It may be a fast day, but here in Kansas City, it’s also a snow day.
And that means we’re warming up our kitchen by baking a batch of hamantashen.
Now, to be completely honest, I am not the hamantashen’s greatest fan. Dry dough? Prune and poppyseed filling?
Meh. I’ll pass.
But throw in some sprinkles. And a few candy pieces. I can embrace that.
{A quick word about hamantashen, if you aren’t familiar with these three-cornered cookies. They are traditionally stuffed in the middle with poppy seeds, but as you can see – we don’t go traditional! The cookies are said to represent the three cornered hat that the villian of the Purim story wore… or, if you live in Israel where hamantashen are called Oznei Haman… then they are like the triangular shaped ears that he had. Either way, it’s really just a delicious and festive treat this time of year in the Jewish calendar.}
I originally shared this post two years ago, so if it looks familiar to some of you – that’s why. For the rest of you (or anyone who wants a refresher), here is my favorite recipe — complete with sprinkles and candy bits.
Hamantashen with Spinkles
Adapted from this recipe on AllRecipes.com
Ingredients
- 1 1/2 cups butter or margarine, softened
- 1 cup white sugar
- 2 eggs
- 6 T orange juice (or substitute 3 T lemon juice and grape juice)
- 1 T vanilla
- 2 t baking powder
- 4 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
- multi-colored sprinkles
Instructions
- In a large bowl, cream together the butter or margarine and sugar until smooth. Beat in the eggs one at a time, then stir in the orange juice and vanilla.
- Mix in the baking powder, then gradually stir in the flour until the dough forms a ball. (I like to do this in my Kitchen Aid – it’s a cinch!)
- Plop the dough onto your counter top and pour about 1/2 bottle of sprinkles on top. Quickly knead the sprinkles into the dough.
- Cover and refrigerate overnight if possible, or at least for 2 hours.
- Preheat the oven to 375 degrees F (190 degrees C).
- Spray cookies sheets with Pam, or line with parchment paper.
- On a lightly floured surface, roll the dough out to about 1/4-inch thick. Cut out circles using a wide-mouth glass.
- Spoon a tablespoon of filling (see suggestions below) in the middle and pinch the sides to form a triangle. If you want your triangles to stay nice and tight (they sometimes open back up into circles in the oven), you can flash freeze them. Just stick the whole cookie sheet in the freezer for 10 minutes. We usually skip this step, but if presentation matters to you, it might save some heartache.
- Bake for 10 minutes in the preheated oven. They should be slightly golden brown, but still a little bit undercooked.
- Remove to wire racks and cool completely (or not… we usually can’t wait that long!).
Filling Ideas
We like almost anything in the middle of our hamantashen: Fruit jams, Nutella, caramel spread, chocolate chips, white chocolate chips, mint chocolate chips, candy pieces (like in the above picture), lemon custard, or cherry pie filling. The only filling flavors we don’t love are halva and poppy seed.
What are your favorite hamantashen recipes? Please read all the great suggestions in the comments section below – and then add your own! If you blog, share those links! Snow days require links!
Your hamentashen look amazing. I have been using my trustworthy recipe for the past few years. I have been filling my hamentashen with chocolate, strawberry, raspberry, and caramel. Hadn’t thought about candy fillings, but will have to try that next time!
I love the idea of sprinkles in the batter. I love hamentaschen and trying out new fillings… my favorite is pulverized dates. This year I made some with peanut butter and chocolate for filling and they were amazing.
Love, love, love this recipe. I think I’ll make it tonight!! I shared my recipe above. My favorite filling is Nutella, a new one we tried for the first time this year.
This has nothing to do with recipes. But since you meantioned Haman’s hat and his ears, I get to show off my year of college Yiddish. The most prosaic explanation of the name hamantaschen is that they come from the Yiddish words “mon” (poppyseed) and “tashen” (pockets). So hamantashen means “poppyseed pockets” (Sorry, Mara. I can’t stand poppyseeds, either.) Then the name transformed into hamantashen, Haman’s pockets. The seeds, I was told as a kid, symbolized the coins that Haman offered to the king when he asked to kill all the Jews.
Just found out, my information about hamentashen was in the New York Times yesterday. I guess I wasn’t sharing anything new. Oh, well.
I love this information! So cool. Thanks for sharing 🙂 And really interesting about the seeds being the coins. I’m glad to know I’m not the only one who doesn’t like poppyseed, though. (I do like them in lemon poppyseed muffins.)
yum yum yum!!!!!!!!!!!
sometimes I just sprinkle the sprinkles into the batter as I roll it out…I do love hamantaschen. Can’t stop making them…one more batch of dough in my refrigerator chillin’ as I type!!!
Oh! I got distracted mid-comment and didn’t actually write what I meant to write.
The best tip I ever got for helping them stay pinched closed is to brush each dough circle with egg white before filling. Brush the whole circle, plop in the filling, pinch closed, and then bake. You can even brush the tops with the leftover egg white as well to give them a pretty finish. The egg wash acts like glue! (but, um, yummier)
Do you know of any recipes that have oil instead of margarine? I don’t have a hand mixer so its really hard to cream the margarine. 😉
This one is my Mom’s recipe – it’s an oil based one.
3 eggs
1 cup sugar
3 tsp baking powder
½ cup orange juice
1 cup oil
5 cups flour
1 Tbsp orange rind
Mix all ingredients together and chill for a few hours or overnight before rolling out.
Yum! I mostly use fruit “pastry filling” or “butter” – it’s a bit thicker than jellies. Oh, and I brush them with an egg wash before baking. It makes it nice and shiny. (oooh – shiny!)
I’ve got a picture of some of this year’s batch up (without the recipe, though) at my blog:
http://proudmommy0f4.livejournal.com/117027.html
You can also substitute natural applesauce for the oil in the recipe. I do it in almost any recipe that calls for oil. Doesn’t change the taste, but I do think some things come out moister or airier (sp?)
Good idea, Lauren. More moist and less calories!
Wow, your big guy is quite the kitchen prodigy! I love sprinkles in dough of any kind, so much fun! Here’s my recipe, which I loooove. Thanks for hosting, and a Freilich Purim to everyone!
Leigh Ann
http://thefrugalima.blogspot.com/2011/03/hamantaschen.html
Thanks so much for this recipe. I tried it tonight and it was GREAT. I’ve posted it to my blog and linked the recipe up here. Thanks, Mara!
Mara, replying to your comment on my blog. The cinnamon sugar mix actually melts in a bit, but depending how much you put on, you’ll be left with some that’s just sugary and a bit ‘grainy.’ When you bite into the cookie, though, it mixes in with the cookie part and gives it just a bit of sweet cinnamony-ness. Really nice!
I thought we were the only ones making hamantashen to help the snow day pass. I have to admit though, we use the Duncan Heinz yellow cake mix hamantashen recipe. It calls for one box of cake mix, one cup of flour, two eggs, and two tablespoons of water. I add one tablespoon of orange juice just for flavor. They are. Super easy to make and more moist than many other recipes. Bake at 375 for about 7 minutes.
PS if ou put egg wash on the hamantashen it acts as a glue and they don’t open up.
Esther – I’m inspired! I had never hear of the cake mix recipe, but now I want to try it! I wonder if I have any cake mix in my stockpile?!
We mashed up some pareve sandwich cookies and used it for the filling.
Great idea! Did they get melty?