Apricot Hamantaschen

In this recipe

Make Hamantaschen cookies for Purim
For this Hamantaschen recipe
Tips for making Hamantaschen
How to shape Hamantaschen cookies
How to advance, save and freeze
Other Hamantaschen fillings to try

Purim is a great holiday. It has costumes and noisemakers, as well as its own villain and cookie. The villain is Haman. The biscuit is Hamantaschen.

The triangular biscuits are filled with chocolate, poppy seeds or fruit. The ones we’re sharing today are filled with dried apricots! It would be difficult to find Purim celebrations without some of these cookies.

Purim is not a solemn occasion. It’s a party! At a Purim celebration, the story of the Book of Esther (which rivals a soap opera in complexity) is told, and every time Haman’s name is mentioned, you’re bound to mock, hiss, and clink your noisemakers.

What do these delicious biscuits have to do with it? In the Book of Esther, Haman plotted to destroy the Jews of Persia, but he was thwarted by Queen Esther and her cousin Mordecai.

It is said that the biscuits were designed to resemble either Haman’s ears or his triangular hat. Both origins are wrong, but they make good stories.

In any case, Hamantaschen is about the sweetness of triumph over adversity and well worth doing when Purim comes in spring.

For this Hamantaschen recipe

Hamantaschen batter is very similar to sugar cookie batter, but I made a few tweaks to boost flavor and make the batter less puffy and more crunchy. The cookie part doesn’t overwhelm the apricot filling. These Hamantaschen are like little pies… and who can say no?

I added citrus zest for some zip. It complements beautifully with the apricot filling.
I only use a little baking soda (1/2 teaspoon). You get crispier cookies with a buttery flavor that really comes through. If you prefer fluffy cookies, increase the baking soda to 1 teaspoon.
Classic Hamantaschen recipes call for using oil or margarine in the dough instead of butter. I use butter here because I prefer the taste and texture when they’re made with butter. If you enjoy these with a meat dish and want to remain kosher, you can certainly use margarine instead.

Tips for making Hamantaschen

Both the dough and the filling are easier to work with when well chilled. Shaping the cookies takes time, and the baked cookies look a lot better if you don’t rush them.

Divide the work into two days. It makes the dough easier to work with.
This dough may be crumbly when straight from the fridge. Let it come up to temperature 10 minutes before rolling, then it’s much easier to manage.
Don’t cut rounds smaller than three inches. These are difficult to shape when the rounds are small.
If you don’t have a 3 inch cookie or cookie cutter, Use the opening of a drinking glass, as close to three inches as possible, and dip in flour.
Squirt the filling, don’t spoon it. It’s much easier to place the chilled filling in a zip-lock sandwich bag, cut off the corner, and pipe dollops directly onto the dough rounds.
You only need about 1 1/2 teaspoons per cookie. Overcrowding makes them difficult to shape.

Do not eat these cookies straight from the oven. The filling gets hot, hot, hot. Not only will it be too hot to really taste it, but it can burn your mouth. It will hurt and feel like an idiot to boot. Trust me!

How a clever baker rolls cookie dough

CONTINUE READING:

How to shape Hamantaschen cookies

I’ve always had the corners of my hamantaschen pinched and ended up with cookies that have popped out on a side or two while baking.

The solution? Fold the dough instead of pinching it. This is faster and delivers more professional results. If the dough tears when you fold it, don’t sweat it. Just keep forming cookies. The imperfect cookies should be the first ones you eat.

How to advance, save and freeze

Hamantaschen taste best the day they are baked, because the dough is crispy and contrasts so nicely with the filling. Over the following days, they soften and are still very tasty (yummy enough for me to eat six in a row). Nevertheless, you can prepare some steps in advance.

Prepare beforehand: You can prepare both the filling and the dough up to three days in advance.

How to store Hamantaschen: The cookies will keep in a tightly sealed container for at least three days.

To keep them from going stale, slip a silica gel packet (the kind that comes with fancy crackers or cookies) into the container. They prevent commercially prepared baked goods from becoming soggy, and they do the same for homemade treats. This is exactly why I stock silica packs.

Freeze Hamantaschen: These cookies freeze well, but can be soft when thawed. Place them in a tin or plastic container between wax paper, or freeze them in a single layer in a ziplock bag. They keep for a few months.

Other Hamantaschen fillings to try

Whatever you choose, you want it to be thick and strong so it doesn’t ooze out of the cookies as they bake. You will need at least one cup of filling for these cookies.

Poppy
apricot
plum
Nutella
apple butter

More recipes like Hamantaschen for high holidays

Chocolate Cranberry Rugelach
coconut macaroons
Chocolate Hazelnut Mazo Toffee
Pecan Meringue Cookies
Slow Cooker Orange Almond Rice Pudding

preparation time
90 minutes

cooking time
12 minutes

total time
102 minutes

portions
26
up to 36 biscuits

The baking time is for one sheet of biscuits. You will bake the cookies in two different batches.

For the apricot filling:

1 1/4 cups (7 ounces) dried apricots
2 tablespoon honey

For the dough:

2 cups (262G) all purpose flour
3/4 cup (156G) sugar
1/2 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon Salt
1/2 Cup (1 double crochet) butteror margarine, chilled
1 teaspoon Finely grated Lemon peel
1 teaspoon Finely grated Orange peel
1 big eggbeaten easily

food processor

make filling:

Place the apricots in a small saucepan and add enough water to cover them. Put the lid on, bring to the boil, reduce the heat and simmer until the fruit is soft, about 10 to 15 minutes.

Remove the apricots from the pan with a slotted spoon and place in a food processor. Reserve the cooking water.

Place the honey and 1 tablespoon of the cooking water in the food processor and blend until very smooth, scraping down the sides of the food processor from time to time. If the fruit is too thick to puree in the machine, add 1 to 2 tablespoons more of the cooking water.

Scrape the filling into a container, allow to cool, cover with plastic wrap and refrigerate overnight or up to 3 days before baking.
make dough:

Place a large sheet of plastic wrap on the counter.

In a large bowl, whisk together the flour, sugar, baking powder, and salt. Using the large holes of a box grater, grate the chilled margarine or butter into the bowl (work quickly so the butter doesn’t melt). Add lemon and orange zest.

Using a pastry cutter or your fingertips, work the grated butter into the flour until the mixture resembles coarse cornmeal. Add the egg and knead with your hands for 1 to 2 minutes until the dough is smooth and no longer crumbly.

Place the dough on the cling film, press into a flat rectangle and wrap tightly. Chill in the refrigerator overnight or up to three days.
Preheat the oven:

Preheat the oven to 400°F and position the racks in the top and bottom thirds of the oven.
Prepare the baking sheets and take the dough out of the fridge:

Line 2 baking sheets with parchment paper or silicone baking mats. Take the dough out of the fridge and let it warm up for 10 minutes.
Roll out the dough:

Lightly flour your countertop. Halve the dough; put half back in the fridge.

Dust the dough lightly with flour on both sides. Roll out to an even thickness of 1/8 inch. Use a dry pastry brush or your hands to brush off the excess flour. Using a 3-inch cookie or cookie cutter or drinking glass, cut the dough into rounds.

Meanwhile, place the circles on the baking sheets. Once your first sheet is filled, place it in the fridge to let the cookies hold their shape while you work on the second sheet. Save the leftover dough and refrigerate.

Repeat with the remaining half of the dough, then roll the leftovers again, making as many rounds as possible. (You have between 26 and 36 rounds).
Fill cookies:

Place the chilled filling in a piping bag or zip-lock sandwich bag with the corner cut off.

Working with one baking sheet at a time, pipe a circle of filling (about 1 1/2 teaspoons) onto the center of each round of dough. (You will likely have extra filling. Store in the refrigerator and use to spread on toast or stir into yogurt.)
Shape cookies:

Start by folding one edge over. Fold the second edge over so one corner overlaps the other, forming a 60 degree angle. Fold the third edge over, creating the three distinct corners of a triangle. The first cookies you shape may not be perfect, but you’ll quickly get the hang of it. There is no need to press, pinch or seal the edges.
Bake cookies:

Arrange the cookies so they are about 2 inches apart (they should all fit on 2 baking sheets). Bake and set your timer for 6 minutes.

When the timer sounds, turn the leaves front to back and top to bottom. Set the timer back and bake the cookies an additional 5 to 10 minutes or until the edges are golden brown. Total baking time is 12 to 16 minutes.
Cool cookies:

Cool cookies on baking sheets for 2 minutes, then transfer to cooling racks with a metal spatula. You can serve the cookies warm, but they taste best at room temperature.

The cookies will be at their crispest the day you bake them, but they will keep in a tightly sealed container for up to three days.

nutritional information (per serving)
85	calories
3g	Fat
14g	carbohydrates
1g	protein