Hamentashen (Jewish filled triangle cookies)

Time for another Blogger's Choice recipe!  I was giddy when our hostess, Sarah of Taste of Home Cooking assigned me Joanna's blog, Kosher Kitchen. I had several Jewish friends growing up and fondly remember eating dinner at their houses (hooray for latkes!) and attending at least one bat mitzvah. Although the food was always fantastic, I never thought at the time to ask their moms for the recipes. I wasn't quite the foodie yet to know any better.

Naturally, I headed straight for Joanna's dessert section. One treat that I had never heard of was Hamentashen. These are little triangular cookies filled with jam or chocolate. I was pretty proud of myself for making some awesome looking triangles and then they lost their shapes as they baked! One tip is to roll your dough a bit thicker and to really pinch those edges tightly. Otherwise, your triangular edges will fall flat and your filling will spill over. Not that this happened to me, of course (sarcasm).

These delightful cookies have a shortbread-like texture. They are buttery with a slightly crisp exterior. The cookies themselves are not too sweet, and that is a good thing because the jam or chocolate interiors are packed with flavor and sugar.

Thank you, Joanna, for introducing me to hamentashen, and I can't wait to try and make some kugel and matzo ball soup! If you'd like to see roundups of previous swaps, be sure to head over to http://tasteofhomecooking.blogspot.com. 

Hamentashen

• 3/4 cups sugar
• 2 cups flour 
• 2 tsp baking powder
• 1/4 tsp salt
• 1/3 cup margarine, softened (I used unsalted butter)
• 1 egg
• 2-3 TBSP water (I used 3 TBSP)
• Various fillings (I used strawberry jam, fig jam and Nutella)

Directions
Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F.

Line two baking pans with parchment paper or a silicone mat.

In the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment or a large bowl with a handheld mixer, gently mix the sugar, flour, baking powder and salt.

Cut the the margarine (or butter) into the bowl and beat until the mixture is a bit crumbly and resembles coarse crumbs.

Add the egg and water and mix until the dough sticks together in a ball.

Generously flour a flat working surface.

Pinch off a piece of dough and roll it between your hands into a 1 and 1/2 inch ball.

Gently dust some extra flour onto the ball and roll it flat to a circular shape to about 1/8 inch thickness.  Alternately, you can roll out the dough and use the bottom of a glass or a cookie cutter to form circles.

Take about a teaspoon of filling and place it in the middle of your circle.

Fold up three edges and pinch together to make a triangle.

Place the Hamentashen on the prepared baking sheets and bake for 20 minutes (I only baked for 10 minutes so they wouldn't burn).  Let them cool for at least 10 minutes before eating.

Yield: About 28 cookies

Source: Kosher Kitchen

Time for another Blogger's Choice recipe!  I was giddy when our hostess, Sarah of Taste of Home Cooking assigned me Joanna's blog, Kosher Kitchen. I had several Jewish friends growing up and fondly remember eating dinner at their houses (hooray for latkes!) and attending at least one bat mitzvah. Although the food was always fantastic, I never thought at the time to ask their moms for the recipes. I wasn't quite the foodie yet to know any better.

Naturally, I headed straight for Joanna's dessert section. One treat that I had never heard of was Hamentashen. These are little triangular cookies filled with jam or chocolate. I was pretty proud of myself for making some awesome looking triangles and then they lost their shapes as they baked! One tip is to roll your dough a bit thicker and to really pinch those edges tightly. Otherwise, your triangular edges will fall flat and your filling will spill over. Not that this happened to me, of course (sarcasm).

These delightful cookies have a shortbread-like texture. They are buttery with a slightly crisp exterior. The cookies themselves are not too sweet, and that is a good thing because the jam or chocolate interiors are packed with flavor and sugar.

Thank you, Joanna, for introducing me to hamentashen, and I can't wait to try and make some kugel and matzo ball soup! If you'd like to see roundups of previous swaps, be sure to head over to http://tasteofhomecooking.blogspot.com. 

Hamentashen

• 3/4 cups sugar
• 2 cups flour 
• 2 tsp baking powder
• 1/4 tsp salt
• 1/3 cup margarine, softened (I used unsalted butter)
• 1 egg
• 2-3 TBSP water (I used 3 TBSP)
• Various fillings (I used strawberry jam, fig jam and Nutella)

Directions
Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F.

Line two baking pans with parchment paper or a silicone mat.

In the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment or a large bowl with a handheld mixer, gently mix the sugar, flour, baking powder and salt.

Cut the the margarine (or butter) into the bowl and beat until the mixture is a bit crumbly and resembles coarse crumbs.

Add the egg and water and mix until the dough sticks together in a ball.

Generously flour a flat working surface.

Pinch off a piece of dough and roll it between your hands into a 1 and 1/2 inch ball.

Gently dust some extra flour onto the ball and roll it flat to a circular shape to about 1/8 inch thickness.  Alternately, you can roll out the dough and use the bottom of a glass or a cookie cutter to form circles.

Take about a teaspoon of filling and place it in the middle of your circle.

Fold up three edges and pinch together to make a triangle.

Place the Hamentashen on the prepared baking sheets and bake for 20 minutes (I only baked for 10 minutes so they wouldn't burn).  Let them cool for at least 10 minutes before eating.

Yield: About 28 cookies

Source: Kosher Kitchen