Ingredients:
3 cups flour
1/2 cup sugar
3/4 cup butter, room temperature
3 eggs, at room temperature
2 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
2 teaspoons orange zest
1/2 teaspoon ground roasted or regular ginger
jam (I used my Cara Cara Orange Jam)
Directions:
Preheat oven to 375. Line two cookie sheets with silipats or parchment paper. In a large bowl, beat together the butter, sugar and egg. Add the remaining dry ingredients. Mix until smooth. Roll the dough out onto a clean, floured surface. When the dough is about a 1/4 inch thick, cut 2 1/2-3 inch* circles out of the dough. Place them on the prepared pans. Spoon some jam into the middle of each circle. Fold three sides towards the center and press down (this part is commonly referred to as “pinching” the corners but it should be more like “pressing”) to form a triangle. Bake 12 minutes or until golden.
*I use my doughnut cutter with the insert removed.
Yield: 2-3 dozen cookies depending on size.
Note: I recommend only rolling out the scraps once.
My thoughts:
I fancy myself some what of a hamantaschen connoisseur. I wrote an article about Purim and hamantaschen for NPR a while back, I’ve created recipes for a rugelach-inspired cream cheese based hamantaschen with fig and ginger filling, chocolate hamantaschen and vegan hamantaschen (which is perfect for people who keep kosher because it is dairy free) filled with kiwi jam. I haven’t made hamantaschen in a couple of years but when I got into canning, I knew I’d have to make a batch. For this version I went for a more butter cookie-esque dough and flavored it with lots of fresh zest and ground ginger. So good! I am happy to say we did not have a single cookie unfold from the entire batch. Take care to press down those corners.
The citrus scented cookie was sent the next level by my use of the orange jam but any citrus jam or even marmalade would be tasty. Or really, any jam as long as it is fairly thick. Thin jams or jellies will run out of the cookies and scorch.
Looks delicious!
Happy purim !! i was just thinking if i should buy some "oznay haman" or make them myself for the "mishloach-manot" i am still thinking….:) they looks really good!
OMG! I love hamantaschen. When i was in college, I worked in a kosher bakery with this old curmudgeon of a guy who made a delicious seeded rye while a cigarette dangled from his thin lips(he didn't really give a damn about health codes. Hell, he predated health codes.) It was like he stepped straight out of film noir. Most of the recipes were big secrets and I've never found a recipe for hamantaschen that was as good. Can't wait to try this!!!!