This recipe was shared with me by my best baking friend in Chicago. We use to make these together for Purim every year. It is a fun activity to do with friends because it can be a lot of work to form all the cookies. The dough is a simple biscuit base and is quick to make however, all the hard work comes from rolling out the dough and shaping the cookie. My friends and I enjoy using different fillings flavors and then sampling these cookies. We did try to make a jalapeno hamantaschen! It didn't taste as good as a traditional apricot cookie. The triangular shape of the cookie represents the celebration of Purim as it is the shape of the hat Haman, the villain in the story of Purim. But these cookies are so tasty no matter the shape so you can even try out different shapes and flavors. Enjoy cookie making!
Hamantaschen Cookies
Serving size: 30 cookies
Total Time: 1 hour
3 eggs
1 cup sugar
3/4 cup vegetable oil or canola oil
1/3 cup apple juice
5 - 5 1/2 cups flour
3 teaspoons vanilla extract
3 teaspoons baking powder
jelly/jam/preserves of your preference (I prefer apricot, raspberry, and strawberry)
Step 1: Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Mix eggs and sugar together. Add oil, juice, and extract.
Step 2: Add baking powder. Gradually add in flour until dough forms.
Step 3: Roll out on a flat surface, using more flour if necessary. Then take a wine glass or another cup with a large round opening to use as a "cookie-cutter". Press down on the dough, making cut out of circles.
Step 4: Put the excess dough back in the bowl. In the center of each circle, drop a dollop of jam. Make sure not to overfill the center. I generally use about 1-2 teaspoons but this is normally a trial and error step. You want enough jam to taste full but you want to prevent leakage when the cookie bakes.
Step 5: Fold up the corners. This is the hard part. You have to squeeze the corners nice and tight so they don't open up in the oven. Pinching each corner shut. Add cookies to a baking sheet and cook for about 10 minutes.
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