Hamentashen

A gut chodesh, everyone! (Yiddish and Hebrew- and it means enjoy the first days of the new month J)

It’s so nice that Adar is here again (Adar is the Jewish month that symbolizes joy and happiness in the Jewish nation).

This is a very apropos time to discuss the recipe of hamentashen! Yay! Hamentashen is the triangular, jelly-filled cookie that is eaten during this time to remember the wicked antagonist, Hamen, in the Purim tale!

Don’t these Hamentashen make you happy? Don’t you hear them whispering, Purim is on its way….

Now, the recipe below is not just a simple Hamentashen recipe. It’s really an awesome cookie dough recipe that could be used for various uses, aside from hamentashen, but also including hamentashen. This dough could be used for fun cookie-cutter cookies with sprinkles and chocolate chips; it could be used for a cherry pie; or it could be used for hamentashen! Understood? My mother gave me the recipe, and she received it from our very dear neighbors, the Shurins.

The dough tastes delicious, both baked and raw! It is a bit sticky, though, so make sure to work on a floured surface, and constantly add flour to your hands and the rolling pin. Don’t knead more flour into the dough; this will affect the consistency and texture of your cookie.

See here for steps 3 and 4

I must give some credit to my husband, who helped me with the forming of the hamentashen. Last year, when I was making hamentashen, he asked me if he could help. I said yes, but I was really bossy about it. I explained to him how making hamentashin is complicated and you need to pinch it just like this and roll it like this and don’t put too much of that...you get the picture. In any case, his hamentashen came up way better than mine EVER did! My father ate over during the meal that we served them, and he asked if they came from a bakery. That is the reason why I begged him to do them with me this year!

Have fun getting into the Adar spirit and please post any questions!

Hamentashen

Prep time: 1 hour

Bake time: 30 minutes

Yields: 24 Hamentashen

Ingredients:

Cookie Dough:

3 eggs

1 cup sugar

¾ cup oil

2 ½ teaspoons vanilla

2 ½ teaspoons baking powder

2 tablespoons orange juice

4 to 5 cups four + more for shaping

Hamentashen Filling:

The jelly of your choice

  

Instructions:

1.       Put all of the cookie dough ingredients in a large bowl. Start with using 4 cups of flour. Slowly add more as needed. **The dough is supposed to be sticky. Cover with towel and place in fridge for a minimum of 20 minutes.

2.       Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

3.       Place dough on floured surface. Put flour on your hands and on the rolling pin. This should help with the “stickiness”. Roll the dough with the rolling pin until it becomes evenly thin. Not too thin, though! (see pic above for exact thinness)

4.       Take a glass cup and flour the mouth of the cup. Then use your cup as a cookie cutter to make circle shapes in the dough. Remove the excess dough from around the circle (see pic above)

5.       Place around a ½ teaspoon of jelly on each circle cut-out.

6.       Pinch the 3 corners of the circle together. It is important to pinch tightly, as it is not uncommon for the dough to bake apart in the oven.

7.       There you have it- your very own hamentash!

8.       Repeat with the remaining dough

9.       Place 1 inches apart on cookie sheet covered in parchment paper. Bake for 12-15 minutes or until golden brown at the edges

**My advice: After you place your first batch in the oven, wait until their done to make your second batch. Sometimes the hamentashen could look very different once their baked compared to when their raw. This could give you tips on what you want to do differently for your next batch! (i.e.- you may need to pinch harder, you may need to roll your dough thinner/thicker, you need more/less jelly….)