Through the years I’ve tried several different types of Hamentashen. Some of my favorites include almond pastry with apricot filling, gingerbread pastry with pear filling, cream cheese pastry with any fruit filling, yeast pastry and chocolate pastry with cherry filling. Though all good, sometimes I think there’s nothing better than a plain-old-simple-pastry with assorted fruit fillings.
Here’s my recipe for Simple Hamantashen dough. You can fill these with anything you want — jam, pie filling, chocolate, etc. I’ve made my own apricot, pear, poppy seed, prune and other fillings, but there are lots of great fillings out there, ready to go. Use whatever you like.
I use lemon zest in the recipe because I really love the hint of lemon flavour it adds to the cookies, but you can leave it out and they’ll still be delicious.
Ingredients:
- 1/2 cup margarine, soft
- 1/2 cup white sugar
- 2 large eggs
- 1 tsp. vanilla
- zest of one lemon
- 1 tsp. baking powder
- 1/4 tsp. salt
- 2 1/2 cups flour
- assorted fruit jams, pie fillings or other fillings
Preheat an oven to 350°.
Using an electric mixer or a stand mixer with the paddle attachment, cream the margarine and sugar together until light and fluffy. Add the eggs and vanilla and mix until incorporated. Add the lemon zest, baking powder and salt and mix through. Add the flour and mix on low until it’s all combined and a ball of dough forms.
Divide the dough into 2 sections, setting one aside. Roll the other section approximately 1/8″ thick on a well-floured counter. Use a cutter to cut out 2 1/2″ – 3″ circles. You can keep the scraps and re-roll them once.
Place about 1 tsp. of a filling of your choice in the center of each circle. Bring three sides of the dough together to make a triangle. Pinch the three corners together and place on a baking sheet lined with parchment paper. Continue with the rest of the dough.
Place the hamantashen in the oven and bake 15-17 minutes, or until the bottom and edges are golden brown.
You can make the dough the day before you want to make them, keeping it in the fridge, well wrapped.
Makes approximately 4 dozen hamantashen.
