very first blog post was my recipe for 