Hamentashen

Hamentashen

The Jewish holiday Purim is sneaking up on us very shortly and I thought I would theme this post around it.
Purim is a holiday to celebrate how the Jewish people avoided extermination in Persia at the hand of the king's adviser Hamen. Esther, a Jewish woman living in Persia, became the queen. Because of her position, she was able to save the Jewish people.
A much loved Purim treat is a triangular cookie called hamentashen. It is said that Hamen wore a three-cornered hat. Because of that, these cookies have a triangle shape.

Ingredients:                                                                                              Yield: about a dozen cookies

1/4 cup softened unsalted butter

1/2 cup sugar

1 egg

1 cup flour

1 tsp baking powder

1/2 tsp vanilla extract

1 Tbsp orange juice

Directions

Preheat the oven to 375° F

Cream together butter and sugar until light and fluffy

Add in the egg and mix until fully incorporated.

Stir in dry ingredients just until mixed but be careful to not overmix.

Add vanilla and orange juice and mix just until combined.

If the dough is too sticky, add more flour 1 tablespoon at a time. If the dough is too dry, add water 1 tablespoon at a time. If you do have to add water, just be careful because the dough can become too sticky very quickly. 

Roll out the dough onto a lightly floured surface to about 1/8 of an inch thick.

 Cut the dough into 3" circles.

Place a teaspoon of your filling in the center of the cookie. You can use any jams you like or any fillings. Here I used apricot, strawberry, and raspberry jam, but feel free to use any filling you want. You can also use pie fillings as an alternative. At the class I taught, we used nutella as a filling and everyone loved it!

Once your cookies are all filled, fold over all three sides of the dough to form a triangle. If the edges aren't triangular enough, just pinch the edges to form more of a triangle. If you need, you can always then fold the pinched edges again.

Bake your cookies in the preheated oven for 15-20 minutes or until the corners start to turn a golden color.

Once you take the cookies out of the oven and they cool, you are ready to enjoy your hamentashen! Happpy Purim everyone!

Don't forget to put a burry on it!

xoxo- Rayburry