It’s that time of the year again; the Jewish holiday of Purim is upon us…time for hamantaschen! I have been making these jam filled triangle cookies since I was a little girl. I always used to look forward to making these with my mom. I loved pinching the corners, trying my best to make them look pretty. I can’t say they used to come out so perfectly but I think I’ve improved over the years.
The dough is simple to make, shortening and honey go into the mixer. Then the eggs are added. Finally the dry ingredients are added with the mixer on low-salt, baking powder and flour. Once the dough is made, it needs to be chilled for at least an hour, then it is rolled out.
Time to cut out the cookies. This year I tried to be all professional and cut the cookies out with a round cookie cutter, but it didn’t work out well. The cookies were just not coming out right. I made 2 separate batches this way. I was blaming everything from the baking powder being to strong to my flour being too dry. The truth is, these cookies need to be cut out with a drinking glass. I know it sounds funny, but it works!
When I was younger we used to fill the cookies with a spoon. Although it was fun, it was also pretty messy. Now I like to use a pastry bag fitted with a plain tip.
Here is the tricky part-pinching the corners. First I lift up the bottom of the round cookie with my thumb. Then with my pointer, I lift one side and pinch that corner together. Then the third side gets lifted and the 2 other corners are pinched together. Here is how it looks.
The classic fillings are apricot, prune, and poppy seed, but a lot of people get creative with the fillings; chocolate chips, chocolate spread, peanut butter and jelly…the sky is the limit! I just stick with the classics minus the poppy seed (we aren’t big fans in my family).
I like them lightly baked, I think they stay fresher for longer.
They look like little edible jewels! I always have a hard time waiting for them to cool before I can gobble them up. It’s not officially the Jewish holiday of Purim if I haven’t burned my mouth on the piping hot jam filling in these hamantaschen.
The recipe my mom always used is from the Jennie Grossinger Cookbook, The Art of Jewish Cooking
- 1 cup honey
- ½ cup shortening
- 4 eggs
- 4 cups flour
- 1 tsp. baking powder
- ½ tsp. salt
- Apricot and Prune Butter*
- Preheat the oven to 350°F.
- In the bowl of an electric stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, mix the honey and shortening until smooth.
- Add in the eggs, one at a time.
- Then with the mixer on low speed, add in the dry ingredients and mix until the dough comes together. Do not mix too much or the cookies will be tough.
- Wrap the dough and chill for at least an hour.
- Turn the dough out onto a floured surface and roll the dough out thin.
- Using a round drinking glass, or round cookie cutter (2½ to 3 inches in diameter), cut out the cookies.
- Using a spoon or pastry bag fitted with a plain tip, fill the cookies with the jam filling.
- Pinch 3 corners together and bake for 8-10 minutes until light brown.
- Allow to cool-the filling will be extremely hot! Enjoy!
Want more hamantaschen recipes?
Here’s my recipe for peanut butter and jelly hamantaschen!
Try my recipe for pina colada hamantaschen!
I really like the photography skills of the pic of the cookies all lines up on the tray. Nice DOF- depth of field. impressive lil miss
That’s such a compliment coming from a professional! Thanks Odeliah!
these sound great, cant wait to try- do u know approx how many hamentashen come out from one batch? also i found really exotic fig and raspberry preserves…. will it bake as well as the butter?
The recipe should make about 60 cookies if you use a round cutter that is about 2 1/2 inches in diameter. I’m not sure that the preserves will bake so well, it might just melt in the oven. I would do a test run. If it doesn’t bake nicely, you can always try to form the cookies without any filling and fill it after it comes out of the oven. Hope that helps, let me know what happens!
can i use margerine instead of shortening.( I live in israel and its hard to find shorenting)
I really like how shortening works in this recipe but you can use margarine. The dough may be a little softer, you may want to refrigerate it before using it to firm it up. Good luck! Let me know how they turn out!
how thin do you roll out the dough? 1/4 inch? or thinner? thanx
The dough puffs up nicely in the oven so I don’t like to go too thick or else they start to open. I also don’t like to roll it too thin or they will crisp up too quickly. 1/4 inch sounds perfect!
Trying this today. And yes, I still love apricot and prune the best!
Prune is my favorite. I have been looking for a recipe for them that is a bit more like a popover dough. When I first had a hamentaschen – I married into our Jewish family way-back-when- that is the kind that the local Jewish bakery always made. Now they do not.
Assuming one uses an average 2½” drinking glass as a cutter, how many hamantaschen does this recipe make, please? Thanks!
I would say 3-4 dozen. How thick you roll out your dough will also affect the amount of hamantaschen you get out of the recipe.
These look great! I was wondering if I could substitute shortening for butter?
Whoops I meant butter for shortening, thank you! (:
I don’t think you will have the same results because butter has more water than shortening, but it may work? I’ve never tried it myself. Sorry!