I dread making hamantashen ever year. They’re fussy little sugar cookies shaped into tri-cornered hats and filled with something yummy. This year I filled them with homemade prune and apricot lekvar from my TWD/BWJ rugelach. Perfect for Hamantashen. In years past, I’ve used chocolate chips, raspberry jam, apricot preserves, and once I made a cooked apple filling which was delicious, but perhaps too much work for a cookie that is already a lot of work. Know what I mean?
But this year? it wasn’t so bad. I made the dough this morning, and then the cookies this afternoon and after dinner. And now they’re done. All that’s left is to distribute to friends!
Hamantashen
adapted from Gourmet Magazine, March 1997, makes approximately 48 cookies- 4 cups all-purpose flour
- 1/2 cup sugar
- 1/4 teaspoon salt
- 2 sticks (1 cup) cold unsalted butter, cut into bits
- 8 ounces cream cheese, cut into bits
- 3 large egg yolks
- 2 teaspoons vanilla
Put the dry ingredients into the bowl of your food processor, and give them a whirl so they’re mixed. Add the butter and cream cheese and pulse until it is the consistency of coarse crumbs.
Add the eggs and vanilla. pulse some more.
the dough will not come together into a ball.
gather it into a ball on the counter and mash into a square or rectangle. wrap in saran wrap and cool in the fridge for at least an hour.
roll it out and cut circles and form them into three cornered hats
Continue rolling cookies from the scraps. It’ll be a little harder to seal the corners, but even if they fall apart…they’ll still be tasty.
they should end up looking something like this:
What great little cookies. They look yummy!
I have never seen a hamantashen recipe with cream cheese. How was the texture/flavor in comparison to the rugelach pastry? How does this hamantashen compare with other ones you have had? I skipped making them this year because I had just finished making the rugelach and needed a break. My usual recipe uses oil instead of butter, so I am interested in hearing what you have to say. Thanks!
It was actually very similar to the rugelach—especially in the batch that had not been re-rolled. I’ve been making this recipe for so long, I don’t even remember how it compares to other recipes. I will say, that just like the rugelach, this recipe requires fast work, or it gets messy–quick!