Hamantaschen
Long time no see! This recipe is slightly different to all my others. Hamantaschen or "osnei Haman," meaning Hamans ears, are a triangle shaped, shortbread-type biscuit. Purim was always my favourite festival growing up—maybe it was the costumes, the storytelling, or (let’s be honest) the endless supply of sweet treats. But nothing captures the spirit of Purim quite like hamantaschen, those iconic three-cornered cookies filled with anything from poppy seeds (instant red flag if this is your filling of choice) to chocolate. This year, I decided to add an "interfaith" twist by using Mini Eggs. The crispy, buttery dough paired with the crunch of chocolate eggs makes for the perfect festive treat. One common argument within the Jewish communities is pinch or fold when it comes to shaping. I personally pinch the dough then fold so it holds the shape but I know some people that only do one or the other. This recipe was actually originally from Instagram however had some weird and wacky ingredients which I had to alter - one of which being orange juice which I switched for milk... This is also my favourite Chat GPT hack: I put the recipe into Chat and said "please convert this to metric baring in mind densities" and bam I didn't have to individually check everything conversion (I have a passionate hatred of imperially measured recipes because how can you measure solids, like butter, in cups!) I hope you love this recipe as much as I do!
Here is my recipe for Hamantaschen:
Ingredients: (Makes 12)
- 115g Butter, Softened
- 150g Caster Sugar
- 1/4tsp Baking Powder
- 250g Plain Flour
- pinch of Salt
- 1tbs Milk
- 1 Egg
- 1tsp Vanilla Extract
- Fillings of choice (I did mini eggs and sprinkles but I also find spreads such as Biscoff or Nutella work well!)
Method:
- Preheat the oven to 180'c, gas mark 4.
- In a large bowl, cream together the butter and sugar until smooth
- Add the milk, egg and vanilla and continue to mix until fully combined
- In a smaller bowl, mix the dry ingredients
- Fold in the flour mixture about 50-75g at a time until full combined and a dough forms
- Refrigerate the dough for 20 minutes
- On a lightly floured surface, roll out the dough until it is about half a cm thick
- Cut out circles (I just used a glass but you can use a cookie cutter if you wish)
- place around a tablespoon of filling in volume (or equivalent) into the centre of the circles
- Pinch 3 corners together to form triangle shapes making sure to "squish" the corners as much as possible in order for them not to break in the oven
- Place onto a greased tray slightly spread out
- Bake for 5 minutes, turn the tray around, and bake for 5 more minutes
- Enjoy!!
