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With the holiday music comes the holiday baking.  While many opt for gingerbread and sugar cookies, I happen to be quite fond of hamantaschen.  I’m a little late to the game on these (or at least I never knew how to pronounce the name of these sweet treats), I’ve fallen hard and fast.  A traditional cookie made during the Jewish holiday of Purim, they are sure to delight any sweet toothed cookie lover.  While they look pretty fancy and complicated… again, I made them.  If I can do it- so can you.

Ingredients:

• 2/3 cup unsalted butter
• 1/2 cup sugar
• 1 egg
• 1/2 teaspoon vanilla
• 2 1/2  cups all-purpose flour
• 1 teaspoon baking powder
• dash of salt
• Fruit filling (I used apricot, raspberry, and almond)

Directions:

1. Cream the butter with sugar. Add egg and continue creaming until smooth. 
2. Add the vanilla.
3. Stir in flour, baking powder, and salt until a ball of dough is formed (a food processor would have been helpful for this). 
4. Chill for 2-3 hours, or overnight.
5. Preheat oven to 375 degrees.
6. Taking 1/4 of the dough, roll out on a lightly floured board to a thickness of 1/8 inch.
7. Cut circles of dough with a drinking glass or round cookie-cutter. 
8. With your finger put water around the rim of the circle. Fill with 1 teaspoon of filling and fold into three-cornered cookies. (Press two sides together, and then fold the third side over and press the ends together.) 
9. Bake on a well-greased cookie sheet 10-16 minutes, until the tops are golden. (I prefer for them to be a bit lighter, so stay near the oven- they cook fast).

Be sure to let these cool before boxing up or trying to serve/eat.  It takes a little bit of time before the fruit filling goes from molten lava back to solid again.  I may or may not know this because I splattered it down the front of my face and shirt.  Patience is a virtue, my friends.  You also might notice I rolled out the dough on tin foil (DOH!).  Wax paper would be a more prudent choice- but beggars can’t be choosers and it all worked out in the end.  So, be sure to add these delicious (and impressive) cookies to your holiday baking repertoire.

xx,
WhyDid