Linzer Cookies & a Vegan Workshop

Today’s cookies are my favorite cookies in the galaxy! Linzer Cookies – known in Israel as “Flower Jam Cookies”.

I love these since I was a kid and when I lived in NYC I used to buy a HUGE one at my favorite Bagel place on West 4^th.

Since becoming vegan I made these a few times but not recently and I guess the amount of cookies baking on my IG and FB feeds made me crave cookies, these cookies!

I veganized a simple recipe from Karin Goren, a famous Israeli baker; the original recipe is here and in Hebrew only.

Please note that I use my hands for the dough – nothing electric.

Ingredients for 30-35 cookies:

300 gr. of flour
200 gr. of non-dairy butter/margarine – I used Sojola; soy margarine
100 gr. of confectioners’ sugar aka powdered sugar + a bit more for dusting
¼ cup soy milk or any other non-dairy milk
¼ teaspoon of salt
Your choice of Jam – I used sour cherries today
Cookies cutters in any shape you want but one needs to be with a hole J

Directions:

In a bowl, mix flour, salt and powdered sugar
Add the margarine – easy to add it when it is cold and cut into cubes
Mix with a fork until the mix is crumbly
Add the soy milk and work the dough until it’s smooth
Wrap the ball of dough in plastic foil and put in the fridge for 2 hours – the dough is super sticky and needs to be cold otherwise you won’t be able to work with it

After two hours split the dough into two parts and roll the dough on a floury surface, feel free to cover your rolling pin in flour as well as the dough is pretty sticky
Make flowers! Make sure to make a matching amount of the bottoms and the tops

Preheat the oven 180c/350f
Bake for 12 – 14 minutes

Let cool completely
Make the sandwiches – with a small fork or a teaspoon place jam in the middle of the bottom part and close with the top part with the hole

Once all are ready dust with some powdered sugar

Wait… we are not done for today, I wanted to share some photos from my first EVER vegan cooking workshop that I gave last month.

I was lucky to find a lovely cozy vegan place here in Hamburg, HappenPappen is the name (it means “small things to nibble on” in Plattdeutsch, the German of the north, known as “Low German”) and after one meeting with the owner, Roman, it was obvious that this was the beginning of a beautiful friendship.

Roman offered me to teach some cooking workshops and I was more than happy to take the challenge – the challenge was mainly doing it in German… a language I do not fully control or feel comfortable in, but hey, I did it. Plans were set for Israeli Vegan Cooking Workshops and there are future plans for Asian Cooking Workshops – Gyoza and Thai Soups.

The first workshop, at the end of November, sold out pretty quick and one cold evening I had the privilege to meet 12 wonderful people from different backgrounds and with different interests who all had one thing in common: they wanted to know how to make some Israeli food!

After introducing myself I gave an introduction to the Israeli kitchen – a melting pot of most of the Middle Eastern and Arab kitchens – I explained how the history of Israel and the immigrants from all over the world (who brought their own food along their cultures) created a unique fusion kitchen. I also explained a bit about the new inventive Israeli vegan kitchen and the latest vegan trend in Israel.

Following are a few photos from the event, I have decided not to post photos of the people who took part in the workshop out of respect to them but of course that there are many photos on the HappenPappen website.

What did we make?

Hummus, Green Tahini, Mujadara, Tabouli, Burekasim, Israeli Salad and for dessert, Chocolate Balls.

Enjoy!