When baking hamantashen, it doesn’t matter if you fashion your favourite dough into Haman’s hat, pocket or ears, these recipes will ensure that your Purim is festive, fun and delicious.
[The Hadassah Jewish Holiday Cookbook photo]
Cooking Tip
To fold dough into the shape of a hamantash (a triangle), use both thumbs and the two first fingers on each hand. Slide two fingers from left hand under left side and two fingers from right hand under right side and two thumbs under the bottom of circle. Bring all fingers (with dough) together to form a triangle and try to pinch close. Repeat this process with remaining circles and dough.
I got this recipe from an old Gourmet magazine in 1997 and it’s fantastic!
2 cups all-purpose flour
1/4 cup sugar
1/8 tsp. salt
1/2 cup cold unsalted butter, cut into bits
1/2 cup cream cheese, cut into bits
1 large egg yolk
1 tsp. vanilla
2/3 cup filling (apricot or cherry jam, ready made poppy seed or prune filling)
In a bowl, with a pastry blender, or in a food processor, blend or pulse flour, sugar and salt to combine and add butter and cream cheese, blending or pulsing until mixture resembles coarse crumbs.
In a small bowl, stir together yolk and vanilla and add to flour mixture, blending or pulsing just until mixture begins to come together (do not overmix). Gather dough into a ball and flatten into a disk. Chill dough, wrapped in plastic wrap, at least 1 hour and up to 2 days.
Preheat oven to 375. Divide the dough in half. On a lightly floured cool surface, knead half the dough (keeping other half wrapped and chilled) 2 or 3 times to make it less crumbly. Roll out dough 1/4-inch thick, and with a 3-inch cutter, cut out as many rounds as possible. Transfer rounds with a metal spatula to a large baking sheet, arranging about 1/2 inch apart. Reroll scraps and cut out more rounds. Put 1 teaspoon filling in centre of each round and fold up edges to form triangular cookies resembling a tricornered hat, pinching corners together and leaving filling exposed. (Pinch dough tightly enough so seams are no longer visible and sides are taut enough to prevent cookies from leaking the filling as they bake.)
Bake hamantashen in middle of oven 20 minutes, or until pale golden. Cool hamantashen on baking sheet 5 minutes and transfer to racks to cool completely. Make more hamantashen with remaining dough and filling in same manner. Hamantashen keep in an airtight container at room temperature for 5 days. Makes 2 dozen.
3/4 cup margarine or butter, softened
3/4 cup sugar
1 large egg
1 tsp. orange juice concentrate
1 tsp. vanilla
1/4 tsp. salt
up to 1 tbsp. of water
1 can cherry pie filling, slightly drained of the gooey syrup
3 tbsp. breadcrumbs
2 1/4 cups flour
powdered sugar for garnish
In the bowl of an electric mixer, cream together the margarine or butter and sugar. Add the egg, orange juice concentrate and vanilla. Beat to combine. Add in the flour and salt.
Beat in the water a few drops at a time until dough starts to come away from sides of bowl (you can do this in a food processor). Place the dough on wax paper and push it into a flat disk. Place another sheet of wax paper on top and wrap the dough in foil. Refrigerate for at least 2 hours or as long as overnight.
At baking time, preheat oven to 350. In a bowl, combine the slightly drained cherry pie filling and bread crumbs. Mix to combine.
On a floured surface, roll out the dough until it’s about 1/4-inch thick. Using a round cookie cutter, cut out circles. Spoon 2 to 3 cherries and a little bit of filling onto the dough circles and form into triangles. Place on a cookie sheet lined with baking paper. Bake for 12-15 minutes or until just starting to turn pale golden. Remove from oven and cool on rack. When cool, dust with powdered sugar and serve. Makes 2 to 3 dozen depending on the size circle you cut out.
1/2 cup margarine or butter
3/4 cup sugar
1 egg
1 tsp. vanilla
1 1/2 cups flour
1/2 cup cocoa
1/2 tsp. baking powder
1/2 tsp. baking soda
1/4 tsp. salt
1 jar raspberry preserves
Grease 2 cookie sheets. In an electric mixer, combine the margarine, sugar, egg and vanilla and beat until fluffy.
In another bowl, combine the cocoa, flour, baking powder, baking soda and salt. Mix to combine and then add to the margarine mixture. Do not over mix. Divide dough in half and chill for one hour.
Preheat oven to 350. On a lightly floured surface, roll out the dough to approx. 1/4 inch thick. Cut into rounds – 3- to 4-inch works best. Place approx. 1 teaspoon raspberry preserves in centre of each circle and fold into shape. Pinch the corners and place on prepared cookie sheet, two inches apart (these will expand). Bake for 15 minutes. Cool on a wire rack.
Submitted by Rozie Schwartzman who got it from a blog she can’t remember.
