Hamantaschen, another cookie with Jewish heritage, also falls into the “cookie pastry†category. I would dare say that these little tri-cornered pockets, filled with preserves or homemade fillings, almost seem of their own type of “cookie tart†and could find their place rightfully in that role on any teatime table.
I first tasted Hamantaschen — which are commonly served for the Jewish spring holiday of Purim — in a packaged form and was immediately smitten. A shortbread-like dough, in a unique triangular shape (said to resemble a three-cornered hat…for more on the cookies’ history, go to https://www.foodandwine.com/news/history-hamantaschen), filled to the brim with apricot filling. What’s not to love?
Every year, I vow to make them…then, per usual, somehow I get on to other things and remember how I forgot to make them later (TMI to my state of mind, sorry). But this year, with my “cookie-of-the-month†feature in place, Hamantaschen would have a priority in my springtime baking poster.
Some Hamantaschen recipes include butter; some are dairy-free (using oil). I picked a recipe from King Arthur Flour (https://www.kingarthurbaking.com/recipes/hamantaschen-recipe), that gave the option of using butter or butter-flavored shortening, if one wanted to make them dairy-free. I thought this was a good compromise. Since I am not Jewish, and mainly cookie-curious, I went ahead and chose to use butter.
[M]y mantra of putting lemon zest in everything was satisfied with this recipe, which calls for two tablespoons. Â It would add nice flavor to the cookie dough, which also included vanilla and calls for lemon oil. Since I did not have lemon oil, I decided to go with a wee bit of almond extract.
[T]hese flavorings are creamed with butter, sugar and salt to a fine fluffy consistency in the stand mixer.
[F]lour, baking powder and an egg-and-a-half (one egg and one egg white) are added to make a somewhat crumbly dough.
[W]ith a little handiwork, the dough came together to be pressed to form a ball.
[I] cut the dough in half and wrapped the two disks of cough in plastic to chill. Though the directions say to chill for an hour, I left mine in until the next day, when I would roll out, fill and shape the cookies.
[I] let the dough warm up slightly on the counter, then rolled it out on a lightly floured work surface to about 1/4-inch thick. Using my handy 3-1/2-inch cutter (I got a nice no -frills, utilitarian set of round cutters in a range of sizes), I cut circles of dough. Sizing it all up, It looked to me that the yield of this recipe would be far less than the four dozen promised by the recipe. I would likely end up with half that (just a forewarning).
[I] placed about six dough circles on my parchment-lined baking sheet.
[W]hile a poppyseed filling (using dried fruits and honey) is common for Hamantaschen, you can also fill them with preserves. I had found some apricot and pear (!) preserves at a local open-air market that I thought would be perfect for these cookies.
[T]he preserves were thick and full of chunks of fruit. They nearly gleamed as I doled out teaspoonfuls on each dough round. Recommendations I read said it was best to under-fill than overfill each cookie.
[T]he leftover egg yolk from the eggs used in the dough was beaten with water and used as a “glue†brushed around the edge of each dough round.
[I]was a little wary of the shaping (knowing my inability for precision in pretty much anything that requires uniformity and precision), but it was almost a natural and actually fun process. The cookies I’d eaten had a kind of pinched-together shape. I had also seen Hamantaschen that appeared to have folded corners. I chose to pinch three corners together, striving for some sort of uniformity, but mainly making sure there would be a solid pocket for the filling.
[T]hey turned out pretty well. I had also been concerned about the dough cracking, but it was sturdy enough and the molding went along swimmingly (sometimes these tactile practices, in our technological age, are pure heaven).
[T]he little triangular pockets baked up to a light golden brown…no filling was lost and they pretty much held their shape.
[W]hen they were placed on the rack to cool, I decided to eat one warm. Oh, boy, these would have to make more than a one-time appearance in my kitchen. The tender, slightly sweet dough held just enough of the chunky preserves, like a perfect little tart, for holidays or anytime.
For the recipe, go to https://www.kingarthurbaking.com/recipes/hamantaschen-recipe.