Hamantaschen Cookies
Posted: March 2nd, 2010 | Joanna | | Tags: Fruit Filled Cookie, hamantaschen, Hamentaschen, Purim Desserts, Temple Beth David | 4 Comments »
I came across this recipe about two years ago. It changed my life. It wasn’t the recipe, but the use of citrus zest the changed my baking forever. I didn’t even own a Microplane
Zesting is a fabulous way to add some extra ompf or a hint of underlying flavor to anything you bake. Cheesecake crust tastes fabulous with some lemon zest mixed in. I add orange zest to my gingerbread cookies every winter. If you don’t own a zester, I highly suggest purchasing one.
Hamentaschen is a fruit filled cookie associated with the Jewish Holiday of Purim. A fun little holiday, popular with children, it tells a tale of a king, a beauty queen and a bad character named Hamen. As I was taught, Hamen wore a triangle hat and these cookies are triangular symbolizing that, Hamen –> Hamen-taschen. For me, Purim was the carnival at our temple, where children dress up like characters in the story, (though now it has become a second Halloween) and eating these yummy treats. This is not a difficult recipe, but the dough does need to be refrigerated before rolling out, either overnight or three hours.
You are welcome to fill the cookie with whatever you desire, but the more traditional fillings are rasberry, apricot, prune (I refuse to make these), poppy and as I tried this year Nutella or chocolate.
2 teaspoons baking powder
1/8 teaspoon salt
1/2 cup vegetable shortening ( I also use a stick of butter if i don’t have shortening)
1 cup sugar
1 large egg
2 teaspoons packed finely grated fresh orange zest
1 tablespoon fresh orange juice
Into a bowl sift together flour, baking powder, and salt. In another bowl with an electric mixer beat shortening, sugar, and egg at medium speed until light and fluffy. Add zest and juice and beat until incorporated. Add flour mixture, stirring, until a smooth dough is formed. Gather dough into a ball and flatten into a disk. Chill dough, wrapped in plastic wrap, at least 3 hours and up to 2 days.
Preheat oven to 375° F.
Halve dough. On a lightly floured surface roll out half of dough (keeping other half wrapped and chilled) 1/4 inch thick. With a 3-inch cutter cut out as many rounds as possible. If you don’t have a 3-inch cutter I use a wide mouthed drinking class or mug to cut these. 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 center 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 filling as they bake.)
How to Fold a Hamentaschen in 4 steps
Bake hamantaschen in middle of oven 20 minutes, or until pale golden. Cool hamantaschen on baking sheet 5 minutes and transfer to racks to cool completely. Make more hamantaschen with remaining dough and filling in same manner. Hamantaschen keep in an airtight container at room temperature 5 days.
Hamentaschen Warning Label *Some cookies will leak filling.. you may feel like you have failed, they may not stay shut and the triangles may look like squares. DO NOT PANIC! They will still taste delicious. Photograph only the pretty ones 
OMG — I am SALIVATING over here. Those look AMAZING!!!!
Purim (Hebrew: פורים (help·info) Pûrîm “lots”, related to Akkadian pūru) is a festival that commemorates the deliverance of the Jewish people living throughout the ancient Persian Empire from a plot by Haman the Agagite to annihilate them, as recorded in the Biblical Book of Esther (Megillat Esther). According to the story, Haman cast lots to determine the day upon which to exterminate the Jews.
Nice hamantaschen . . .
I made hamantaschen, too! I use a recipe from Sara Finkel. My shaping technique is slightly different: I don’t fold but pinch together the sides. I have found that one of the secrets to nicely shaped and non-leaking hamantaschen is freezing the cookies after shaping and before baking. This interim freezing does wonders for the final hamantaschen.
Actually, I have a series of ideas about better hamantaschen: http://pragmaticattic.wordpress.com/2010/02/18/hamantaschen/
[...] Hamantaschen are cookies traditionally made for the Jewish holiday of Purim. As a holiday cookie, they’re one of those treats that people don’t usually make at home, but are much better when made at home rather than being store-bought.Simply Sifted starts these a batch of these cookies off with a simple dough that is flavored with orange zest. Any kind of fruit filling or jam can be used to add a splash of flavor and color to the center of the cookies, which are rolled out and then folded up into triangular hat shapes before baking. [...]