Tehina Cookies (egg free)

Thanks to Israeli Kitchen for this recipe.

Tehina Cookies yield: about 3 dozen cookies

Ingredients:
200 grams soft margarine
1 cup sugar
2 tsp. vanilla
1 cup tehina. If there’s a layer of oil floating on top of the jar, stir in back in.
2 cups plus 4 Tbsp. flour
1 tsp. baking powder
option 1: 2 Tbsp. pine nuts and powdered sugar
option 2: cinnamon and sugar (this is what I used)

Method:
Preheat the oven to 160 C - 325 F.

1. Cream the margarine and the sugar together.

2. Add the vanilla and the tehina and blend again.

3. Combine the flour and the baking powder; add to the tehina mixture.

4. Form balls the size of walnuts and place them on a baking sheet protected with baking paper. The dough is dry and crumbly, so squeeze it together to make the balls.

If adding the optional pine nuts, do it like this: form one cookie ball; take 2 or 3 pine nuts into your left palm, and with your right hand, press the ball onto them. Reverse it onto the baking sheet. If the ball crumbles slightly, just squeeze it back into shape with your fingertips.

If coating with cinnamon and sugar, roll the slightly flattened balls in the mixture and place on the sheet before baking.

Bake for 13-15 minutes. Do not bake longer. The cookies need a little moisture to retain their shape and not crumble.

Cool the baking tray on a rack, and don’t touch the cookies for at least 5 minutes. If they’re handled while hot, they will fall apart.

Dust with powdered sugar if you wish, when they’re cool. Hide a few for yourself before you offer them to family and friends.