hamantaschen
Living in New York City, I sometimes forget that the rest of the world isn’t aware of Jewish holidays and foods the way they are here, where babka and challah are bakery staples and admirable efforts at hamantaschen are available year round at diners and coffee shops. So for a quick review, hamantaschen are three-cornered cookies typically filled with jams or a poppy seed paste and eaten during the Jewish holiday of Purim. Their shape is modeled after the three-corner hat purported to be worn by the holiday’s villain, Haman. I always think of the holiday as kind of a Jewish Mardi Gras, replete with carnivals, costumes and a good amount of libations–a fun reprieve from the fall’s more somber High Holidays.
To keep them Kosher, most hamantaschen recipes call for oil or margarine instead of butter, but seeing as we are not, I’ve been on what seems a never-ending hunt for a buttery, richer version–. It is important that the walls do no slump in the oven, so a dough more firm than your average shortbread is required, but one that hopefully does not veer into the bland or crunchy-hard zone. The bit that fells my efforts each time, however, is trying to keep the corners together in the oven. For some reason, every time my efforts hit the heat, they just sigh and sprawl out like a cat taking a nap in the sunniest spot of the living room rug. This year was no different, leading me to concur that it is time for me to either begin twisting-and-pinching the corners or adhering them with some egg wash.
Fortunately, I was able to salvage a few, not that there were any complaints from the smittenkitchen tasters. But all of those notes will have to be tucked away for next year, as just twelve hours after taking these mostly-pancaked hamantaschen out of the oven I was baking for the next delicious holiday, Easter.
Hamantaschen
I love using a little cream cheese in the dough to give it a little more flavor and tenderness. Be sure to seal the corners well–hamantaschen pancakes are much harder to pack in a tin!
Yield: About 22 2-inch cookies
8 tablespoons unsalted butter, softened
3 ounces cream cheese at room temperature
3 tablespoons sugar
1 egg
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1/2 teaspoon orange zest
1 1/3 cups plus 4 teaspoons flour
1/4 teaspoon salt
Various jams (we used raspberry, blackberry and apricot, but my favorite is this stuff) or prepared fillings (such as poppy seed or prune pastry filing)
Cream butter and cream cheese together until smooth. Add sugar and mix for one minute longer, then egg, vanilla extract, orange zest and salt, mixing until combined. Finally, add the flour. The mixture should come together and be a tad sticky. If it feels too wet, add an additional tablespoon of flour.
Form dough into a disc, wrap in plastic and refrigerate for at least an hour.
Preheat oven to 350°F.
To form the hamantaschen, roll out the dough on a well-floured surface until it is about 1/4-inch thick. Using a round cookie cutter (3 inches is traditional, but very large; I used one that was 2 1/2 inches), cut the dough into circles. Spoon a teaspoon of you filling of choice in the center. Fold the dough in from three sides and firmly crimp the corners and give them a little twist to ensure they stay closed. Leave the filling mostly open in the center. Bake on a cookie sheet lined with parchment paper and bake until golden brown, about 20 minutes.
Cool on racks. Resist the urge to try a still-hot one unless a jam-burnt tongue is as much of your Purim tradition as are these cookies.















They look sooooo delicious! Maybe making them is like photography. You take 100 photos hoping to get a handful of decent ones, and you make 100 hamantaschen with the same hope.
And those places that sell seemingly perfect ones? They’re eating all the rejects themselves.
Absolutely gorgeous! And I can tell they are very very flaky. Well done!
it looks like you’re not rolling the dough out thin enough. i’ve been baking hamantaschen since i was 5, so i’m somewhat of an expert. also, your folding technique leaves a bit to be desired (sorry but it’s true). you can lay the dough flat across the jam, and let the corners overlap, rather than just standing the edges upright. also, be careful of over-filling. it’s tempting, but results in the cookies falling apart. better luck next year!
The jam looks like the best part. I’d choose a slightly overfilled, imperfect one over a perfect looking one any day.
On a side note, I made your Russian black bread for Easter and it was my first completely successful breadmaking attempt! I’m so pleased.
As long as they taste good, that’s really all that’s important.
Wait…why are YOU baking for Easter?
Hooray for the Russian black bread! I have intended to make it everyday for the last three weeks–we totally miss it when we’re out.
Hil — I have an Easter dinner to go to! I’m so excited. Friend from high school, reconnected through the awesome that is Facebook.
Perhaps it is a geographic difference, but all the hamentashen I have ever consumed at all the various synogogues I have attended have been much more covered — there is barely any filling visible through the tops of the dough. Much easier to pack and eat that way, and I do believe it retains the triangular shape much better. I tried my hand for the first time at making hamentashen this year, and they came out fabulous! I couldn’t have been more pleased. But mine were significantly more covered than yours — fold the dough actually OVER the filling. Like I said, however, the exact folding a hamentash may be divided by regional Jewish populations.
I followed the following recipe, but used apricot jam in lieu of cherries.
http://www.recipezaar.com/55454
i’ve never made them
but as a kid – we loved them so
the purim carnival at our jewish center was so much fun…
(forest hills, queens)
this is about 40 years ago now – and that is totally freakin’ scary
deb – i am waiting patiently for your black & white recipe…
pleeeeeeze???
Thanks so much for posting the recipe and pictures- I’m without my cookbooks here in Berlin and haven’t googled a recipe for poppyseed filling yet that I like (and can make without a food processor)- do you or any other reader have one to share?
I also agree with the above posters that you need to fold the sides over much more to hold the shape (and to make tranport easier), remember that Hamantashen means Haman’s pockets and should be thought of as a form of beggar’s purse.
so cute! the photos are great. i definitely see these in delis all the time, but yours are infinitely prettier!
i remember making these last year(your recipe) and my corners also flattened out. i bet it won’t be long before williams-sonoma comes out with a hamantaschen pan for perfect triangles!
I was reading on allrecipes.com http://allrecipes.com/Recipe/Hamantashen/Detail.aspx that some freeze them before baking to help retain their shape.Worth a try!
I’ve never heard of these before although they look familiar. I have a feeling I’ve seen these in pastry shops. I’m not much of a fan of apricot jam when it’s on a sandwich or something, but it is the best flavored jam for pastries, muffins and cookies as far as I’m concerned. I would want to try a brown sugar, maple and walnut filling. Thanks for sharing!
- The Peanut Butter Boy
These look absolutely fabulous!
Yay! My great aunt had her own recipe for hamantaschen with a cream cheese dough; I think she learned it from her Philadelphian/New Yorker mother. It’s much whiter and softer than yours, I think, but it’s all a matter of taste. I like to make a prune filling from jarred prunes and sugar, mmm. Takes a lot of cooking, but it’s perfect with that dough.
I had my first hamantaschen this past week when my office mate brought some in. There wasn’t as much flavor as I would have liked, but I think she was close to getting it just right! Apple was my favorite.
deb – i think you are fantastic! as is your gorgeous website… i’ve spent the last two-ish hours putting off a paper i should be writing, by reading each and every one of your old posts. i think an accurate summation of my response to each entry would simply be the sound of drool hitting my keyboard (unfortunately apple doesn’t cover ‘destruction by saliva’ in their protection plan).
i would like to thank you for indulging my senses, not only for gastronomy, but visually as well, while providing a much needed answer to my frequent question of, “what shall i do to procrastinate today?”
- grateful college student in OR.
WOW those look yummy. I love apricot jam! My mouth is WATERING! Yeah, maybe chilling the dough would help retain the shape of the hamantaschen. It’s worth a try next Purim. Peace!
Hamantaschen are my favorite cookies/pastries. I eat them all year round. I don’t walk out of a deli without having one with my coffee. But I do notice that some establishments are chintzy with the jam… that’s why I will now carry the photo of your hamantaschen wherever I go as a prototype.
They look so pretty, like stained glass. I’m sure they were tasty.
actually it is sort of a purim weekend bc today is shushan purim, the day that cities that have been walled since the time of the story of purim celebrate the holiday (jerusalem is one of those cities). when purim falls on friday they push shushan purim off to sunday so as not to take away from shabbos.
I woke up this morning and got dressed for church, thinking all the while that I would use my Easter afternoon to make hamantaschen (because I love me some Jewish food, even if I am Episco).
I googled around a bit and couldn’t settle on a recipe and OMG so many fillings to pick from, so I gave up and made your Blue Chip Chocolate Chip Cookies instead — two of which are sitting on a napkin right here next to my keyboard, still warm!! (Two more of which are now sitting on my thighs…)
Now I think I’m baked out for the week, but I might do the hamantaschen next week, because YUM they look good and what do I care that Purim’s over, since it’s not even my holiday. I go to the Church of Cookies Whenever You Want Them!
I made the greatest hamentaschen ever about 10 years ago and never saved the recipe and have been searching ever since. I recall it had powdered sugar instead of regular sugar which gave it that “shortbread” taste – they were amazing! I too attempted them again this year and they were just “ok”. Still searching for the older one in vain I suppose.
However a jewish cook/mom that I rely on for all my jewish recipes suggested that the filling is really the part that matters most. She uses Lekvars Prune Butter and mixes that with some sugar, some ground walnuts, some orange juice and orange zest and WOW incredible..
As always, your pictures are delicious!
After years of experimentation, I found the perfect hamentaschen dough recipe in California Kosher (the one without the orange juice). It makes a fine dough, very flavorful, and it does not fall apart or collapse. I can even make lemon curd filled ones, which are notorious for falling apart. My favorite? The almond stuff from Solo in the can, with chocolate chips. To die for. I’m a fan of mun (poppy seed) too, but I do not like raspberry unless it is seedless.
These look so delicious – definitely making these soon!
After years of struggling with crumbly hamantaschen dough from all different sources, I have finally perfected a sugar cookie dough that rolls out and seals beautifully! :) But I aaaaalways fill mine with homemade poppy seed filling. Or apricot jam. Yum!
I actually forgot to mention that I froze one tray of these for an hour before baking them, to see if they’d better hold their shape. Sadly, they didn’t. Just wanted to mention in case someone was going to try that–don’t want you to waste your time!
So glad to know that I am not the only one whose hamentaschen fall apart– one tip: if you chill them for 15 min after forming and before baking, it helps. I also tend to think that if you use less filling they stay the right shape, but, then again, are less tasty… I have made a poppy seed dough (add poppy seeds to your std dough) with homemade lemon curd filling – really wonderful.
They look delicious, kinda like puffy pillows.
I made these the same way Julie described — folding the dough onto itself instead of making “walls”… we had one leaker in the whole bunch. [It hardly counts cause we knew we had overfilled it] The egg wash definitely helps – if you do choose to fold over, try tucking the last edge under the first edge.
BTW these graced my easter table after I saw them in Washington Post, serious eats and one other place in the space of two days… it was a sign that they needed to be made!
We made them with the second-grade religious school class I teach and they came out great–I’ll have to ask my co-teacher (who was in charge of the folding part of the project) exactly how he did it.
My favorite hamentashen innovation: NUTELLA FILLING.
I am so glad you explained what these things were…for a minute there, I thought I was the only person who had no clue what you were talking about. And now I still have no clue how to say it! Ahh well…but they are beautiful!
Ho, those look so pretty! I love jam-filled cookies. I’ll have to give these a try. I’ve never used cream cheese in a crust before, so it’ll be a fun experiment for me!
These look wonderful. Have never seen these before.
These look beautiful – I love the colors! But just a small clarification – adding butter has no affect on the “Kosher-ness” of the recipe, assuming the butter is already Kosher. Butter simply makes the hamantashen dairy rather than pareve, so you can’t serve them with a meat meal.
They look great. Growing up I always made some with chocolate filling, while non-traditional really good as well with the basic dough. Have you started thinking about passover deserts yet? I always find it so hard to make anything good for desert, I have a few good recipes, but I am always looking for more to change it up every year.
Ooh, so pretty! Is it awful that I could identify these in the Flickr thumbnail from reading “All of a Kind Family” books in my childhood?
Hi Deb,
First of all, let me tell you that I love your blog! Your writing, photography, and recipes are so inspiring (and appetizing!)
It is interesting that you mention that Hamentaschen are shaped like Haman’s hat; in Israel we learn that they are mentioned like Haman’s ears. Moreover, when I was searching for Hamentaschen recipes to make this year, I found out that the name probably stemmed from a German word, Mohntaschen, which means Poppy-seed pockets.
I also made Hamentaschen this year; you can find the recipe that I’ve used in my blog, here: http://foldingpain.blogspot.com/2008/03/bbd-8-ozney-haman-hamentashen.html
This is a really good recipe, and I found that they don’t open (just squeeze them well, and use a chilled dough). I wish you better success with the shaping next time!
Yum! Purim is like Halloween in my neighborhood, all the Hasids (who’e outfits are already pretty spectacular to begin with) wear costumes. I bet they don’t get free candy by going door to door though. But those cookies look like a pretty good trade off.
purim is my favorite jewish holiday. costumes! cookies! banging on pots! what’s not to love? and i’m not even jewish.
i will gladly accept all your irregular hamantashen.
I agree that I think you’re over-filling the hamantaschen, which is part of the reason they’re busting open. I generally find a flatter shape more conducive to the cookies staying together properly–instead of pinching the corners together upright, try folding one side over another and pinching them together in a layered way.
I made hamantaschen on Saturday with your last year’s NPR recipe–they were a big hit! Thanks!
I’m another one who’s never heard of/ had hamantaschen (I have to keep scrolling upwards to check how to spell it) but these look gorgeous (if you need someone to, er, dispose of your irregular ones, by the way, I think I can find them a good home)…
Heey! those are lovely. I mean, really lovely; and you say they can be made with poppy seeds or your “this stuff” (I’m pretty sure you wanted a link there)? Mmm
I do, I’m afraid, agree with Sophie that you might be overfilling them slightly… but you know what? it’s the imperfect ones that are the most fun to eat.
For Easter, will you make Kulichi? (your DH or his mum might know what I’m talking about)
they have candied cirus peel in them… *bats eyelashes*
This year I did something while making my hamantashen that yeilded unusually well shaped cookies. I put the shaped cookies back in the fridge to chill out before putting them in the oven to bake. The only batch that didn’t fall apart was the one that didn’t go into the fridge. of course this was discovered because I just couldn’t get them all done with my twins crying and wanting to eat. so I put them in the fridge so I could come back to them later. It worked so well I’ll do it again next year on purpose.
I use this recipe http://www.epicurious.com/recipes/food/views/13708 though I find it works better with 2 egg yolks instead of one. My filling is a mix of prunes, apricots and a whole lemon ground to a paste in the food processor
I’ve made hamantashen for years and mine only spread out when I use jam instead of homemade filling. I usually stew apricots and/or prunes and mash them up with a little sugar or lemon juice as needed. The filling is nice and thick (and delicious) and they hold their shape perfectly.
You should invent a baking grid of triangles to set on a cookie sheet so you can have perfect triangles with whatever dough is most delicious. Ideally it would come apart for easy cleaning and close down for easy storage but be able to be locked open for baking. I don’t ask much, do I? LOL
These look delicious. Could you try forming and filling them, then chilling them on cookie sheets before baking? I wonder if that would help control the spread.
Oh so nice to see that I’m not the only fool whose hamentaschen fall apart in the over. I was so devastated when the first batch came out, especially since I wanted to give them away as gifts but I was too embarassed by their ugliness. I agree with the other posters that making them flatter and folding over the dough instead of pinching works best.
Beautiful photos!
I might have to give these a try. I love doughs with cream cheese.
Mmm. I made some too, though without cream cheese in the dough – and a fair number opened up in the oven too.
But, after I posted the recipe, someone commented that true hamantashen are made with a yeast dough, and only with a poppy seed filling. I don’t think I’ve ever seen a yeast dough recipe. You?
I have seen both yeast and non-yeast version, but this (well, minus the cream cheese) were always what I had growing up, so I think I like them more.
I always cave in this sort of situation and end up with the jam-burned tongue. Without fail!
Thank you, Claudia! I too am waiting patiently (or not) for the black & white recipe.
Will I come under fire for suggesting that your hamantaschen, viewed aerially, look rather like stylized illustrations of the female reproductive system seen in science textbooks? They’re no less beautiful for it, though.
Wow!
I have been in the south too long. I remember these as a kid in Philadelphia. The holidays too. Not the same in Georgia.
Thanlks for the memories.
Try using cherry pie or blueberry pie filling in the center instead of jam – if you pinch the sides hard enough, the filling won’t run out. I made a batch using a recipe from a friend that – after almost a decade of searching for THE recipe – has got to be the BEST hamentaschen recipe I have ever tried – almost foolproof. But I like to mix things up a bit – in the blueberry batch, I made the dough with orange zest and almond extract; in the cherry batch (personally my favorite) I used lemon zest and homemade vanilla. I froze my first batch because I needed them for my Purim party and when I went into my freezer a day later, almost all of them were gone! #@$! So I had to make another batch – hence the blueberry hamentaschen. They were incredible! (PS – for those interested, I used whole wheat pastry flour for the dough and no one was the wiser :)
I love your blog. So many great things to make and eat. I’m only 12, but I’m always showing my Mom all the great posts and recipes you have listed. I’ll be checking back!! Cambria
I’m with Boaz… I thought they were meant to be Haman’s ears, as the Hebrew name (Oznei Haman) indicates. Still delicious… but it’s fun to tell kids that they are eating Haman’s ears… gives the jam a different connotation!
I thought the way you pinched them made them -the ones that held together- look super modern and stylish and I was feeling impressed. A totally updated presentation to the flap style. I love the way they look.
I grew up with these made by a genuine old school Polish granny who always used prune, poppyseed – my all-time favorite filling – and apricot preserves. The prune with orange zest and ground walnuts sounds amazing!
your amazing Haman’s ears looking like Mark Chagall’s windows.
Dont know how you are so hearless to eat them.
Belated Happy Purim
Meir.
I seem have much better luck with a Marcy Goldman recipe that has butter and shortening in it from” A Treasury of Jewish Holiday Baking” than the cream cheese versions I have tried…I use jam and not her fillings. They stay together a lot better than the cream cheese version , well mostly…I may have lost one or two but those were the cooks treat. I find that chilling them after forming them for about 15 minutes before baking helps them stay together….I also make the dough the day before I plan to bake them and keeping it in the fridge for a few hours at least helps a great deal. It is a very soft dough and bakes up with a wonderful texture. I made about 6 batches this year to give away…They were wonderful! I use milk and not the orange juice…the taste of the cookie brings back a wonderful childhood taste memory….just like they came from an old fashioned neighborhood Jewish bakery!
These look simply divine! I only just last week received some raspberry jam from a local farm – sugary sweet but still tart, and the best raspberry jam I’ve ever tasted (though I do take a particular liking to anything raspberry-ish). I’m very tempted to make a dessert with jam now! Thank you for the inspiration!
yummy! These look great! like pretty jam tarts!
Tried making these last night, really easy to prepare. Not alot came out perfectly, but even the flat mistakes were absolutely delicious!
I agree with Linda upthread. I used Marcy’s recipe last year and it was a huge sucess( although I did make the fillings). I just came back from Ft. Laud, FL where there is a huge Jewish population. I was in heaven( I think I’m the only jew in my small town in Ontario, Canada). I had black and whites, challah buns, babka, linzer tarts, corn muffins, rye bread and bagels to my hearts content!! It was hard coming back, but better for the waistline!!
hi deb,
i had exactly the same experience re:jam this weekend – the few that didn’t spread were those with less filling. however! those filled with poppy seed filling stayed lovely and triangular. a question of moisture content in the filling? anyway, i’m sure they were still delicious!
I’ve been meaning to make Hamantaschen every year since I got my own kitchen, but somehow Purim always sneaks up on me. Maybe I’ll bake up a batch just ’cause sometime in the next couple weeks…
Your hamantaschen came out so beautifully! I love your photos. I made some too this year, my recipe called for honey instead of sugar.
Hi, I make hamantashen with my Sunday School kids. Ages 12,12,12 and 7. We use the nontraditional fillings like choc chips, peanut butter, cherry filling and white choc chips. I used a recipe that resembes cookie dough.
Every year they get better and better.
Deb
Long time lurker, first time poster :-)
I attempted these last night! I was impressed with how easy it all was. The ingredients, the mixing, the forming… they were so cute! Then I baked them. They are quite dissatisfying to the eyes, but so fabulous in the belly.
I’m considering Hamantaschen Round 2 tonight.
Thanks!
I used a recipe I found on the blog Not Derby Pie. I usually use your recipes, but I made them before your post this year, and since you noted in your post last year that they didn’t come out the way you hoped, I looked elsewhere. Also, I was hesitant about the cream cheese and was looking for a recipe without that add on. In any case, they came out really well (and stayed triangular!) although the jam bubbled over a bit in some.
I read your blog all the time, and never comment….but I want to add that I love your food and your photos. I gave your guinness ganached goodness a shout out on another site today. That was my first from scratch cake ever and I’ve made it several times since. Huge hit!
I’m sure you don’t need yet ANOTHER person trying to help you with your Hamantaschen, BUT. I tried an old Hamantaschen recipe that worked out really well — very easy, in fact foolproof if you keep the dough chilled. It also uses butter, but no cream cheese, and so ends up with a more flaky, thin shortbready type cookie. Having had no problems with collapsing cookies, I can really recommend it for next year!
http://postcollegiatecooking.blogspot.com/2008/03/hamantaschen-for-good-friday-er-purim.html
Hi Deb,
Obviously, with 71 previous comments, you don’t need another opinion. However, I agree with the previous advice about the folding technique — though I don’t think “yours leaves something to be desired”! More like, your technique is not as effective if you’re going for corners staying together. That sounds less harsh, anyway.
The hamantaschen that my we always made when I was younger rarely showed much of their filling, which was always hilarious because we’d make two or three flavors and then have to guess at what was inside. My dad’s favorite were the prune ones, which were *not* the family favorite… (my favorite flavor is poppyseed)
Anyhow, I don’t think you have to roll them thinner — ours were usually quite heavy on the dough. Yum. I’ve never tried freezing or refrigerating, but I think that might work well, this being essentially a shortbread dough.
I’ve had so many store-bought, dry hamantaschen, but have never appreciated how difficult they would be to make. The cream cheese in your dough might just be genius, though.
Your hamantaschen look great! I’ve always thought living in New York would make it much easier to be a (half) Jew, frankly – the last two Passovers I spent in Cork, Ireland and Raleigh, North Carolina and this year I’m in Iowa City, Iowa. At least year I can afford fresh vegetables so it won’t be eight nights of eating nothing but carefully-checked-over white rice, hehe. Oh, what I’d give for a kosher deli…
My mom used to make these all the time growing up. Living in Oklahoma, we would definitely be in the “rest of the world” catagory. My great grandparents owned the first jewish bakery in Oklahoma for about 40 years called “Irenes Bakery”. I still have all the original recipes that my mother passed down to me including this one. I never thought to put cream cheese in the dough. I will have to make these here soon and play around with it a bit. Your site is wonderfully addicting. Thank you! : )
As we once again approach hamentaschen season I thought I’d check out your recipe. Although I’m game for jam-filled cookies, I definitely prefer poppyseed. Prepared poppyseed filling has never failed to disappoint, so I make my own filling, which involves simmering the poppyseeds with milk and adding some honey. Also, the hamentaschen of my youth were much more closed up, with an opening of maybe 3/4 of an inch across, and I sealed them by brushing with water; that way, if they ‘relaxed’ a little they’d still be at least partly closed.
hey. just wanted to say that when i make hamentaschen i try to fold the dough over the filling, they will stay together better. just a suggestion.
:)
Thanks, everyone! Followed the folding/pinching tips tonight and for the first time ever my h’n kept their shape. Whoo-hoo!
I have just discovered your blog and love it. As an avid cook the recipes are wonderful and the photography is to die for. This year was the first that I attempted Hamantashen. Mostly with results like yours. Misshapen and ugly but delicious Hamantashen. My errors were rolling the dough too thin; using a watery thinner jelly and definitely folding them wrong. Not to worry, I will certainly try again next year. Can’t wait to see what you are up to for Passover! Chag Sameach.
All I have to say is WOW! I made these tonight with my two yr old son and they came out sooooo good! What a treat! I used a scalloped-edged cookie cutter and they came out so pretty. I probably made them too big because I only got 16 cookies out of the recipe. Next year, I will double (or maybe triple) the recipe. Ooh, and I used a wonderful apricot marmalade that I picked up at Whole Foods. Soooo good. Thanks for sharing this recipe!
I made these today and they turned out pretty good! Well they tasted so good we didn’t care that the first batch spread. The second didn’t – I pinched them harder and had the heat a tiny bit lower. Since they are named after a three cornered hat and since the first ones flattened out I called them Jammy Tammys. I liked making them the day before Easter. Then my step-dot and I ate them while we dyed eggs Ukranian style. All good for this Buddhist!
Oh boy, do these look good!
I’m going around the web, looking for the perfect Hamantaschen recipe. I think I have to put this particular one on my list :-)
Looking at this post made me very excited to make some hamentaschen this week……yay purim!
I’ve found that if you put the cookies in the freezer (once you have filled them and pinched the corners) for about 30 min before putting them in the oven, the don’t spread nearly as much!
I came to your blog for inspiration to try, yet another, Hamantasched recipe this year to find one that doesn’t come open in the oven. Anyhow, your part about “…see how I added two days…” is actually spot on. In 2008, with Purim falling on a Friday night, it ws actually a Purim HaMeshulash which means it IS celebrated across three days! (Can’t give money to the poor on Shabbat, and not fair to make them wait another days, so the holiday stretches from Friday to Sunday!) Apparently, this won’t happen again until 2021. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Purim#Purim_HaMeshulash
I’ve got your dough recipe chillin in the fridge, waiting for kids to get come from school so they can ‘help.’
I just made amazing hamentashen for the first time and discovered the key to keeping those little edges attached. Make an egg wash and using your finger, lightly brush around the edge of the circle. When you squeeze together, it sticks beautifully and stays stuck together throughout the baking. Of course, it falls apart in your mouth while you are lovingly biting it! Yum.
My mom says they hold together when you use a firm, substantial filling like lekvar or mun, and fall flat when you use a thin filling like jam. The heavy filling holds the sides up.
First of all, I love your site, Deb! Beautiful and delicious. This was my VERY FIRST SK recipe to try, though. I made them twice–one batch yesterday and a double recipe tonight. Yesterday’s all opened, and I was a little sad that they weren’t pretty, but they were the most delicious hamantaschen I’d ever had. The cream cheese in the dough is amazing. Tonight I rolled the dough much thinner than I did last night, and I made a chocolate chip/cream cheese/brown sugar filling (because the jams tend to be runnier and more prone to opening). I also tried the pocket strategy for folding, the regular pinching, and also rolling up the sides to make sturdier “walls.” I think after all of that, the most successful strategy was just rolling the dough thinner. While last night almost all of them opened, tonight almost all of them stayed closed. Like earlier comments said, rolling it thinner kept them from falling open while naturally puffing up during the baking process.
I also like that your recipe doesn’t have shortening in it–that’s just not something I have on hand or want to have left over.
Happy Purim! Just spent the afternoon making a batch of these. Love the orange peel in the pastry! I made ‘em with a poppy seed filling, and found that if I edged the pastry circles with egg wash and watched that I didn’t overfill, NONE of these babies burst open. I got lovely looking—and dreamy tasting!— three cornered hats! Amazing, Deb! Again!
i made a batch of these the other night, and (1) they were the best-tasting hamentaschen i’ve ever had, but (2) you’re right — they pop open. i used the same folding method i’ve used with great success for years, but the dough puffs up more, and almost all of them fell open. ugly but delicious.
hey! Easter’s coming up again so i was looking through your recipes for a suitable recipe – you are now the first person/website/cookbook i come to for pretty much anything! there’s a link missing in your recipe though, i’m really interested in what your favourite filling is!
thank you for being the source behind many happy cooking recipes!
It’s the orange fig spread from a brand called Dalmatia. And it’s awesome. All fixed now, thanks!
I love making hamentaschen and usually make 24 dozen or more, using 5 or 6 different fillings. This way, there are enough to share with my married chilkdren and their children, as well as sharing a half dozen at a time with about 24 of my neighboring condos I have found Marcy Goldman’s suggestion of brushing each round of dough with an egg wash before filling and pinching closed really helps the hamentaschen hold their shape. The egg wash I use is: 1 egg, 1 egg yolk, 1 Tbsp. water, and a pinch of sugar.
Finally, after shamed too admit how many tries, figured out the mystery of hamentashen spreading. Fold the sides over and lay back down on the triangle do not pinch them up. They cannot hold the weight and fall. Have your brownie roll out cookie shaped in Hamentashen with caramel filling in the oven as we speak. Your blog has inspired me to try cooking many new things. You are awesome!!!
i didnt have cream cheese so i used an extra 6 tbsp butter, and it worked out fine. i had to add an extra egg white for everything to come together. they were delicious though! and they stay together fine if you put the sides flatter instead of straight up and down.
Deb – Did you (or do you plan to) try to find the perfect Hamentaschen recipe this year? I have been scouring the web trying to find an amazing one using butter, but just haven’t seen IT yet. Any help would be greatly appreciated!
Maybe someone already wrote that but in order to keep the tachens from opening I would put them in the fridge for 30 minutes before they go to the oven. Try it this year. Otherwise I love your blog and have used your recipes before. Yael
Did you ever figure out why they flatten out like pancakes in the oven? I just made a batch, and I’m disappointed (although they still taste good). I’d like to try again. Any tips for how to keep the shape?
I just made two batches and think I may have stumbled upon a hamantaschen pancake solution! The first batch fell (same thing happened last year), even with the egg wash edging, but for the second batch I was running out of filling so I put much less (about 1 teaspoon for about a 4inch cookie) in each cookie and voila! They stayed together! Lucky for me (we’re keeping the pancake batch instead of gifting), either way they still taste delicious:)
You’ve probably seen the nytimes article, but if not : http://www.nytimes.com/2011/03/16/dining/16purimrex1.html?ref=dining. It includes a recipe for homemade poppy seed filling! It also recommends chilling the shaped cookies for 1/2 hour before baking, which I think Commenter Yael also recommended for keeping the hat shape. I’m definitely going to use your cream cheese dough recipe, though — to make them more rugelach-like.
I just baked and tried these. Oddly enough, I’ve never had a real hamantaschen. The cookie part was on the drier side. Is that normal?
Hey there. Part of the reason that they are failing to hold their shape is that you are trying to make them stay by pinching them. If you want them to come out properly you have to fold the edges over one another instead (imagine closing a three-sided box), as others on here have mentioned.
I just made these! I didn’t use cream cheese, just used extra butter. I was going to use the apricot marmalade at my boyfriend’s house, but I made these at home so I used strawberry instead. I was bored and made candied lemon peel, then reduced the lemon syrup with some pulp inside and used that to fill half of the hamantaschen. I’ve never had a hamantaschen, but like these so far.
Made this for Purim today. The dough is wonderful (love the orange peel) but I’m afraid I still ended up with a lot of misshapen, slightly pancake-y cookies, even with a lot of folding over and pinching, and even some egg wash! As several people mentioned, I grew up eating hamantaschen that were completely closed (no filling showing), and figured this was a good way to go anyway if these were susceptible to opening. Still didn’t do the trick though. I got a few decent triangles… Most were kinda ugly but still really good :)
p.s. I’d love it if you could keep experimenting and figure out a way to keep this, or another recipe, closed in the oven! Thanks!
Just made them! They were delicious. Only problem is they didn’t close, per the other comments. But I enjoyed them so much I will keep trying! Thank you for the lovely recipes!
Deb – Any updates to this for this year? :)
Please add oz of flour to your future recipes. My all-purpose flour is 6 oz per cup and using that information, your recipe calls for 8.5 oz of all-purpose flour.
fold! don’t pinch — they don’t open up.
Wow, you guys did it again! I have never like Hamantaschen, so when my congregation asked me to make 200 of these cookies, I immediately went to Smitten Kitchen and you know what? You guys seem to not like Hamantaschen for the same reasons I do! The cream cheese is genius. My boyfriend tasted them and realized that he never really tasted good Hamantaschen until he ate the ones I made from your recipe. Thanks again!
I weigh 1 cup of all-purpose flour as about 4 1/3 to 4 1/2 ounces or 125 grams. I usually use King Arthur Unbleached, but find that most brands clock in at the same weight.
I have found my new favorite hamantaschen recipe, and it’s this. I doubled it (to add some to shalach manot baskets) and will likely make another double batch tomorrow – they’re too good to give all away!
Small tip for anyone reading the comments this far down: I found that the ones that held together best at the corners were the ones I rolled thinnest – the thicker the dough circle, the more likely it was to return to a circle when baking. But even the ugly ones taste delish!
You haven’t let me down with a recipe yet. Thanks, Deb.
Don’t pinch the corners, just fold them over. That will give you a triangle shape, but avoid the spreading.
These are lovely! Thanks for the recipe.
I am making these for this weekend we are having Purim tonite at services. I was wondering how they rise without any soda…maybe I am not used to butter cookies? I will also really fold them like was suggested.
I tried to describe how I fold my hamantaschen, but in the end I realized that it was better to go find a schematic online: http://theshiksa.com/2012/03/01/how-to-make-perfect-hamantaschen/
SixKiller — They’re beautiful! But my quibble with the folding technique is that although it’s obviously more effective, the cookies are supposed to resemble a traditional three cornered hat! And for that, they’d be pinched. However, if you want hamantaschen that work 100% of a time (a noble goal, of course) the folded corners are the way to go.
These hamantaschen are so perfect! The days leading up to Purim, I had, at least, four a day at my friend’s house. Seriously. I love these buttery and jam-y cookies. Intimidated to make them, though.
I made hamantaschen for the first time today for my bible study class. The first two batchest spread open and my husband re-read the directions and it said to pinch them together so you only see a small bit of the filling peeking out. Those turned out great! I didn’t freeze or even regrigerate the dough before baking them. Hope this helps. the only problem is you can only use a small bit of filling. otherwise it squishes out when pinching it together.
Deb, it’s been a few years since you made these (for blog purposes anyway) and I was wondering if you have any refinements to add. I’m in the process of converting to Judaism and am excited to try these. I made your challah bread last month. It was a bit dry (I over baked it) but a GORGEOUS six-braid loaf. It was too pretty to eat anyway!
You’re coming to Denver soon and I can’t wait to meet you. I describe you to friends and family as “my food blogger friend from NYC who doesn’t know we’re best friends yet.” ;) Safe travels!
Awesome recipe! Just made them for the first time, can’t go wrong here :) I did use my grandma’s advice about folding them. She’s always folded over the other fold – overlaping them and then pinching. NONE of mine opened. The dough recipe is just yummy, I make my rugalah the same way, THANKS for a wonderuful reminder and a recipe!