This year, I decided that I wanted to make Raspberry Cheesecake Hamantaschen, but to get the total cheesecake experience, I realized that the dough couldn’t just be vanilla (though there’s nothing wrong with vanilla dough). To make them extra-special, I knew that my cheesecake hamantaschen had to have the graham wafer flavour that you typically get with the graham wafer crust on a cheesecake.

It took a few tries (one was tooooo soft and I had cheesecake filling everywhere, one had too much cinnamon – it needed just a hint and one was too dry), but I finally came up with a version that I love!

The added bonus of this dough is that you can easily use it to make S’more Hamantaschen by filling it with chocolate pieces/chips and marshmallow fluff, and it’s really delicious filled with apricot or other fruit fillings.

Ingredients

• 114 grams butter, softened (1/2 cup)
• 170 grams brown sugar (3/4 cup)
• 85 grams honey (1/4 cup)
• 2 large eggs
• 1 tsp vanilla extract
• 1/2 tsp salt
• 1 tsp baking powder
• 1/4 tsp baking soda
• 1/4 tsp ground cinnamon
• 140 grams all-purpose white flour (1 cup)
• 280 grams whole wheat flour (2 cups)

In a stand mixer, use the paddle to cream the butter and brown sugar together.  Add the honey and mix until well-combined. Add the eggs, one at a time, then add the vanilla, mixing each addition until incorporated.

Add the salt, baking powder, baking soda and cinnamon and mix through. Add the flours and mix on low until just combined and a ball of dough forms.  Divide the dough in half, flatten each half into disks about 1-inch thick and wrap in plastic wrap.  Refrigerate until chilled, about one hour.

When you’re ready to make the hamantaschen, preheat the oven to 350ºF.  Roll out one piece of dough on a well-floured work-surface, about ⅛-inch thick.  Use a 3-inch round cutter or glass to cut out circles of dough. Collect the scraps to re-roll.

Place approximately 1 tsp. of filling in the center of each circle. Bring 3 sides of the dough together to make a triangle over the filling (check out one of my videos for a demonstration (like this one). Pinch the three corners together to seal them and place on baking sheets lined with parchment paper.

Bake on the middle racks of the oven for 8 minutes, turn the tray and bake another 5-7 minutes, or until the edges are golden brown. Remove from the oven and let cool.