I enjoy cooking and baking, but I don’t consider myself a full-fledged foodie. I lust, dabble, and nosh. I should emphasize nosh. Like most other people, if I happen to make something that looks extra pretty, I take a picture of it and post the picture on Facebook. I’ll be honest, the twinkle of validation I get from my friends liking this convert’s Jewish food feels awesome. So with Purim approaching, the kids and I baked hamantaschen; they looked great and Facebook got a picture. Later, while scrolling though Facebook, I saw some amazing looking cookies posted by the Jewish food blog The Nosher and a comment asking if other people had been baking that day. I happily thought of my just-taken hamantaschen picture and decided, somewhat reluctantly, to post it.
I received such love! The Nosher Jewish food blog was charming, gracious, and reposted my picture complimenting my hamantaschen.
I was tickled when other people following the blog requested the recipe, so here it is!
This recipe is for a softer, more cake-like hamantaschen. I will confess: the real trick is to find cookie dough that you like and a way to fill it. Below is the recipe for the dough we like best in our house. It yields approximately 3 ½ dozen hamantaschen, but I’ll be honest: I ate a lot of the dough, so I’m not exactly sure.
Ingredients:
2 ¾ cups of all-purpose flour- ½ teaspoon of baking soda
- 14 tablespoons of unsalted butter at room temperature
- ¾ cup of granulated sugar
- ¼ cup of packed light brown sugar
- 1 teaspoon of salt
- 2 teaspoons of vanilla extract
- 3 large eggs
- Your choice of filling(s)
Directions:
- Preheat the oven to 350 degrees Fahrenheit. Wisk together the flour and the baking soda in a bowl and set it aside.
- Using an electric mixer with the paddle attachment, beat the butter and sugar together. Beat the mixture on medium speed until pale and fluffy. Reduce speed to low. Add salt, vanilla, and 2 eggs, and then mix until combined. Add flour and soda combination to mixture mix well.
- Chill the dough. The length of time you chill the dough can vary, but give it at least 15 minutes.
- After the dough has been chilled, cut out a section to work with and place the remaining dough in the refrigerator to continue to chill. Like most dough you roll, it is best to work quickly with cool dough in small batches.
- Roll the dough on a floured surface until the dough is about 1/8 of an inch thick, similar to a piecrust. Using a cutter, (I prefer a drinking glass) cut the dough into circles.
- In a cup, mix the remaining egg and brush the egg sparingly onto the dough circles. Only brush a few with egg at a time, then immediately fill and fold into a triangle shape. The egg helps the sides of the hamantaschen adhere together, but can make the dough difficult to work with if left for too long.
- My personal hamantaschen hack: after the triangles are formed, I brush the tops of the hamantaschen (sparingly and only a few at a time) with egg, and then I roll the corners. My favorite part of a hamantaschen is the filling, and rolling the corners ensures each bite gets a bit of filling.
- Bake in an oven until golden (about 10–12 minutes), rotating the cookie sheets about halfway through.
- Transfer the hamantaschen to wire racks to cool. Hamantaschen filled with a high liquid content (e.g., jelly) do best if they are placed to cool on a solid item, such as a plate or a room temperate cookie sheet.
Finally, share them – it’s a mitzvah! Nosh them – they are delicious! But most importantly, be sure to post a picture of them!
