Looking for really good hamentashen recipe

[Diane in Bexley]

Purim is coming up and in ancipation, I bought several cans of Solo filling - prune, plum, raspberry. Been cooking and baking a long time, but want to try a new dough, mine always seems to get soft or is too soft to work with. Want to use all butter, if I am spending the calories, want it to taste delicious. Thanks in advance for help!

[rememberme]

I've tried in the past to make hamentashen, and I always end up with little flat things that all the filling has leaked out of. However, I'm tempted to try again with some of these recipes.
Can someone tell me how I can print out recipes that I find here, without printing out the entire thread? Thanks.

[p.j.]

Block and copy the recipe you want, then paste it into a new Word (or other word processing format) document. Save it or print it, or both.
Good luck.
p.j.

[CopyKat Recipes]

This is a recipe that I have used at fundraisers at my temple. It was well received both years it was made.
http://www.copykat.com/2010/02/21/ham...
Hamentashen

Yield: 4 1/2 dozen

4 eggs
1 cup vegetable oil
1 1/4 cups sugar
2 teaspoons vanilla
3 teaspoons baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
5 1/2 cups flour
Fillings of your choice : fruit preserves, chocolate, nuts

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
Mix together the eggs, oik, sugar, and vanilla, beat until smooth and creamy. Sift together the flour, salt, and baking powder (honestly this makes all the difference in the dough). Add the dry ingredients to the sugar mixer, and blend together. This dough is a little sticky, you may need to add a bit more flour. Knead dough for about a minute before rolling out.folding hamentashen
Roll out on a floured surface the thickness of the cookies should be about 1/4 of an inch, and using a round cookie cutter cut out circles. Place circles onto a parchment lined cookie sheet. You can fit about 12-15 cookies on each sheet. Fill with the filling of your choice. Fold into triangles, pinch together the corners. Brush the unbaked hamentashen with an egg wash which can be made using 1 egg and a tablespoon of water, beaten with a fork to combine.

Bake in a 350 degree oven for 15-20 minutes until the cookies just begin to turn golden brown.

[vrybzybaker]

The trick to not losing the filling is DON"T PINCH!! fold your circles into triangles, right over left, bottom up and then left over right. Just a little filling should peek through the middle. Brush with a little egg white or milk. Here's my own recipe for Hamantaschen (and I've even won a contest with it!) Enjoy!

1 stick butter, softened 11/2t. Baking Powder
1/2c. sugar pinch of salt
2c. flour OR 11/2c. flour +1/2c. Almond meal
Assorted Fillings
3 eggs (2 for recipe and 1 for egg wash if desired)
1t. vanilla
Grated orange zest (approximately 2T.)

Preheat oven to 375 degrees. Cream butter and sugar until well blended. Beat in 2 eggs, vanilla and orange zest. Gradually add dry ingredients mixing until just blended and the dough is smooth.

Divide dough into several portions and wrap the ones you are not working with. Starting with one portion of dough, roll it out approximately 1/4” thick. Use a 21/2” round or scalloped cookie cutter and cut as many rounds as possible. Place a spoontip of filling in the center of each and fold edges to make a triangle (right over left, bottom up, then the left side, tucking the third corner underneath. Place 1/2 “ apart on non-stick pans and brush with remaining beaten egg wash if desired. Bake for 9-10 minutes until golden brown and cool on wire rack.

NOTE: Since we only bake these little goodies once a year, there are a few things to remember, Do NOT PINCH! Folding the edges means your cookies will not pop open. If you pinch them, they will burst during baking. They will taste fine, they will look like misshapen circles. Don’t use too much filling! Of course it tastes good but it will heat up and bubble out of the cookie making messy pans and leaving your cooking empty. STORAGE! If you like a crispy cookie them leave them out and cover lightly after baking. If you like a soft, cakey cookie them cover them tightly.

[vrybzybaker]

To keep the filling from leaking out, fold them first down the left, fold up the bottom and then the fold over the right. This way, each corner is tucked under a flap. Don't over fill although it is tempting and seal with a little egg wash or just a wet finger!

[CindyJ]

Here's a link to a recipe I've tried and enjoyed. It's from Arthur Schwartz's "Jewish Home Cooking." http://www.inmamaskitchen.com/RECIPES...

[sallyt]

I love the cream cheese dough from this epicurious recipe:

http://www.epicurious.com/recipes/foo...

And I'm completely obsessed with finding the recipe for Zingerman's Mexican Vanilla Bean Cream Cheese filling - any tips? They were the best...

Lemon curd and nutella sound delicious!

[modthyrth]

Oh, that sounds divine. If you ever find it, please do share! The apple hamantaschen I got at Zingerman's was the best I've ever had--and I didn't even order the apple, as I thought that would be a rather bland flavor! Turns out they were out of the apricot and gave me apple by accident, but it was a happy, happy accident.

[sallyt]

I will - I have such a hankering that I'm tempted to order some from them - but I really want the recipe!

[modthyrth]

Have you tried their cheese blintzes? That filling might bake up to the right texture in a cookie, and would be a good starting point, at the very least, for some experimentation.

2 vanilla beans (could sub some mexican vanilla bean paste. There's a great local provider here in the Phoenix area, and I know they do mail order)
8 ounces farmer cheese
8 ounces cream cheese--they prefer a natural cream cheese without vegetable gum. Room temperature.
2 T of an intensely flavored honey. They prefer chestnut honey.
1/2 T butter, softened to room temperature
1 large egg yolk
1/2 t fine sea salt

The instructions, paraphrased, have you split the vanilla beans and scrape out the seads into a medium bowl. If you're using a vanilla paste, this step is even easier, obviously. Then add the farmer cheese, cream cheese, honey, and butter and blend well. Gently mix in salt and yolk.

I've never found cream cheese without vegetable gum, but the Zingerman's Guide to Good Eating says that it's available from Zingerman's Creamery and the Sierra Nevada creamery in CA.

[sallyt]

Genius! Is the blintz recipe from their cookbook?

I'm so craving their hamantaschen that I just paid $32 to get FOUR hamantaschen shipped to me. I must be crazy...

[modthyrth]

Yep, that's one of the recipes in their Guide to Good Eating book. Not so much a cookbook, but it does have some good recipes in it, which is why I bought it. Who knows the next time I'll be back in Michigan!

[toodie jane]

oooo apple and nutella

[TampaAurora]

My Nanny's Hamantaschen

Ingredients

2 Cups Sifted Flour
2 Tsp. Baking Powder
½ tsp Salt
½ Cup Orange Juice
1 Large Egg
¼ lb. butter
1 tsp. vanilla

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

1) Sift flour, baking powder and salt together
2) Cream butter and sugar until light and fluffy about 2 minutes
3) Add egg and mix for 1 minute.
4) Mix in Orange juice and vanilla
5) Add dry ingredients until incorporated
6) Divide dough in half, shape into flat disk, wrap in plastic
7) Refrigerate until firm enough to roll
8) Place dough between 2 sheets of wax paper.
9) Roll from center - out - about 1/8 inch thick
10) If dough is hard to handle - Place in freezer to firm up
11) Cut into 3 inch circles
12) Fill with 1 1/2 tsp, filling

Makes 36.

[another_adam]

Our family has always favored dairy homentashen, with a standard dairy dough: sugar**, a cup of scalded milk, a stick of soft butter, 2 eggs plus a white (depending how rich you want it), and a packet of yeast dissolved with a few tablespoons of warm water and a bit of sugar. These are mixed into a pound of flour or so, to make a smooth somewhat sticky dough; knead and leave to rise. Punch it down, roll it out, and cut into small circles (they'll rise and get bigger) and fill. My mother is always careful to seal the edges of the dough so that you can't tell which filling is inside which cookies! Brush tops with egg yolk dissolved in a Tbsp water. I think they bake around 10-12 mins at 350, but you should keep an eye on them, since they'll get a little dry if overbaked.

** The amount of sugar depends on the filling: 1/3 to 1/2 cup for a sweet filling like poppy, a bit more for apricot or prune if you did not sweeten them much during cooking. This is also about the same as the dough for plum cake, just cover with plums and dot the top with butter and sprinkle with sugar.

There was a much richer recipe in the Boston Globe a few years ago that I've always meant to try instead--maybe this year is the year!
http://www.boston.com/ae/food/article...

[Chocolatechipkt]

I love the recipe for hamentaschen in Marcy Goldman's "A Treasury of Jewish Holiday Baking."

[Chocolatechipkt]

Just fyi, Marcy Goldman's recipes are here: http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/...

[queenscook]

My mother's recipe, which I now consider to be mine, is:
6-7 cups flour
5 t. baking powder
1/2 t. salt
2/3 c. butter, shortening, or margarine
1 c. sugar
1/2 c. honey
4 eggs
2 T. lemon juice
Mix all ingredients except flour with beater or in stand mixer. Start adding flour gradually, until dough sticks together. Roll out and cut circles. Put small amount filling in center and pinch into triangle. Bake approx. 15 minutes at 350.
Yields approx 125 hamantashen.

Could I recommend Simon Fischer fillings (prune & apricot) instead of canned; I have found those canned fillings to be more solid and "funny"-tasting. Admittedly, I haven't tried those flavors, but I am really a big fan of Simon Fisher jarred fillings. Just a suggestion.

[koshergourmetmart]

here is a savory one
Wild Mushroom and Cheese Hamentaschen

Yields:1 dozen

Dough:

1 cup margarine/butter

2 cup flour

1 tbsp. Cold water

1 tbsp white vinegar

1 egg yolk

pinch of salt

filling:

1 tbsp olive oil, butter or margarine

2 cup chopped wild mushroom (appx. 6 ozs.)

1;3 cup chopped green onion with tops

2 tbsp pine nuts toasted at 350 degrees until golden brown appx. 5 minutes

1/3 cup crumbled feta cheese (not Miller’s)

Dough: In large bowl cut margarine into flour and salt with 2 knives or pastry cutter until mixture is a coarse meal. Combine water, vinegar, egg yolk and salt. Mixing by hand, gradually work liquid into mixture until evenly blended. Shape dough into ball, cover and refrigerate for 2 or more hours before rolling. Avoid over handling; keep dough cold.

Filling: Saute mushrooms in oil until tender. Remove from heat and add green onions, pine nuts, cheese and mix.

To make hamentaschen, roll dough out and cut into circles. Put a tsp. of filling into the center of each circle, then fold over the edge of the circle to form a triangle and pinch the corners together. The filling should be partially covered by the dough.

Place on greased cookie sheets and bake in preheated oven at 375 for 12-16 minutes or until bottoms are very brown, If baking 2 pans in 1 oven, rotate pans after 6 minutes.

You can use other fillings, such as spiced mashed potatoes.

-----------
my family's one-the best!
Yields: Appx. 2 dozen

1 cup butter or margarine

1 cup sugar

4 eggs

2 tsp. Vanilla

4 cup flour

4 tsp. Baking powder

Cream butter/margarine, sugar, and eggs together. Beat in vanilla. Sift flour and baking powder, add to creamed mixture, working in thoroughly. Roll out, add filling and bake in preheated oven at 375 F until edges are brown. You can add ground almonds or other nuts to add an interesting taste and texture.

To roll out the dough, I use cylindrical wooden children’s blocks on wax paper dusted with flour. Keep lots of flour around to dust the blocks and your hands as well. Cut out circles with Mason jar tops. Add the filling to the middle of each circle, fold up the bottom of the circle; then fold the other two sides to make a triangle. Pinch the ends and put on the greased baking sheets.

[sanekosher]

that wild mushroom and cheese recipe sounds really interesting-certainly not one of the variations! Curious why you specifically don't recommend Millers crumbled feta...is there a specific quality that one should look for in the feta cheese? Is there any specific brand you do recommend?
Thanks!

[koshergourmetmart]

i recommend pastures of eden or any israeli brand-miller's is too dry and crumbly.

we made a cheesecake filling for our sweet hamentaschen this yr w/choc chips.
1 bar cream cheese
1/4 cup sugar
1 egg
as many mini choc chips as you would like.

the filling is a little spready so do not put too much in the hamentaschen

whatever is left over, bake separately as mini cheesecakes

[rockycat]

What a great idea. I may be trying those soon.

[kattyeyes]

koshergourmet, I never knew there was such a thing as a savory hamentaschen. I learn something new every day here on CH. ;) I actually saw this post yesterday and have been watching as I love 'em, but have never made my own. My mom and I are always on the lookout for good recipes so we can make them ourselves, so thanks!

queenscook, I made note of your Simon Fischer fillings and looked it up to see if it's readily available in my neck of the woods. Did you realize they are part of the Solo company? ;) http://www.solofoods.com/Our_Products...
I understand what you mean that cans can sometimes impart an unpleasant taste. Are the fruit butters usually positioned near the Solo stuff, or separately where you find jellies/fruit butters/etc.? I will definitely look for them!

[cheesecake17]

The Simon Fischer products have a different flavor- at least to me. I usually find them in two places in my regular supermarket- in the jelly section and in the kosher section. If you're around a kosher grocery, there will prob be an endcap or section devoted to the stuff. I use prune and apricot as fillings.

My grandma used a round ravioli cutter with a scalloped edge for her hamanteschen. They always come out really pretty and different, since most people I know use a plain round cookie cutter.

[kattyeyes]

Thanks for the Simon Fischer info and the tip on the scalloped edge. We like flair! ;)

[markabauman]

I make dough using recipes similar to above. Sometimes just the recipe on the inside label of the Solo products. Will often add just a bit of lemon or orange zest to the dough, however. The citrus seems to give a nice little contrast to the prune or poppy.

[amymon]

I second the addition of zest to the dough. We always add orange zest to the fruit filled dough, and lemon zest to the poppy filled dough.

[kattyeyes]

Got my Simon Fischer golden apricot butter jars today at the kosher grocery. While there, we hit the bakery for adorable mini-hamantaschen (apricot and raspberry) and and almond horn (mmmmmmmmmmmm) . The woman at the bakery counter overheard my mom and me talking about fewer calories in the minis and said very seriously, "It's a good thing you came on Friday. All the calories are taken out!" ;)

[melly]

I love this! Am making it!

[koshergourmetmart]

how did it come out?

[rockycat]

I, too, prefer Simon Fischer fillings but you just can't get them in all parts of the country. Solo,at least, is available in most places. Hey, it works, especially if you can't/won't make all your own from scratch.

[GilaB]

Queenscook-
I made your recipe, which came out very tasty, but I only ended up with 64 hamentaschen. I wasn't making particularly large ones (I was using a3.5-inch diameter drinking glass as my cookie cutter.) Do you make very small hamentaschen?

[queenscook]

Hi Gila--
I'm glad you liked the recipe. I just made it the other day and got 122. The drinking glass I use is 2 3/4 inch diameter. My math whiz husband did the calculations and tells me that using a 3.5 inch glass should decrease the yield to about 75, so you're in the range. It also depends on how thin you roll them. I like them really thin and crunchy, so I probably get a few more than if I rolled them thicker. Purim samayach!

[asf78]

Hi Diane. I've been making my mother's recipe for several years now (and sometimes even use the dough just to make a sweet cookie), and the hamentashen/cookies are always eaten up. All of my baking equipment is pareve, and people don't even realize that these are pareve when I make them (though they don't need to be made pareve - butter is fine, I just don't use it). I use oil in the recipe, but you can use any kind of shortening, really. With oil, I let the dough rest in the refrigerator for a bit so that it is easier to work with - and I leave whan I am not using at that moment in the fridge, only pulling what I need to roll out. You could use butter, margarine, or probably Crisco (though I've never tried it with Crisco). The honey flavor shines through, but is not heavy or overwhelming. Anyway, here it is:

4 c. sifted flour
1/2 tsp. salt
1 tsp. baking powder
1/2 c. shortening, softened
1 c. honey

Sift flour, salt, baking powder into a bowl.
Make a well, place shortening, eggs, and honey in it.
Work together with hand until dough is formed.
Roll out and cut into squares (or circles).
Spoon filling into each cutout, fold, and seal edges (I found that the seal holds much better if I dip my finger in water and run it along the edge before sealing).
Bake in a 350 degree oven for 20 minutes or until browned. Depending on your oven, they may be done in as little as 12-15 minutes, so check then, adjust time as needed.

My personal favorite fillings are chocolate chips or black cherry preserves.

[littlebites]

How many eggs do you put in your recipe? I mixed my dry ingredients and then realized I didn't know how many eggs to add!

[asf78]

Oops, sorry I left that out! That's kind of key.

The recipe calls for 4 eggs.