Living in former Soviet Union, we used to experiment with different ingredients, which were available in that time. As you understand, tomato juice was always reachable for many of us. And most important, many people in Russia love this type of dough and call it "pryaniki". These cookies taste amazing and might be served warm and completely cooled.They'll keep for a few days in airtight container container. In addition, you can decorate them with chocolate or lemon glaze drizzle for special occasions.I published the recipe in my blog "Cooking with Yiddishe mama"

Step 1: Ingredients and Dough

Makes 24 medium pastries
2 cups all-purpose flour

1/2 teaspoon baking powder

1/2 cup sugar + more for sprinkling

100 ml tomato juice

3 & 1/2 tablespoons vegetable oil

1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract

In a large bowl, mix flour and baking powder. In another medium bowl, mix together tomato juice and sugar until sugar will be dissolved, add vegetable oil and vanilla extract. Pour tomato mixture into flour mixture and make a dough. The dough will be soft and very pliable.

Step 2: Rest Time

Leave the dough in a bowl for 10-15 minutes to rest.
Divide the dough into 3 equal pieces.

Step 3: Make a Cookie

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Place parchment paper on a large cookie sheet (12" x 17").

Lightly flour your pastry mat and rolling pin. Take one portion of the dough and roll out into 10-inch circle on a mat. Lightly sprinkle dough surface with sugar and cut the circle into 8 equal sectors. Roll each triangle, starting from the wide flat end and rolling towards the narrow point. Place the rolled cookies onto a parchment lined cookie sheet end point down. Repeat with rest of the dough.