TAHINI SQUARES

Happy first night of Hanukkah. As I wrote on my instagram post earlier, I tried to bake a batch of rugelach last night for -- gluten free and vegan. Sometimes, you just cannot healthify as I like to say, a recipe that calls for butter and regular flour. I may try this a few more times with different ingredients to see if it just may work, but for now, they turned into something else delicious that I totally made up on the spot. The dough would not stick together, so I layed it on a pan and baked it. My husband had a few pieces for breakfast, so this failure turned into something quite delicious and unique. 

Rugelach, by the way, is a typical dessert to eat during Hanukkah. Or actually whenever. They're really good and can be filled with chocolate, nuts, jams, and in my attempted case, sweetened tahini. 

Note: if you don't want to make this vegan or gluten free, substitute the vegan cream cheese and coconut oil butter as well as the flax egg for regular cream cheese, butter, and an egg, respectively, as well as all purpose or whole wheat flour instead of the almond flour. 

*my rugelach didn't come out right because this dough was too watery. Don't be afraid if the dough does not really harden in the fridge and is a bit like mush when you're working with it. That's exactly why I just poured it into the pan and hoped for the best. I will try and perfect this recipe!

Ingredients:

4 oz vegan cream cheese

1 stick (8 tbsp) cold unsalted coconut oil spread (I use Earth Balance)

1 cup almond flour

1/4 tsp salt

2/3 seedless raspberry or apricot jam

2 tbsp coconut sugar (or organic brown sugar)

1/2 tsp ground cinammon

1/2 cup chopped walnuts

1 flax egg (mix 1 tbsp flax meal with 3 tbsp water, let sit for about 5 minutes)

1 tsp almond extract

1 tsp vanilla extract

3/4 cup tahini

1/4 cup honey

1/4 cup sesame seeds

Directions:

Let the cream cheese and coconut oil spread sit out for about 5 minutes as you want them to be cool but a bit soft. Put the flour and salt in a food processor and add the cream cheese and coconut oil spread. Pulse about 8 times. Add the jam, cinammon, walnuts, flax egg, almond and vanilla extract, tahini, honey and sesame seeds. Then continue to mix until the dough forms into a ball. Wrap the dough in plastic wrap and let it cool in the fridge for a minimum of 2 hours. Preheat the oven to 350F. Once cooled, lay the dough out on a cookie sheet and bake for about 20-25 minutes, until the squares are just browned. Sprinkle with extra sesame seeds and cut into squares. Makes about 12.